Among the Multitude
Among the men and women the multitude,I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs,Acknowledging none else, not parent, wife, husband, brother, child,any nearer than I am,Some are baffled, but that one is not--that one knows me.
Ah lover and perfect equal,I meant that you should discover me so by faint indirections,And I when I meet you mean to discover you by the like in you.
Words in this poem
- discover v. i.
- To discover or show one's self.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Among the Multitude 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, Among the Multitude, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/among-the-multitude.html, id L03891.
Form and metre
Among the Multitude is 8 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 77% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.8 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Among the men and women the multitude, | 11 | ·····/˘·/˘· |
| I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs, | 15 | ·˘/·/˘···/˘·˘/· |
| Acknowledging none else, not parent, wife, husband, brother, child, | 15 | ˘/˘˘···/˘·/˘/˘· |
| any nearer than I am, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Some are baffled, but that one is not--that one knows me. | 13 | ··/˘········· |
| Ah lover and perfect equal, | 8 | ·/˘·˘//˘ |
| I meant that you should discover me so by faint indirections, | 16 | ·····˘/˘········ |
| And I when I meet you mean to discover you by the like in you. | 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.