Old War-Dreams
In midnight sleep of many a face of anguish,Of the look at first of the mortally wounded, (of that indescribable look,)Of the dead on their backs with arms extended wide,I dream, I dream, I dream.
Of scenes of Nature, fields and mountains,Of skies so beauteous after a storm, and at night the moon sounearthly bright,Shining sweetly, shining down, where we dig the trenches andgather the heaps,I dream, I dream, I dream.
Long have they pass’d, faces and trenches and fields,Where through the carnage I moved with a callous composure, or awayfrom the fallen,Onward I sped at the time--but now of their forms at night,I dream, I dream, I dream.
Words in this poem
- mortally adv.
- In a mortal manner; so as to cause death; as, mortally wounded.
- indescribable a.
- Incapable of being described.
- backs n.
- Among leather dealers, the thickest and stoutest tanned hides.
- beauteous a.
- Full of beauty; beautiful; very handsome. [Mostly poetic] -- Beau"te*ous*ly, adv. --
- unearthly a.
- Not terrestrial; supernatural; preternatural; hence, weird; appalling; terrific; as, an unearthly sight or sound.
- carnage n.
- Flesh of slain animals or men. [F. carnage, LL. carnaticum tribute of animals, flesh of animals, fr. L. caro, carnis, flesh. See Carnal.]
- composure n.
- The act of composing, or that which is composed; a composition. [From Compose.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Old War-Dreams 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, Old War-Dreams, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/old-war-dreams.html, id L04053.
Form and metre
Old War-Dreams is 15 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 85% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.3 syllables. 3 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| In midnight sleep of many a face of anguish, | 12 | ·/···/˘···/˘ |
| Of the look at first of the mortally wounded, (of that indescribable look,) | 20 | ·······/˘˘/˘···˘/˘˘· |
| Of the dead on their backs with arms extended wide, | 12 | ········˘/˘· |
| I dream, I dream, I dream. | 6 | ······ |
| Of scenes of Nature, fields and mountains, | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Of skies so beauteous after a storm, and at night the moon so | 16 | ···/˘˘·········· |
| unearthly bright, | 4 | ˘/˘· |
| Shining sweetly, shining down, where we dig the trenches and | 14 | /˘/˘/˘·····/˘· |
| gather the heaps, | 4 | /˘·· |
| I dream, I dream, I dream. | 6 | ······ |
| Long have they pass’d, faces and trenches and fields, | 11 | ····/˘·/˘·· |
| Where through the carnage I moved with a callous composure, or away | 17 | ···/˘····/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| from the fallen, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Onward I sped at the time--but now of their forms at night, | 14 | /˘············ |
| I dream, I dream, I dream. | 6 | ······ |
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.