As Adam Early in the Morning
As Adam early in the morning,Walking forth from the bower refresh’d with sleep,Behold me where I pass, hear my voice, approach,Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass,Be not afraid of my body.
About this text
As Adam Early in the Morning 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, As Adam Early in the Morning, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/as-adam-early-in-the-morning.html, id L03860.
Form and metre
As Adam Early in the Morning is 5 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 10.8 syllables. 2 lines end 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 |
|---|---|---|
| As Adam early in the morning, | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Walking forth from the bower refresh’d with sleep, | 11 | /˘···/˘˘/·· |
| Behold me where I pass, hear my voice, approach, | 11 | ˘/·······˘/ |
| Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass, | 15 | ··········/˘··· |
| Be not afraid of my body. | 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.