Out from Behind This Mask
Out from behind this bending rough-cut mask,These lights and shades, this drama of the whole,This common curtain of the face contain’d in me for me, in you foryou, in each for each,(Tragedies, sorrows, laughter, tears--0 heaven!The passionate teeming plays this curtain hid!)This glaze of God’s serenest purest sky,This film of Satan’s seething pit,This heart’s geography’s map, this limitless small continent, thissoundless sea;Out from the convolutions of this globe,This subtler astronomic orb than sun or moon, than Jupiter, Venus, Mars,This condensation of the universe, (nay here the only universe,Here the idea, all in this mystic handful wrapt;)These burin’d eyes, flashing to you to pass to future time,To launch and spin through space revolving sideling, from these to emanate,To you whoe’er you are--a look.
A traveler of thoughts and years, of peace and war,Of youth long sped and middle age declining,(As the first volume of a tale perused and laid away, and this the second,Songs, ventures, speculations, presently to close,)Lingering a moment here and now, to you I opposite turn,As on the road or at some crevice door by chance, or open’d window,Pausing, inclining, baring my head, you specially I greet,To draw and clinch your soul for once inseparably with mine,Then travel travel on.
Words in this poem
- teeming a.
- Prolific; productive.
- limitless a.
- Having no limits; unbounded; boundless. Davies (Wit's Pilgr.).
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- soundless a.
- Not capable of being sounded or fathomed; unfathomable.
- handful n.
- As much as the hand will grasp or contain. [AS. handfull.]
- sideling adv.
- Sidelong; on the side; laterally; also, obliquely; askew. [OE. sideling, fr. side side. See Side, and cf. Sidelong, Headlong.]
- emanate v. i.
- To issue forth from a source; to flow out from more or less constantly; as, fragrance emanates from flowers. [L. emanare, emanatum, to emanate; e out + manare to flow, prob. for madnare, and akin to madere to be wet, drip, madidus wet, drenched, drunk, Gr. mad to boil, ]
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
- inseparably adv.
- In an inseparable manner or condition; so as not to be separable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Out from Behind This Mask 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, Out from Behind This Mask, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/out-from-behind-this-mask.html, id L03993.
Form and metre
Out from Behind This Mask is 26 lines in 2 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.4 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% 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 ------A--A------- mask · whole · for · each · heaven · hid · skyA · pit · this · seaA · globe · mars · universe · wrapt · time · emanate · look
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Out from behind this bending rough-cut mask, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| These lights and shades, this drama of the whole, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| This common curtain of the face contain’d in me for me, in you for | 17 | ·/˘/˘···˘/······· |
| you, in each for each, | 5 | ····· |
| (Tragedies, sorrows, laughter, tears--0 heaven! | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘·/˘ |
| The passionate teeming plays this curtain hid!) | 11 | ·/˘˘/˘··/˘· |
| This glaze of God’s serenest purest sky, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| This film of Satan’s seething pit, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| This heart’s geography’s map, this limitless small continent, this | 16 | ··˘/˘˘··/˘˘·/˘˘· |
| soundless sea; | 3 | /˘· |
| Out from the convolutions of this globe, | 10 | ···/˘·˘··· |
| This subtler astronomic orb than sun or moon, than Jupiter, Venus, Mars, | 20 | ·/˘˘··········/˘˘/˘· |
| This condensation of the universe, (nay here the only universe, | 18 | ··˘/˘··/˘····/˘/˘· |
| Here the idea, all in this mystic handful wrapt;) | 13 | ··˘/˘···/˘/·· |
| These burin’d eyes, flashing to you to pass to future time, | 14 | ····/˘·····/˘· |
| To launch and spin through space revolving sideling, from these to emanate, | 17 | ······˘/˘/˘···/˘· |
| To you whoe’er you are--a look. | 7 | ······· |
| A traveler of thoughts and years, of peace and war, | 12 | ·/˘˘········ |
| Of youth long sped and middle age declining, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| (As the first volume of a tale perused and laid away, and this the second, | 19 | ···/˘···˘/··˘/···/˘ |
| Songs, ventures, speculations, presently to close,) | 12 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| Lingering a moment here and now, to you I opposite turn, | 16 | /˘˘·/˘······/˘˘· |
| As on the road or at some crevice door by chance, or open’d window, | 17 | ·······/˘····/˘/˘ |
| Pausing, inclining, baring my head, you specially I greet, | 15 | /˘˘/˘/˘···/˘˘·· |
| To draw and clinch your soul for once inseparably with mine, | 15 | ········˘/˘˘˘·· |
| Then travel travel on. | 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.