Analysis of All Is Truth

Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)




   O ME, man of slack faith so long!
   Standing aloof--denying portions so long;
   Only aware to-day of compact, all-diffused truth;
   Discovering to-day there is no lie, or form of lie, and can be none,
         but grows as inevitably upon itself as the truth does upon
         itself,
   Or as any law of the earth, or any natural production of the earth
         does.

(This is curious, and may not be realized immediately--But it must be
         realized;
   I feel in myself that I represent falsehoods equally with the rest,
   And that the universe does.)

Where has fail'd a perfect return, indifferent of lies or the truth?
   Is it upon the ground, or in water or fire? or in the spirit of man?
         or in the meat and blood?                                    10

Meditating among liars, and retreating sternly into myself, I see
         that there are really no liars or lies after all,
   And that nothing fails its perfect return--And that what are called
         lies are perfect returns,
   And that each thing exactly represents itself, and what has preceded
         it,
   And that the truth includes all, and is compact, just as much as
         space is compact,
   And that there is no flaw or vacuum in the amount of the truth--but
         that all is truth without exception;
   And henceforth I will go celebrate anything I see or am,
   And sing and laugh, and deny nothing.


Scheme AABCXXXD EXXD BXX EXXXXXXXXCXX
Poetic Form
Metre 11111111 10010101011 1001111101011 010011111111110111 111010000101101101 01 11101101110100010101 1 11100011110010001111 10 110111011100101 010101 1110010101011101 11010110101101001011 100101 100011000101001111 1111011011101 011011010101111 110101 01110100101011010 1 010101101101111 1110 01111111000011011 111101010 01111110101111 010100110
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,402
Words 230
Sentences 9
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 4, 3, 12
Lines Amount 27
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 243
Words per stanza (avg) 66
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

1:09 min read
142

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. more…

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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