From Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a Bird
From Paumanok starting I fly like a bird,Around and around to soar to sing the idea of all,To the north betaking myself to sing there arctic songs,To Kanada till I absorb Kanada in myself, to Michigan then,To Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, to sing their songs, (they are inimitable;)Then to Ohio and Indiana to sing theirs, to Missouri and Kansas andArkansas to sing theirs,To Tennessee and Kentucky, to the Carolinas and Georgia to sing theirs,To Texas and so along up toward California, to roam accepted everywhere;To sing first, (to the tap of the war-drum if need be,)The idea of all, of the Western world one and inseparable,And then the song of each member of these States.
Words in this poem
- inimitable a.
- Not capable of being imitated, copied, or counterfeited; beyond imitation; surpassingly excellent; matchless; unrivaled; exceptional; unique; as, an inimitable style; inimitable eloquence. [L. inimitabilis: cf. F. inimitable. See In- not, and Imitable.]
- kansas n.
- A tribe of Indians allied to the Winnebagoes and Osages. They formerly inhabited the region which is now the State of Kansas, but were removed to the Indian Territory.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a Bird 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 Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a Bird, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/from-paumanok-starting-i-fly-like-a-bird.html, id L03939.
Form and metre
From Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a Bird is 12 lines in a single stanza. 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 16.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% 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 -A--A-BB---- bird · allA · songs · then · inimitableA · and · theirsB · theirsB · everywhere · be · inseparable · states
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 |
|---|---|---|
| From Paumanok starting I fly like a bird, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| Around and around to soar to sing the idea of all, | 15 | ··········˘/˘·· |
| To the north betaking myself to sing there arctic songs, | 14 | ···˘/˘·/···/˘· |
| To Kanada till I absorb Kanada in myself, to Michigan then, | 19 | ······˘/·····/·/˘˘· |
| To Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, to sing their songs, (they are inimitable;) | 22 | ·˘/˘/˘˘·˘/˘······˘/˘˘˘ |
| Then to Ohio and Indiana to sing theirs, to Missouri and Kansas and | 21 | ··˘/˘··˘/˘····˘/˘·/˘· |
| Arkansas to sing theirs, | 6 | /˘···· |
| To Tennessee and Kentucky, to the Carolinas and Georgia to sing theirs, | 20 | ··˘/·˘/˘···˘/˘·/˘··· |
| To Texas and so along up toward California, to roam accepted everywhere; | 22 | ·/˘··˘/····˘/˘··˘/˘/˘· |
| To sing first, (to the tap of the war-drum if need be,) | 13 | ············· |
| The idea of all, of the Western world one and inseparable, | 18 | ·˘/˘····/˘···˘/˘˘˘ |
| And then the song of each member of these States. | 11 | ······/˘··· |
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.