A Persian Lesson
For his o’erarching and last lesson the greybeard sufi,In the fresh scent of the morning in the open air,On the slope of a teeming Persian rose-garden,Under an ancient chestnut-tree wide spreading its branches,Spoke to the young priests and students.
“Finally my children, to envelop each word, each part of the rest,Allah is all, all, all--immanent in every life and object,May-be at many and many-a-more removes--yet Allah, Allah, Allah is there.
“Has the estray wander’d far? Is the reason-why strangely hidden?Would you sound below the restless ocean of the entire world?Would you know the dissatisfaction? the urge and spur of every life;The something never still’d--never entirely gone? the invisible needof every seed?
“It is the central urge in every atom,(Often unconscious, often evil, downfallen,)To return to its divine source and origin, however distant,Latent the same in subject and in object, without one exception.”
Words in this poem
- sufi n.
- A title or surname of the king of Persia. [From the name of a dynasty of Persian kings, Safi, Safavi; said to come from name Safi-ud-din of an ancestor of the family, confused with s pious.]
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- allah n.
- The name of the Supreme Being, in use among the Arabs and the Mohammedans generally. [contr. fr. the article al the + ilah God.]
- estray v. i.
- To stray. Daniel.
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- downfallen a.
- Fallen; ruined. Carew.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Persian Lesson is in the public domain. This text is taken from Leaves of Grass, Project Gutenberg ebook #1322; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Walt Whitman, A Persian Lesson, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/a-persian-lesson.html, id L04140.
Form and metre
A Persian Lesson is 17 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 69% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.5 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 3 ---AA hidden · world · life · needA · seedA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| For his o’erarching and last lesson the greybeard sufi, | 14 | ·······/˘···/˘ |
| In the fresh scent of the morning in the open air, | 13 | ······/˘··/˘· |
| On the slope of a teeming Persian rose-garden, | 12 | ·····/˘/˘·/˘ |
| Under an ancient chestnut-tree wide spreading its branches, | 14 | ···/˘/···/˘·/˘ |
| Spoke to the young priests and students. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| “Finally my children, to envelop each word, each part of the rest, | 17 | /˘˘·/˘·˘/˘······· |
| Allah is all, all, all--immanent in every life and object, | 17 | /˘····/˘˘·/˘˘··/˘ |
| May-be at many and many-a-more removes--yet Allah, Allah, Allah is there. | 21 | ···/˘·/˘··˘/·/˘/˘/˘·· |
| “Has the estray wander’d far? Is the reason-why strangely hidden? | 16 | ··˘//˘···/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Would you sound below the restless ocean of the entire world? | 16 | ······/˘/˘··˘/˘· |
| Would you know the dissatisfaction? the urge and spur of every life; | 18 | ·····˘˘/˘·····/˘˘· |
| The something never still’d--never entirely gone? the invisible need | 19 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘/˘˘··˘/˘˘· |
| of every seed? | 5 | ·/˘˘· |
| “It is the central urge in every atom, | 12 | ···/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| (Often unconscious, often evil, downfallen,) | 11 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| To return to its divine source and origin, however distant, | 17 | ·˘/··˘/··/˘˘·/˘/˘ |
| Latent the same in subject and in object, without one exception.” | 17 | /˘···˘/··/˘···˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.