Analysis of To Thee, Old Cause!
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
TO thee, old Cause!
Thou peerless, passionate, good cause!
Thou stern, remorseless, sweet Idea!
Deathless throughout the ages, races, lands!
After a strange, sad war--great war for thee,
(I think all war through time was really fought, and ever will be
really fought, for thee;)
These chants for thee--the eternal march of thee.
Thou orb of many orbs!
Thou seething principle! Thou well-kept, latent germ! Thou centre!
Around the idea of thee the strange sad war revolving, 10
With all its angry and vehement play of causes,
(With yet unknown results to come, for thrice a thousand years,)
These recitatives for thee--my Book and the War are one,
Merged in its spirit I and mine--as the contest hinged on thee,
As a wheel on its axis turns, this Book, unwitting to itself,
Around the Idea of thee.
Scheme | AAXXBBBB AXXXXXBXB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111 11010011 110101010 101010101 1001111111 111111110101011 10111 11110010111 111101 110100111101110 010010110111010 1111001001110 11010111110101 1001111100111 101101011010111 1011110111010101 01001011 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 858 |
Words | 141 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 9 |
Lines Amount | 17 |
Letters per line (avg) | 36 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 308 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 75 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 22, 2023
- 42 sec read
- 168 Views
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"To Thee, Old Cause!" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38222/to-thee%2C-old-cause%21>.
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