Analysis of Beat! Beat! Drums!
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
BEAT! beat! drums!--Blow! bugles! blow!
Through the windows--through doors--burst like a ruthless force,
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation;
Into the school where the scholar is studying;
Leave not the bridegroom quiet--no happiness must he have now with
his bride;
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, plowing his field or gathering his
grain;
So fierce you whirr and pound, you drums--so shrill you bugles blow.
Beat! beat! drums!--Blow! bugles! blow!
Over the traffic of cities--over the rumble of wheels in the streets:
Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? No sleepers
must sleep in those beds; 10
No bargainers' bargains by day--no brokers or speculators--Would they
continue?
Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the
judge?
Then rattle quicker, heavier drums--you bugles wilder blow.
Beat! beat! drums!--Blow! bugles! blow!
Make no parley--stop for no expostulation;
Mind not the timid--mind not the weeper or prayer;
Mind not the old man beseeching the young man;
Let not the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's entreaties;
Make even the trestles to shake the dead, where they lie awaiting the
hearses, 20
So strong you thump, O terrible drums--so loud you bugles blow.
Scheme | Abcdxxxxa Axxxxxdexa Acxxxeba |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111101 101011110101 0101010100010 010110101100 110110110011111 11 101010101101111001 1 11110111111101 1111101 100101101001011001 1101110110010110 11011 11001011110110011 010 101011010100111 101010011111010 1 110101001110101 1111101 11101111 11010110111 11011010011 11011111010010 1100111011110100 1 111111001111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,488 |
Words | 216 |
Sentences | 27 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 10, 8 |
Lines Amount | 27 |
Letters per line (avg) | 38 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 339 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 99 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 07, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 217 Views
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