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 Views
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"To A Stranger" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38208/to-a-stranger>.
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