Germs
Forms, qualities, lives, humanity, language, thoughts,The ones known, and the ones unknown, the ones on the stars,The stars themselves, some shaped, others unshaped,Wonders as of those countries, the soil, trees, cities, inhabitants,whatever they may be,Splendid suns, the moons and rings, the countless combinations and effects,Such-like, and as good as such-like, visible here or anywhere, standprovided for a handful of space, which I extend my arm andhalf enclose with my hand,That containing the start of each and all, the virtue, the germs of all.
Words in this poem
- unshaped a.
- Not shaped; shapeless; misshapen; deformed; ugly. [Pref. un- not + shaped, shapen.]
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- handful n.
- As much as the hand will grasp or contain. [AS. handfull.]
- enclose v. t.
- To inclose. See Inclose. [F. enclos, p. p. of enclore to enclose; pref. en- (L. in) + clore to close. See Close, and cf. Inclose, Include.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Germs 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, Germs, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/germs.html, id L03925.
Form and metre
Germs is 10 lines in a single stanza. 74% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 ------AAA- thoughts · stars · unshaped · inhabitants · be · effects · standA · andA · handA · all
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Forms, qualities, lives, humanity, language, thoughts, | 12 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘˘/˘· |
| The ones known, and the ones unknown, the ones on the stars, | 13 | ······˘/····· |
| The stars themselves, some shaped, others unshaped, | 10 | ··˘/··/˘·· |
| Wonders as of those countries, the soil, trees, cities, inhabitants, | 16 | /˘···/˘···/˘˘/˘˘ |
| whatever they may be, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Splendid suns, the moons and rings, the countless combinations and effects, | 17 | /˘······/˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Such-like, and as good as such-like, visible here or anywhere, stand | 17 | ········/˘˘··/˘·· |
| provided for a handful of space, which I extend my arm and | 16 | ˘/˘··/·····˘/··· |
| half enclose with my hand, | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| That containing the start of each and all, the virtue, the germs of all. | 17 | ·˘/˘·······/˘···· |
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.