Analysis of I Hear It Was Charged Against Me

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




   I HEAR it was charged against me that I sought to destroy
         institutions;
   But really I am neither for nor against institutions;
   (What indeed have I in common with them?--Or what with the
         destruction of them?)
   Only I will establish in the Mannahatta, and in every city of These
         States, inland and seaboard,
   And in the fields and woods, and above every keel, little or large,
         that dents the water,
   Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argument,
   The institution of the dear love of comrades.


Scheme ABBCDEFGHIJ
Poetic Form
Metre 11111011111101 010 11011101101010 10111010111110 01011 1011010001001001011 1101 00010100110011011 11010 0111111110100 0010101111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 552
Words 91
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 11
Lines Amount 11
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 391
Words per stanza (avg) 87
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

27 sec read
102

Walt Whitman

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

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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