Analysis of What Think You I Take My Pen In Hand?

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




   WHAT think you I take my pen in hand to record?
   The battle-ship, perfect-model'd, majestic, that I saw pass the
         offing to-day under full sail?
   The splendors of the past day? Or the splendor of the night that
         envelopes me?
   Or the vaunted glory and growth of the great city spread around me?--
         No;
   But I record of two simple men I saw to-day, on the pier, in the
         midst of the crowd, parting the parting of dear friends;
   The one to remain hung on the other's neck, and passionately kiss'd
         him,
   While the one to depart, tightly prest the one to remain in his arms.


Scheme ABCDEEFBGHIJ
Poetic Form
Metre 111111101101 0101011001011110 10111011 01101110101011 101 10101001101101011 1 110111101111110100 110110010111 01101110101010001 1 10110110101101011
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 623
Words 109
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 36
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 429
Words per stanza (avg) 106
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 22, 2023

33 sec read
102

Walt Whitman

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

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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