On the Beach at Night Alone
On the beach at night alone,As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clefof the universes and of the future.
A vast similitude interlocks all,All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets,All distances of place however wide,All distances of time, all inanimate forms,All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different, or indifferent worlds,All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes, the fishes, the brutes,All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages,All identities that have existed or may exist on this globe, or any globe,All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future,This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann’d,And shall forever span them and compactly hold and enclose them.
Words in this poem
- husky a.
- Abounding with husks; consisting of husks. [From Husk, n.]
- clef n.
- A character used in musical notation to determine the position and pitch of the scale as represented on the staff. [F. clef key, a key in music, fr. L. clavis key. See Clavicle.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- compactly adv.
- In a compact manner; with close union of parts; densely; tersely.
- enclose v. t.
- To inclose. See Inclose. [F. enclos, p. p. of enclore to enclose; pref. en- (L. in) + clore to close. See Close, and cf. Inclose, Include.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On the Beach at Night Alone 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, On the Beach at Night Alone, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/on-the-beach-at-night-alone.html, id L03917.
Form and metre
On the Beach at Night Alone is 16 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 75% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.4 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| On the beach at night alone, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song, | 16 | ···/˘·····/˘·/˘· |
| As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| of the universes and of the future. | 11 | ··/˘·˘···/˘ |
| A vast similitude interlocks all, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘·˘/· |
| All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| All distances of place however wide, | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| All distances of time, all inanimate forms, | 12 | ·/˘˘···˘/˘˘· |
| All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different, or in | 18 | ···/˘/˘···/˘·/˘˘·· |
| different worlds, | 4 | /˘˘· |
| All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes, the fishes, the brutes, | 21 | ·/˘˘/˘˘/˘˘/˘˘/˘˘·/˘·· |
| All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages, | 17 | ·/˘/˘/˘·˘·˘˘/˘/˘˘ |
| All identities that have existed or may exist on this globe, or any globe, | 21 | ·˘/˘˘··˘/˘··˘/····/˘· |
| All lives and deaths, all of the past, present, future, | 12 | ········/˘/˘ |
| This vast similitude spans them, and always has spann’d, | 13 | ··˘/˘˘···/··· |
| And shall forever span them and compactly hold and enclose them. | 16 | ··˘/˘···˘/˘··˘/· |
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.