Not the Pilot
Not the pilot has charged himself to bring his ship into port,though beaten back and many times baffled;Not the pathfinder penetrating inland weary and long,By deserts parch’d, snows chill’d, rivers wet, perseveres till hereaches his destination,More than I have charged myself, heeded or unheeded, to composemarch for these States,For a battle-call, rousing to arms if need be, years, centuries hence.
Words in this poem
- pathfinder n.
- One who discovers a way or path; one who explores untraversed regions.
- destination n.
- The act of destining or appointing. [L. destinatio determination: cf. F. destination destination.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Not the Pilot 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, Not the Pilot, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/not-the-pilot.html, id L03952.
Form and metre
Not the Pilot is 8 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 71% 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. 25% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Not the pilot has charged himself to bring his ship into port, | 15 | ··/˘··˘/······· |
| though beaten back and many times baffled; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘ |
| Not the pathfinder penetrating inland weary and long, | 15 | ··/·˘/˘·˘/·/˘·· |
| By deserts parch’d, snows chill’d, rivers wet, perseveres till he | 14 | ·/˘···/˘·˘˘/·· |
| reaches his destination, | 7 | /˘··˘/˘ |
| More than I have charged myself, heeded or unheeded, to compose | 16 | ······//˘·˘/˘·˘/ |
| march for these States, | 4 | ···· |
| For a battle-call, rousing to arms if need be, years, centuries hence. | 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.