Analysis of To A Stranger

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




   PASSING stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
   You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me,
         as of a dream,)
   I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
   All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate,
         chaste, matured,
   You grew up with me, were a boy with me, or a girl with me,
   I ate with you, and slept with you--your body has become not yours
         only, nor left my body mine only,
   You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass--you
         take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,
   I am not to speak to you--I am to think of you when I sit alone, or
         wake at night alone,
   I am to wait--I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
   I am to see to it that I do not lose you.                          10


Scheme ABCADEBFBAGHIJA
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 10101111110011011 111111101111101111 1101 111101011111 11011111110100100 101 111110011110111 1111011111010111 1011110110 111010111111111 111111001 1111111111111111011 11101 111111111111101 111111111111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 837
Words 162
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 15
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 12
Letters per stanza (avg) 545
Words per stanza (avg) 184
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

48 sec read
336

Walt Whitman

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

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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