Analysis of Virginia--The West

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




   THE noble Sire, fallen on evil days,
   I saw, with hand uplifted, menacing, brandishing,
   (Memories of old in abeyance--love and faith in abeyance,)
   The insane knife toward the Mother of All.

The noble Son, on sinewy feet advancing,
   I saw--out of the land of prairies--land of Ohio's waters, and of
         Indiana,
   To the rescue, the stalwart giant, hurry his plenteous offspring,
   Drest in blue, bearing their trusty rifles on their shoulders.

Then the Mother of All, with calm voice speaking,
   As to you, Virginia, (I seemed to hear her say,) why strive against
         me--and why seek my life?                                    10
   When you yourself forever provide to defend me?
   For you provided me Washington--and now these also.


Scheme XAXX AXXAX AXXXX
Poetic Form
Metre 01010101101 1111100100100 1001100101010010 00110101011 010111001010 111101110110101001 010 10100101010111 10110110101110 10101111110 1110101111011101 101111 1101010011011 11010110001110
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 764
Words 119
Sentences 6
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 5, 5
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 38
Words per line (avg) 11
Letters per stanza (avg) 175
Words per stanza (avg) 50
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
79

Walt Whitman

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

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