The World Below The Brine

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




   THE world below the brine;
   Forests at the bottom of the sea--the branches and leaves,
   Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds--the thick
         tangle, the openings, and the pink turf,
   Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold--the
         play of light through the water,
   Dumb swimmers there among the rocks--coral, gluten, grass, rushes--
         and the aliment of the swimmers,
   Sluggish existences grazing there, suspended, or slowly crawling
         close to the bottom,
   The sperm-whale at the surface, blowing air and spray, or disporting
         with his flukes,
   The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard,
         and the sting-ray;
   Passions there--wars, pursuits, tribes--sight in those ocean-depths--
         breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do;
   The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed
         by beings like us, who walk this sphere;                     10
   The change onward from ours, to that of beings who walk other
         spheres.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

45 sec read
174

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDEFGHIJCKLMNOPQFR
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,080
Words 152
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20

Walt Whitman

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

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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