Analysis of Mannahatta
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
I WAS asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
Whereupon, lo! upsprang the aboriginal name!
Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly,
musical, self-sufficient;
I see that the word of my city is that word up there,
Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb, with
tall and wonderful spires,
Rich, hemm'd thick all around with sailships and steamships--an
island sixteen miles long, solid-founded,
Numberless crowded streets--high growths of iron, slender, strong,
light, splendidly uprising toward clear skies;
Tide swift and ample, well-loved by me, toward sundown,
The flowing sea-currents, the little islands, larger adjoining
islands, the heights, the villas,
The countless masts, the white shore-steamers, the lighters, the
ferry-boats, the black sea-steamers well-model'd; 10
The down-town streets, the jobbers' houses of business--the houses of
business of the ship-merchants, and money-brokers--the river-
streets;
Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week;
The carts hauling goods--the manly race of drivers of horses--the
brown-faced sailors;
The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft;
The winter snows, the sleigh-bells--the broken ice in the river,
passing along, up or down, with the flood tide or ebb-tide;
The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form'd, beautiful-faced,
looking you straight in the eyes;
Trottoirs throng'd--vehicles--Broadway--the women--the shops and
shows,
The parades, processions, bugles playing, flags flying, drums
beating;
A million people--manners free and superb--open voices--hospitality--
the most courageous and friendly young men;
The free city! no slaves! no owners of slaves! 20
The beautiful city, the city of hurried and sparkling waters! the
city of spires and masts!
The city nested in bays! my city!
The city of such women, I am mad to be with them! I will return after
death to be with them!
The city of such young men, I swear I cannot live happy, without I
often go talk, walk, eat, drink, sleep, with them!
Scheme | AX AXXXXXXXBXCXDXXEXXDXXEXXBXXXCAXXDXAEFXF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11101100100011110 10111001001 11111100101101010 1001010 11101111011111 01111110011101011 101001 11110111011 1001111010 110111110101 11000100111 110101111011 0101100101010010 1001010 0101011100100 10101110110 0111010101100101 101011001010010 1 1000100111010001 0110101011101100 1110 0101011100010101 010101101010010 10011111011111 00101010010111001 1011001 111001010010 1 00101010101101 10 0101010100110100100 0101001011 01101111011 010010010110010100 101101 0101001110 01011101111111110110 11111 010111111110110011 1011111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 2,290 |
Words | 322 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 39 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 39 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 807 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 176 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 142 Views
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"Mannahatta" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38061/mannahatta>.
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