Analysis of In Cabin'd Ships At Sea
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
IN cabin'd ships, at sea,
The boundless blue on every side expanding,
With whistling winds and music of the waves--the large imperious
waves--In such,
Or some lone bark, buoy'd on the dense marine,
Where, joyous, full of faith, spreading white sails,
She cleaves the ether, mid the sparkle and the foam of day, or under
many a star at night,
By sailors young and old, haply will I, a reminiscence of the land,
be read,
In full rapport at last.
Here are our thoughts--voyagers' thoughts,
Here not the land, firm land, alone appears, may then by them be
said; 10
The sky o'erarches here--we feel the undulating deck beneath our
feet,
We feel the long pulsation--ebb and flow of endless motion;
The tones of unseen mystery--the vague and vast suggestions of the
briny world--the liquid-flowing syllables,
The perfume, the faint creaking of the cordage, the melancholy
rhythm,
The boundless vista, and the horizon far and dim, are all here,
And this is Ocean's poem.
Then falter not, O book! fulfil your destiny!
You, not a reminiscence of the land alone,
You too, as a lone bark, cleaving the ether--purpos'd I know
not whither--yet ever full of faith, 20
Consort to every ship that sails--sail you!
Bear forth to them, folded, my love--(Dear mariners! for you I fold
it here, in every leaf;)
Speed on, my Book! spread your white sails, my little bark, athwart
the imperious waves!
Chant on--sail on--bear o'er the boundless blue, from me, to every
shore,
This song for mariners and all their ships.
Scheme | AXXXXXBXXCX XACBXXXXADXD AXXXXXXXXAXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01111 010111001010 1101010101010100 101 11111010101 1101111011 11010101000111110 100111 1101011110010101 11 010111 111011001 110111010111111 1 011111010010110 1 1101110111010 01101100010101010 1101010100 001011010100100 10 0101000010101111 0111010 11011111100 11001010101 1110111010111 110110111 01110011111 1111101111001111 1101001 11111111110101 001001 11111100101111100 1 1111000111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,719 |
Words | 260 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 11, 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 35 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 383 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 114 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:19 min read
- 91 Views
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