O Me! O Life!
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities fill'd with the
foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I,
and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light--of the objects mean--of the
struggle ever renew'd;
Of the poor results of all--of the plodding and sordid crowds I see
around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest--with the rest me
intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring--What good amid these, O me, O
life?
Answer.
That you are here--that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 07, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 185 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXXBAXBCCXXX CB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 767 |
Words | 117 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 13, 2 |
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"O Me! O Life!" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/38082/o-me!-o-life!>.
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