Grand Is the Seen
Grand is the seen, the light, to me--grand are the sky and stars,Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space,And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary;But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those,Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailingthe sea,(What were all those, indeed, without thee, unseen soul? of whatamount without thee?)More evolutionary, vast, puzzling, O my soul!More multiform far--more lasting thou than they.
Words in this poem
- multiform a.
- Having many forms, shapes, or appearances. [L. multiformis; multus much, many + forma shape: cf. F. multiforme.]
- evolutionary a.
- Relating to evolution; as, evolutionary discussions.
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Grand Is the Seen 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, Grand Is the Seen, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/grand-is-the-seen.html, id L04145.
Form and metre
Grand Is the Seen is 10 lines in a single stanza. 80% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.2 syllables. 2 lines end 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 -----A-A-- stars · space · evolutionary · those · sailing · seaA · what · theeA · soul · they
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grand is the seen, the light, to me--grand are the sky and stars, | 14 | ·············· |
| Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary; | 17 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘·˘/˘·˘ |
| But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those, | 19 | ·/˘··˘/····˘/˘˘/˘·· |
| Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing | 14 | /˘······/˘··/˘ |
| the sea, | 2 | ·· |
| (What were all those, indeed, without thee, unseen soul? of what | 14 | ····˘/···˘/··· |
| amount without thee?) | 5 | ˘/··· |
| More evolutionary, vast, puzzling, O my soul! | 14 | ··˘/˘·˘·/˘˘··· |
| More multiform far--more lasting thou than they. | 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.