Mirages
More experiences and sights, stranger, than you’d think for;Times again, now mostly just after sunrise or before sunset,Sometimes in spring, oftener in autumn, perfectly clear weather, inplain sight,Camps far or near, the crowded streets of cities and the shopfronts,(Account for it or not--credit or not--it is all true,And my mate there could tell you the like--we have often confab’dabout it,)People and scenes, animals, trees, colors and lines, plain as could be,Farms and dooryards of home, paths border’d with box, lilacs in corners,Weddings in churches, thanksgiving dinners, returns of long-absent sons,Glum funerals, the crape-veil’d mother and the daughters,Trials in courts, jury and judge, the accused in the box,Contestants, battles, crowds, bridges, wharves,Now and then mark’d faces of sorrow or joy,(I could pick them out this moment if I saw them again,)Show’d to me--just to the right in the sky-edge,Or plainly there to the left on the hill-tops.
Words in this poem
- thanksgiving n.
- The act of rending thanks, or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.
- glum n.
- Sullenness. Skelton. [See Gloom.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mirages 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, Mirages, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/mirages.html, id L04142.
Form and metre
Mirages is 18 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 81% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.7 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 11% 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| More experiences and sights, stranger, than you’d think for; | 14 | ·˘/˘˘˘··/˘···· |
| Times again, now mostly just after sunrise or before sunset, | 16 | ·˘/·/˘···/····/· |
| Sometimes in spring, oftener in autumn, perfectly clear weather, in | 17 | ˘/··/˘˘·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| plain sight, | 2 | ·· |
| Camps far or near, the crowded streets of cities and the shopfronts, | 15 | ·····/˘··/˘···· |
| (Account for it or not--credit or not--it is all true, | 14 | ˘/····/˘······ |
| And my mate there could tell you the like--we have often confab’d | 15 | ···········/˘·· |
| about it,) | 3 | ··· |
| People and scenes, animals, trees, colors and lines, plain as could be, | 16 | /˘··/˘˘·/˘······ |
| Farms and dooryards of home, paths border’d with box, lilacs in corners, | 16 | ·······/˘··/··/˘ |
| Weddings in churches, thanksgiving dinners, returns of long-absent sons, | 17 | /˘·/˘·/˘/˘˘/··/˘· |
| Glum funerals, the crape-veil’d mother and the daughters, | 13 | ·/˘˘···/˘··/˘ |
| Trials in courts, jury and judge, the accused in the box, | 14 | /˘··/˘···˘/··· |
| Contestants, battles, crowds, bridges, wharves, | 9 | ˘/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Now and then mark’d faces of sorrow or joy, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| (I could pick them out this moment if I saw them again,) | 14 | ······/˘····˘/ |
| Show’d to me--just to the right in the sky-edge, | 11 | ··········· |
| Or plainly there to the left on the hill-tops. | 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.