On The Beach At Night, Alone

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




   ON the beach at night alone,
   As the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her husky song,
   As I watch the bright stars shining--I think a thought of the clef of
         the universes, and of the future.

   A VAST SIMILITUDE interlocks all,
   All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,
         comets, asteroids,
   All the substances of the same, and all that is spiritual upon the
         same,
   All distances of place, however wide,
   All distances of time--all inanimate forms,
   All Souls--all living bodies, though they be ever so different, or in
         different worlds,
   All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes--the fishes, the
         brutes,                                                      10
   All men and women--me also;
   All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages;
   All identities that have existed, or may exist, on this globe, or any
         globe;
   All lives and deaths--all of the past, present, future;
   This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann'd, and shall
         forever span them, and compactly hold them, and enclose them.

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

48 sec read
103

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXXA XBXCXXXXXCBXXXXAXX
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 1,132
Words 162
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 4, 18

Walt Whitman

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

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

35 fans

Discuss the poem On The Beach At Night, Alone with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "On The Beach At Night, Alone" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/38095/on-the-beach-at-night,-alone>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    April 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    10
    days
    21
    hours
    15
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    "Now I become myself. It's taken time, many years and places."
    A Rita Dove
    B W.H. Auden
    C Robert Frost
    D May Sarton