From Montauk Point
I stand as on some mighty eagle’s beak,Eastward the sea absorbing, viewing, (nothing but sea and sky,)The tossing waves, the foam, the ships in the distance,The wild unrest, the snowy, curling caps--that inbound urge and urgeof waves,Seeking the shores forever.
Words in this poem
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From Montauk Point 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, From Montauk Point, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/from-montauk-point.html, id L04074.
Form and metre
From Montauk Point is 6 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The lines average 10.3 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 |
|---|---|---|
| I stand as on some mighty eagle’s beak, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Eastward the sea absorbing, viewing, (nothing but sea and sky,) | 15 | /˘··˘/˘/˘/˘···· |
| The tossing waves, the foam, the ships in the distance, | 12 | ·/˘·······/˘ |
| The wild unrest, the snowy, curling caps--that inbound urge and urge | 16 | ··˘/·/˘/˘··˘/··· |
| of waves, | 2 | ·· |
| Seeking the shores forever. | 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.