Analysis of How Solemn As One By One
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
HOW solemn, as one by one,
As the ranks returning, all worn and sweaty--as the men file by where
I stand;
As the faces, the masks appear--as I glance at the faces, studying
the masks;
(As I glance upward out of this page, studying you, dear friend,
whoever you are;)
How solemn the thought of my whispering soul, to each in the ranks,
and to you;
I see behind each mask, that wonder, a kindred soul;
O the bullet could never kill what you really are, dear friend,
Nor the bayonet stab what you really are:
... The soul! yourself I see, great as any, good as the best,
Waiting, secure and content, which the bullet could never kill,
Nor the bayonet stab, O friend! 10
Scheme | ABCDEFGHIJFGKLF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (27%) |
Metre | 1101111 10101011010101111 11 101001011111010100 01 111101111100111 01011 1100111100111001 011 1101111100101 101011011110111 1010111101 01011111101101 100101010101101 1010111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 764 |
Words | 128 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 15 |
Lines Amount | 15 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 11 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 503 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 161 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 144 Views
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"How Solemn As One By One" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38027/how-solemn-as-one-by-one>.
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