Analysis of States!
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
STATES!
Were you looking to be held together by the lawyers?
By an agreement on a paper? Or by arms?
Away!
I arrive, bringing these, beyond all the forces of courts and arms,
These! to hold you together as firmly as the earth itself is held
together.
The old breath of life, ever new,
Here! I pass it by contact to you, America.
O mother! have you done much for me?
Behold, there shall from me be much done for you. 10
There shall from me be a new friendship--It shall be called after my
name,
It shall circulate through The States, indifferent of place,
It shall twist and intertwist them through and around each other--
Compact shall they be, showing new signs,
Affection shall solve every one of the problems of freedom,
Those who love each other shall be invincible,
They shall finally make America completely victorious, in my name.
One from Massachusetts shall be comrade to a Missourian,
One from Maine or Vermont, and a Carolinian and an Oregonese, shall
be friends triune, more precious to each other than all the
riches of the earth.
To Michigan shall be wafted perfume from Florida,
To the Mannahatta from Cuba or Mexico, 20
Not the perfume of flowers, but sweeter, and wafted beyond death.
No danger shall balk Columbia's lovers,
If need be, a thousand shall sternly immolate themselves for one,
The Kanuck shall be willing to lay down his life for the Kansian, and
the Kansian for the Kanuck, on due need.
It shall be customary in all directions, in the houses and streets,
to see manly affection,
The departing brother or friend shall salute the remaining brother or
friend with a kiss.
There shall be innovations,
There shall be countless linked hands--namely, the Northeasterner's,
and the Northwesterner's, and the Southwesterner's, and those
of the interior, and all their brood,
These shall be masters of the world under a new power,
They shall laugh to scorn the attacks of all the remainder of the
world. 30
The most dauntless and rude shall touch face to face lightly,
The dependence of Liberty shall be lovers,
The continuance of Equality shall be comrades.
These shall tie and band stronger than hoops of iron,
I, extatic, O partners! O lands! henceforth with the love of lovers
tie you.
Scheme | ABC XCXD EF GE XHXDXXXH IXFX FXX BIXX XIXX XAXXDFX GBX XBE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1 01101110101010 110101010111 01 1011010110101101 11110101101010111 010 01111101 111111110100 110111111 01111111111 1111101101111101 1 111010101011 1110111001110 101111011 0101110011010110 111110110100 11100101000100100011 11010111100100 1111010001000111 1111101110110 10101 11001110011100 101110110 1001110110010011 11011010010 111010110100111 01111011111101000 0100101111 11110001010001001 1110010 001010111010010101 1101 111010 11110111001 00100101 1001000111 11110101100110 1111100111001010 1 011011111110 001011001110 0010010100111 111011011110 111101111101110 11 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,482 |
Words | 388 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 4, 2, 2, 8, 4, 3, 4, 4, 7, 3, 3 |
Lines Amount | 47 |
Letters per line (avg) | 37 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 146 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 40 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:57 min read
- 96 Views
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"States!" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38157/states%21>.
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