Analysis of Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking

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



Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird's throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight,
Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child
 leaving his bed wander'd alone, bareheaded, barefoot,
Down from the shower'd halo,
Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as
 if they were alive,
Out from the patches of briers and blackberries,
From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,
From your memories sad brother, from the fitful risings and
 fallings I heard,
From under that yellow half-moon late-risen and swollen as
 if with tears,
From those beginning notes of yearning and love there in
 the mist,
From the thousand responses of my heart never to cease,
From the myriad thence-arous'd words,
From the word stronger and more delicious than any,
From such as now they start the scene revisiting,
As a flock, twittering, rising, or overhead passing,
Borne hither, ere all eludes me, hurriedly,
A man, yet by these tears a little boy again,
Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves,
I, chanter of pains and joys, uniter of here and hereafter,
Taking all hints to use them, but swiftly leaping beyond them,
A reminiscence sing.

Once Paumanok,
When the lilac-scent was in the air and Fifth-month grass
 was growing,
Up this seashore in some briers,
Two feather'd guests from Alabama, two together,
And their nest, and four light-green eggs spotted with brown,
And every day the he-bird to and fro near at hand,
And every day the she-bird crouch'd on her nest, silent, with
 bright eyes,
And every day I, a curious boy, never too close, never
 disturbing them,
Cautiously peering, absorbing, translating.

Shine! shine! shine!
Pour down your warmth, great sun!
While we bask, we two together.

Two together!
Winds blow south, or winds blow north,
Day come white, or niqht come black,
Home, or rivers and mountains from home,
Singing all time, minding no time,
While we two keep together.

Till of a sudden,
May-be kill'd, unknown to her mate,
One forenoon the she-bird crouch'd not on the nest,
Nor return'd that afternoon, nor the next,
Nor ever appear'd again.

And thenceforward all summer in the sound of the sea,
And at night under the full of the moon in calmer weather,
Over the hoarse surging of the sea,
Or flitting from brier to brier by day,
I saw, I heard at intervals the remaining one, the he-bird,
The solitary guest from Alabama.

Blow! blow! blow!
Blow up sea-winds along Paumanok's shore;
I wait and I wait till you blow my mate to me.

Yes, when the stars glisten'd,
All night long on the prong of a moss-scallop'd stake,
Down almost amid the slapping waves,
Sat the lone singer wonderful causing tears.

He call'd on his mate,
He pour'd forth the meanings which I of all men know.
Yes my brother I know,
The rest might not, but I have treasur'd every note,
For more than once dimly down to the beach gliding,
Silent, avoiding the moonbeams, blending myself with the
 shadows,
Recalling now the obscure shapes, the echoes, the sounds
 and sights after their sorts,
The white arms out in the breakers tirelessly tossing,
I, with bare feet, a child, the wind wafting my hair,
Listen'd long and long.

Listen'd to keep, to sing, now translating the notes,
Following you my brother.

Soothe! soothe! soothe!
Close on its wave soothes the wave behind,
And again another behind embracing and lapping, every one close,
But my love soothes not me, not me.

Low hangs the moon, it rose late,
It is lagging--O I think it is heavy with love, with love.

O madly the sea pushes upon the land,
With love, with love.

O night! do I not see my love fluttering out among the breakers?
What is that little black thing I see there in the white?

Loud! loud! loud!
Loud I call to you, my love!

Hiqh and clear I shoot my voice over the waves,
Surely you must know who is here, is here,
You must know who I am, my love.

Low-hanging moon!
What is that dusky spot in your brown yellow?
O it is the shape, the shape of my mate!
O moon do not keep her from me any longer.

Land! land! O land!
Whichever way I turn, 0 I think you could give me my mate
 back again if you only would,
For I am almost sure I see her dimly whichever way I look.

O rising stars!
Perhaps the one I want so much will rise, will rise with some of you.

O throat! 0 trembling throat!
Sound clearer th


Scheme AXBXXCDXXEFGDHXXXXEAAEIJKLA AXADKXMXXKLA XNK KXXXXK NOXXI EKEXGP CXE FXJH OCCQAPXXXAXX XK XXXE OR MR XB XR JXR XCOK MOXX XX QX
Poetic Form
Metre 1101010010 1101011010010 110111 10010100101101 1011100111 1101010 11010111100101 11001 1101011010 1010010111011 11100110101010 111 110110111100101 111 1101011100110 01 10100101111011 101001011 1011001010110 111111010100 101110110110 11011011100 011111010101 10110101001 1111011110010 101111111010011 00101 11 101110010111 110 111011 110110101010 011011111011 01001011101111 010010111101101 11 01001101001101110 0101 10010010010 111 111111 11111010 1010 1111111 1111111 111001011 10111011 1111010 11010 11101101 1101111101 101101101 1100101 01110001101 011100110101010 100110101 11011011011 1111110000101011 010011010 111 11110111 110111111111 110110 111101101101 11010101 10110100101 11111 111010111111 111011 0111111101001 111110110110 100100110110 1 0101001101001 011011 0111001010010 111101011011 10101 101111101001 1001110 111 111110101 0010100101001010011 11111111 1101111 111011111101111 11001100101 1111 11111111100101010 1111011111001 111 1111111 10111111001 1011111111 11111111 1101 1111101110 1110101111 111110111010 1111 01011111111111 10111101 1111111010010111 1101 0101111111111111 111001 11011
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 4,250
Words 781
Sentences 46
Stanzas 20
Stanza Lengths 27, 12, 3, 6, 5, 6, 3, 4, 12, 2, 4, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 2, 2
Lines Amount 107
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 167
Words per stanza (avg) 39
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

3:59 min read
166

Walt Whitman

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

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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