Analysis of As I Ponder'd In Silence
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
AS I ponder'd in silence,
Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long,
A Phantom arose before me, with distrustful aspect,
Terrible in beauty, age, and power,
The genius of poets of old lands,
As to me directing like flame its eyes,
With finger pointing to many immortal songs,
And menacing voice, What singest thou? it said;
Know'st thou not, there is but one theme for ever-enduring bards?
And that is the theme of War, the fortune of battles, 10
The making of perfect soldiers?
Be it so, then I answer'd,
I too, haughty Shade, also sing war--and a longer and greater one
than any,
Waged in my book with varying fortune--with flight, advance, and
retreat--Victory deferr'd and wavering,
(Yet, methinks, certain, or as good as certain, at the last,)--The
field the world;
For life and death--for the Body, and for the eternal Soul,
Lo! too am come, chanting the chant of battles,
I, above all, promote brave soldiers.
Scheme | AXXXXXXXABC XXXXXXXXBC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110010 0100111001001001 0100101110101 1000101010 010110111 1110101111 110101100101 0100111111 1111111111100101 0110111010110 01010110 1111110 11101101100100101 110 101111001011010 01100010100 11101111101010 101 110110100100101 11111001110 101101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,009 |
Words | 161 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 10 |
Lines Amount | 21 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 356 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 86 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 19, 2023
- 49 sec read
- 204 Views
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