Eighteen Sixty-One
Arm’d year--year of the struggle,No dainty rhymes or sentimental love verses for you terrible year,Not you as some pale poetling seated at a desk lisping cadenzas piano,But as a strong man erect, clothed in blue clothes, advancing,carrying rifle on your shoulder,With well-gristled body and sunburnt face and hands, with a knife inthe belt at your side,As I heard you shouting loud, your sonorous voice ringing across thecontinent,Your masculine voice O year, as rising amid the great cities,Amid the men of Manhattan I saw you as one of the workmen, thedwellers in Manhattan,Or with large steps crossing the prairies out of Illinois and Indiana,Rapidly crossing the West with springy gait and descending the Allghanies,Or down from the great lakes or in Pennsylvania, or on deck alongthe Ohio river,Or southward along the Tennessee or Cumberland rivers, or atChattanooga on the mountain top,Saw I your gait and saw I your sinewy limbs clothed in blue, bearingweapons, robust year,Heard your determin’d voice launch’d forth again and again,Year that suddenly sang by the mouths of the round-lipp’d cannon,I repeat you, hurrying, crashing, sad, distracted year.
Words in this poem
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- sentimental a.
- Having, expressing, or containing a sentiment or sentiments; abounding with moral reflections; containing a moral reflection; didactic. [Cf. F. sentimental.]
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- 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]
- illinois n.
- A tribe of North American Indians, which formerly occupied the region between the Wabash and Mississippi rivers.
- crashing n.
- The noise of many things falling and breaking at once.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Eighteen Sixty-One 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, Eighteen Sixty-One, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/eighteen-sixty-one.html, id L03937.
Form and metre
Eighteen Sixty-One is 23 lines in a single stanza. 76% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.0 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 26% 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 -AB----C-DC-BDE---EAFFA struggle · yearA · pianoB · advancing · shoulder · in · side · theC · continent · citiesD · theC · manhattan · indianaB · allghaniesD · alongE · river · at · top · bearingE · yearA · againF · cannonF · yearA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Arm’d year--year of the struggle, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| No dainty rhymes or sentimental love verses for you terrible year, | 18 | ·/˘···˘/˘·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Not you as some pale poetling seated at a desk lisping cadenzas piano, | 20 | ·······/˘···/˘···˘/˘ |
| But as a strong man erect, clothed in blue clothes, advancing, | 14 | ·····˘/····˘/˘ |
| carrying rifle on your shoulder, | 9 | /˘˘/˘··/˘ |
| With well-gristled body and sunburnt face and hands, with a knife in | 16 | ··/˘/˘·········· |
| the belt at your side, | 5 | ····· |
| As I heard you shouting loud, your sonorous voice ringing across the | 17 | ····/˘··/˘˘·/˘˘/· |
| continent, | 3 | /˘˘ |
| Your masculine voice O year, as rising amid the great cities, | 16 | ·/˘˘····/˘˘/··/˘ |
| Amid the men of Manhattan I saw you as one of the workmen, the | 18 | ˘/···˘/˘·······/˘· |
| dwellers in Manhattan, | 6 | /˘·˘/˘ |
| Or with large steps crossing the prairies out of Illinois and Indiana, | 19 | ····/˘·/˘···˘/··˘/˘ |
| Rapidly crossing the West with springy gait and descending the Allghanies, | 18 | /˘˘/˘···/˘··˘/˘··· |
| Or down from the great lakes or in Pennsylvania, or on deck along | 17 | ·········˘/˘···˘/ |
| the Ohio river, | 6 | ·˘/˘/˘ |
| Or southward along the Tennessee or Cumberland rivers, or at | 17 | ·/˘˘/··˘/·/˘˘/˘·· |
| Chattanooga on the mountain top, | 9 | ·˘/˘··/˘· |
| Saw I your gait and saw I your sinewy limbs clothed in blue, bearing | 17 | ········/˘˘····/˘ |
| weapons, robust year, | 5 | /˘˘/· |
| Heard your determin’d voice launch’d forth again and again, | 13 | ··˘/˘···˘/·˘/ |
| Year that suddenly sang by the mouths of the round-lipp’d cannon, | 15 | ··/˘˘········/˘ |
| I repeat you, hurrying, crashing, sad, distracted year. | 14 | ·˘/·/˘˘/˘·˘/˘· |
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.