A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim
A sight in camp in the daybreak gray and dim,As from my tent I emerge so early sleepless,As slow I walk in the cool fresh air the path near by the hospital tent,Three forms I see on stretchers lying, brought out there untended lying,Over each the blanket spread, ample brownish woolen blanket,Gray and heavy blanket, folding, covering all.
Curious I halt and silent stand,Then with light fingers I from the face of the nearest the firstjust lift the blanket;Who are you elderly man so gaunt and grim, with well-gray’d hair,and flesh all sunken about the eyes?Who are you my dear comrade?Then to the second I step--and who are you my child and darling?Who are you sweet boy with cheeks yet blooming?Then to the third--a face nor child nor old, very calm, as ofbeautiful yellow-white ivory;Young man I think I know you--I think this face is the face of theChrist himself,Dead and divine and brother of all, and here again he lies.
Words in this poem
- daybreak n.
- The time of the first appearance of light in the morning.
- sleepless a.
- Having no sleep; wakeful.
- hospital n.
- A place for shelter or entertainment; an inn. [OF. hospital, ospital, F. hôpital, LL. hospitale (or perh. E. hospital is directly from the Late Latin), from L. hospitalis relating to a guest, hospitalia apar]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim 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 Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/a-sight-in-camp-in-the-daybreak-gray-and-dim.html, id L25587.
Form and metre
A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim is 19 lines in 2 stanzas.
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.
- 2 ----A-------A stand · first · blanket · hair · eyesA · comrade · darling · blooming · of · ivory · the · himself · liesA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A sight in camp in the daybreak gray and dim, | 11 | ······/···· |
| As from my tent I emerge so early sleepless, | 12 | ·····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| As slow I walk in the cool fresh air the path near by the hospital tent, | 18 | ··············/·˘· |
| Three forms I see on stretchers lying, brought out there untended lying, | 17 | ·····/˘/˘······/˘ |
| Over each the blanket spread, ample brownish woolen blanket, | 15 | ····/˘·/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Gray and heavy blanket, folding, covering all. | 12 | ··/˘/˘/˘/˘˘· |
| Curious I halt and silent stand, | 9 | /˘˘···/˘· |
| Then with light fingers I from the face of the nearest the first | 15 | ···/˘······/˘·· |
| just lift the blanket; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Who are you elderly man so gaunt and grim, with well-gray’d hair, | 15 | ···/˘˘········· |
| and flesh all sunken about the eyes? | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| Who are you my dear comrade? | 7 | ·····/· |
| Then to the second I step--and who are you my child and darling? | 16 | ···/˘·········/˘ |
| Who are you sweet boy with cheeks yet blooming? | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Then to the third--a face nor child nor old, very calm, as of | 15 | ··········/˘··· |
| beautiful yellow-white ivory; | 9 | /˘˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| Young man I think I know you--I think this face is the face of the | 16 | ················ |
| Christ himself, | 3 | ·˘/ |
| Dead and divine and brother of all, and here again he lies. | 15 | ··˘/·/˘····˘/·· |
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.