Analysis of Not Heaving From My Ribb'd Breast Only

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




   NOT heaving from my ribb'd breast only;
   Not in sighs at night, in rage, dissatisfied with myself;
   Not in those long-drawn, ill-supprest sighs;
   Not in many an oath and promise broken;
   Not in my wilful and savage soul's volition;
   Not in the subtle nourishment of the air;
   Not in this beating and pounding at my temples and wrists;
   Not in the curious systole and diastole within, which will one day
         cease;
   Not in many a hungry wish, told to the skies only;
   Not in cries, laughter, defiances, thrown from me when alone, far in
         the wilds;                                                   10
   Not in husky pantings through clench'd teeth;
   Not in sounded and resounded words--chattering words, echoes, dead
         words;
   Not in the murmurs of my dreams while I sleep,
   Nor the other murmurs of these incredible dreams of every day;
   Nor in the limbs and senses of my body, that take you and dismiss you
         continually--Not there;
   Not in any or all of them, O adhesiveness! O pulse of my life!
   Need I that you exist and show yourself, any more than in these
         songs.


Scheme ABCDDEFGHAIJKLMNGOEPQR
Poetic Form
Metre 110111110 101110101011 10111111 10101101010 10110101010 10010100101 10110010111001 10010010010011111 1 10100101110110 10110111110110 01 10101111 10100111001101 1 10010111111 101010110100111001 100101011101110011 0100011 101011111111111 1111010101101101 1
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,127
Words 182
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 774
Words per stanza (avg) 230
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

55 sec read
141

Walt Whitman

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

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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