Ah Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky Retreats
Ah poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats,Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me,(For what is my life or any man’s life but a conflict with foes, theold, the incessant war?)You degradations, you tussle with passions and appetites,You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds the sharpest of all!)You toil of painful and choked articulations, you meannesses,You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of any;)You broken resolutions, you racking angers, you smother’d ennuis!Ah think not you finally triumph, my real self has yet to come forth,It shall yet march forth o’ermastering, till all lies beneath me,It shall yet stand up the soldier of ultimate victory.
Words in this poem
- tussle v. i.
- To struggle, as in sport; to scuffle; to struggle with. [See Tousle.]
- racking n.
- Spun yarn used in racking ropes.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Ah Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky Retreats 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, Ah Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky Retreats, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/ah-poverties-wincings-and-sulky-retreats.html, id L04048.
Form and metre
Ah Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky Retreats is 12 lines in a single stanza. 69% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.6 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% 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 -AA-------A- retreats · meA · theA · war · appetites · all · meannesses · any · ennuis · forth · meA · victory
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ah poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats, | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Ah you foes that in conflict have overcome me, | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| (For what is my life or any man’s life but a conflict with foes, the | 17 | ······/˘····/˘··· |
| old, the incessant war?) | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| You degradations, you tussle with passions and appetites, | 15 | ··˘/˘·/˘·/˘·/˘· |
| You smarts from dissatisfied friendships, (ah wounds the sharpest of all!) | 16 | ···˘/˘·/˘···/˘·· |
| You toil of painful and choked articulations, you meannesses, | 16 | ···/˘···˘˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| You shallow tongue-talks at tables, (my tongue the shallowest of any;) | 17 | ·/˘···/˘···/˘˘·/˘ |
| You broken resolutions, you racking angers, you smother’d ennuis! | 18 | ·/˘·˘/˘·/˘/˘·/˘˘/˘ |
| Ah think not you finally triumph, my real self has yet to come forth, | 17 | ····/˘˘/˘········ |
| It shall yet march forth o’ermastering, till all lies beneath me, | 15 | ··············· |
| It shall yet stand up the soldier of ultimate victory. | 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.