Osceola
When his hour for death had come,He slowly rais’d himself from the bed on the floor,Drew on his war-dress, shirt, leggings, and girdled the belt aroundhis waist,Call’d for vermilion paint (his looking-glass was held before him,)Painted half his face and neck, his wrists, and back-hands.Put the scalp-knife carefully in his belt--then lying down, restingmoment,Rose again, half sitting, smiled, gave in silence his extended handto each and all,Sank faintly low to the floor (tightly grasping the tomahawk handle,)Fix’d his look on wife and little children--the last:
Words in this poem
- tomahawk n.
- A kind of war hatchet used by the American Indians. It was originally made of stone, but afterwards of iron. [Of American Indian origin; cf. Algonkin tomehagen, Mohegan tumnahegan, Delaware tamoihecan.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Osceola 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, Osceola, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/osceola.html, id L04138.
Form and metre
Osceola is 12 lines in a single stanza. 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.9 syllables. 3 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.
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 ---------AA- come · floor · around · waist · him · hands · resting · moment · hand · allA · handleA · last
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When his hour for death had come, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| He slowly rais’d himself from the bed on the floor, | 12 | ·/˘·˘/······ |
| Drew on his war-dress, shirt, leggings, and girdled the belt around | 15 | ······/˘·/˘···· |
| his waist, | 2 | ·· |
| Call’d for vermilion paint (his looking-glass was held before him,) | 15 | ··˘/˘··/˘······ |
| Painted half his face and neck, his wrists, and back-hands. | 12 | /˘·········· |
| Put the scalp-knife carefully in his belt--then lying down, resting | 16 | ····/˘˘····/˘·/˘ |
| moment, | 2 | /˘ |
| Rose again, half sitting, smiled, gave in silence his extended hand | 16 | ·˘/·/˘···/˘·˘/˘· |
| to each and all, | 4 | ···· |
| Sank faintly low to the floor (tightly grasping the tomahawk handle,) | 17 | ·/˘····/˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Fix’d his look on wife and little children--the last: | 12 | ······/˘/˘·· |
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.