A Voice from Death
A voice from Death, solemn and strange, in all his sweep and power,With sudden, indescribable blow--towns drown’d--humanity bythousands slain,The vaunted work of thrift, goods, dwellings, forge, street, iron bridge,Dash’d pell-mell by the blow--yet usher’d life continuing on,(Amid the rest, amid the rushing, whirling, wild debris,A suffering woman saved--a baby safely born!)
Although I come and unannounc’d, in horror and in pang,In pouring flood and fire, and wholesale elemental crash, (thisvoice so solemn, strange,)I too a minister of Deity.
Yea, Death, we bow our faces, veil our eyes to thee,We mourn the old, the young untimely drawn to thee,The fair, the strong, the good, the capable,The household wreck’d, the husband and the wife, the engulfed forgerin his forge,The corpses in the whelming waters and the mud,The gather’d thousands to their funeral mounds, and thousands neverfound or gather’d.
Then after burying, mourning the dead,(Faithful to them found or unfound, forgetting not, bearing thepast, here new musing,)A day--a passing moment or an hour--America itself bends low,Silent, resign’d, submissive.
War, death, cataclysm like this, America,Take deep to thy proud prosperous heart.
E’en as I chant, lo! out of death, and out of ooze and slime,The blossoms rapidly blooming, sympathy, help, love,From West and East, from South and North and over sea,Its hot-spurr’d hearts and hands humanity to human aid moves on;And from within a thought and lesson yet.
Thou ever-darting Globe! through Space and Air!Thou waters that encompass us!Thou that in all the life and death of us, in action or in sleep!Thou laws invisible that permeate them and all,Thou that in all, and over all, and through and under all, incessant!Thou! thou! the vital, universal, giant force resistless, sleepless, calm,Holding Humanity as in thy open hand, as some ephemeral toy,How ill to e’er forget thee!
For I too have forgotten,(Wrapt in these little potencies of progress, politics, culture,wealth, inventions, civilization,)Have lost my recognition of your silent ever-swaying power, yemighty, elemental throes,In which and upon which we float, and every one of us is buoy’d.
Words in this poem
- indescribable a.
- Incapable of being described.
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- forger n.
- One who forges, makes, of forms; a fabricator; a falsifier. [Cf. F. forgeur metal worker, L. fabricator artificer. See Forge, n. & v. t., and cf. Fabricator.]
- cataclysm n.
- An extensive overflow or sweeping flood of water; a deluge. [L. cataclysmos, Gr. cataclysme.]
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
- sleepless a.
- Having no sleep; wakeful.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Voice from Death 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 Voice from Death, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/a-voice-from-death.html, id L04139.
Form and metre
A Voice from Death is 45 lines in 8 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 82% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.1 syllables. 14 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% 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.
- 1 -A---A- power · byA · slain · bridge · on · debrisA · born
- 3 AA---B-B theeA · theeA · capable · forger · forge · mudB · never · gather'dB
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 voice from Death, solemn and strange, in all his sweep and power, | 15 | ····/˘·······/˘ |
| With sudden, indescribable blow--towns drown’d--humanity by | 16 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘···˘/˘˘· |
| thousands slain, | 3 | /˘· |
| The vaunted work of thrift, goods, dwellings, forge, street, iron bridge, | 14 | ·/˘····/˘··/˘· |
| Dash’d pell-mell by the blow--yet usher’d life continuing on, | 15 | ·······/˘·˘/˘˘· |
| (Amid the rest, amid the rushing, whirling, wild debris, | 14 | ˘/··˘/·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| A suffering woman saved--a baby safely born!) | 13 | ·/˘˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Although I come and unannounc’d, in horror and in pang, | 14 | ······˘/·/˘··· |
| In pouring flood and fire, and wholesale elemental crash, (this | 16 | ·/˘··/˘·/··˘/˘·· |
| voice so solemn, strange,) | 5 | ··/˘· |
| I too a minister of Deity. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| Yea, Death, we bow our faces, veil our eyes to thee, | 14 | ····/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| We mourn the old, the young untimely drawn to thee, | 12 | ······˘/˘··· |
| The fair, the strong, the good, the capable, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| The household wreck’d, the husband and the wife, the engulfed forger | 15 | ·/···/˘····˘//˘ |
| in his forge, | 3 | ··· |
| The corpses in the whelming waters and the mud, | 12 | ·/˘····/˘··· |
| The gather’d thousands to their funeral mounds, and thousands never | 16 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘··/˘/˘ |
| found or gather’d. | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Then after burying, mourning the dead, | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘·· |
| (Faithful to them found or unfound, forgetting not, bearing the | 15 | /˘······˘/˘·/˘· |
| past, here new musing,) | 5 | ···/˘ |
| A day--a passing moment or an hour--America itself bends low, | 19 | ···/˘/˘··/˘˘/˘˘˘/·· |
| Silent, resign’d, submissive. | 7 | /˘˘/˘/˘ |
| War, death, cataclysm like this, America, | 12 | ··/˘·˘··˘/˘˘ |
| Take deep to thy proud prosperous heart. | 9 | ·····/˘˘· |
| E’en as I chant, lo! out of death, and out of ooze and slime, | 14 | ·············· |
| The blossoms rapidly blooming, sympathy, help, love, | 13 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| From West and East, from South and North and over sea, | 12 | ············ |
| Its hot-spurr’d hearts and hands humanity to human aid moves on; | 16 | ······˘/˘˘·/˘··· |
| And from within a thought and lesson yet. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thou ever-darting Globe! through Space and Air! | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Thou waters that encompass us! | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Thou that in all the life and death of us, in action or in sleep! | 16 | ···········/˘··· |
| Thou laws invisible that permeate them and all, | 13 | ··˘/˘˘·/˘···· |
| Thou that in all, and over all, and through and under all, incessant! | 17 | ··············˘/˘ |
| Thou! thou! the vital, universal, giant force resistless, sleepless, calm, | 18 | ···/˘·˘/˘/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Holding Humanity as in thy open hand, as some ephemeral toy, | 19 | /˘˘/˘˘···/˘···˘/˘˘· |
| How ill to e’er forget thee! | 7 | ····˘/· |
| For I too have forgotten, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| (Wrapt in these little potencies of progress, politics, culture, | 16 | ···/˘/˘˘·/·/˘·/˘ |
| wealth, inventions, civilization,) | 9 | ·˘/˘·˘˘/˘ |
| Have lost my recognition of your silent ever-swaying power, ye | 18 | ····˘/˘··/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| mighty, elemental throes, | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| In which and upon which we float, and every one of us is buoy’d. | 18 | ·········/˘˘····/˘ |
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