Facing West from California’s Shores
Facing west from California’s shores,Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity,the land of migrations, look afar,Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled;For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,From Asia, from the north, from the God, the sage, and the hero,From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands,Long having wander’d since, round the earth having wander’d,Now I face home again, very pleas’d and joyous,(But where is what I started for so long ago?And why is it yet unfound?)
Words in this poem
- maternity n.
- The state of being a mother; the character or relation of a mother. [F. maternité, LL. maternitas.]
- afar adv.
- At, to, or from a great distance; far away; -- often used with from preceding, or off following; as, he was seen from afar; I saw him afar off. [Pref. a-.(for on or of) + far.]
- circled a.
- Having the form of a circle; round.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Facing West from California’s Shores 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, Facing West from California’s Shores, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/facing-west-from-california-s-shores.html, id L03859.
Form and metre
Facing West from California’s Shores is 12 lines in a single stanza. 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.1 syllables. 6 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.
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 -A---------A shores · unfoundA · maternity · afar · circled · kashmere · hero · islands · wander'd · joyous · ago · unfoundA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Facing west from California’s shores, | 9 | /˘···˘/˘· |
| Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound, | 14 | ˘/˘˘/˘˘/˘····· |
| I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, | 18 | ···/˘·········˘/˘˘ |
| the land of migrations, look afar, | 9 | ···˘/˘·˘/ |
| Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled; | 16 | ······/˘··/˘/·/˘ |
| For starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere, | 15 | ·/˘/˘·/˘······· |
| From Asia, from the north, from the God, the sage, and the hero, | 15 | ·/˘··········/˘ |
| From the south, from the flowery peninsulas and the spice islands, | 17 | ·····/˘˘˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| Long having wander’d since, round the earth having wander’d, | 13 | ·/˘/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Now I face home again, very pleas’d and joyous, | 12 | ····˘//˘··/˘ |
| (But where is what I started for so long ago? | 12 | ·····/˘···˘/ |
| And why is it yet unfound?) | 7 | ······· |
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.