Now Finale to the Shore
Now finale to the shore,Now land and life finale and farewell,Now Voyager depart, (much, much for thee is yet in store,)Often enough hast thou adventur’d o’er the seas,Cautiously cruising, studying the charts,Duly again to port and hawser’s tie returning;But now obey thy cherish’d secret wish,Embrace thy friends, leave all in order,To port and hawser’s tie no more returning,Depart upon thy endless cruise old Sailor.
Words in this poem
- finale n.
- Close; termination; as: (a) (Mus.) The last movement of a symphony, sonata, concerto, or any instrumental composition. [It. See Final.]
- voyager n.
- One who voyages; one who sails or passes by sea or water. [Cf. F. voyager traveling.]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- cruise v. i.
- To sail back and forth on the ocean; to sail, as for the potection of commerce, in search of an enemy, for plunder, or for pleasure. [D. kruisen to move crosswise or in a zigzag, to cruise, fr. kruis cross, fr. OF. crois, croiz, F. croix, or directly fr. OF. croisier, F. croiser, to cross, cru]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Now Finale to the Shore 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, Now Finale to the Shore, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/now-finale-to-the-shore.html, id L04070.
Form and metre
Now Finale to the Shore is 10 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.7 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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--B--B- shoreA · farewell · storeA · seas · charts · returningB · wish · order · returningB · sailor
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. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now finale to the shore, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Now land and life finale and farewell, | 10 | ····˘/˘··/ |
| Now Voyager depart, (much, much for thee is yet in store,) | 14 | ·/˘˘˘/········ |
| Often enough hast thou adventur’d o’er the seas, | 12 | /˘˘/········ |
| Cautiously cruising, studying the charts, | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| Duly again to port and hawser’s tie returning; | 13 | /˘˘/······˘/˘ |
| But now obey thy cherish’d secret wish, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Embrace thy friends, leave all in order, | 9 | ˘/·····/˘ |
| To port and hawser’s tie no more returning, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Depart upon thy endless cruise old Sailor. | 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.