America
Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old,Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,Chair’d in the adamant of Time.
Words in this poem
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- sane a.
- Being in a healthy condition; not deranged; acting rationally; -- said of the mind. [L. sanus; cf. Gr. Sound, a.]
- towering a.
- Very high; elevated; rising aloft; as, a towering height.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
America 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, America, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/america.html, id L04083.
Form and metre
America is 6 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 75% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.7 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
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. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Centre of equal daughters, equal sons, | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘/˘· |
| All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old, | 12 | ··˘/˘/······ |
| Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘˘· |
| Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love, | 13 | ˘/˘˘····/˘··· |
| A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother, | 10 | ···/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| Chair’d in the adamant of Time. | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
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.