Out of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd
Out of the rolling ocean the crowd came a drop gently to me,Whispering I love you, before long I die,I have travel’d a long way merely to look on you to touch you,For I could not die till I once look’d on you,For I fear’d I might afterward lose you.
Now we have met, we have look’d, we are safe,Return in peace to the ocean my love,I too am part of that ocean my love, we are not so much separated,Behold the great rondure, the cohesion of all, how perfect!But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separate us,As for an hour carrying us diverse, yet cannot carry us diverse forever;Be not impatient--a little space--know you I salute the air, theocean and the land,Every day at sundown for your dear sake my love.
Words in this poem
- rondure n.
- A round; a circle. [Cf. F. rondeur roundness.]
- sundown n.
- The setting of the sun; sunset.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Out of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd 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 of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/out-of-the-rolling-ocean-the-crowd.html, id L03853.
Form and metre
Out of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd is 14 lines in 2 stanzas. 73% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 AABBB meA · dieA · youB · youB · youB
- 2 -A------A safe · loveA · separated · perfect · us · forever · the · land · loveA
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 of the rolling ocean the crowd came a drop gently to me, | 16 | ···/˘/˘·····/˘·· |
| Whispering I love you, before long I die, | 11 | /˘˘········ |
| I have travel’d a long way merely to look on you to touch you, | 16 | ··/˘···/˘······· |
| For I could not die till I once look’d on you, | 11 | ··········· |
| For I fear’d I might afterward lose you. | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Now we have met, we have look’d, we are safe, | 10 | ·········· |
| Return in peace to the ocean my love, | 10 | ˘/····/˘·· |
| I too am part of that ocean my love, we are not so much separated, | 19 | ······/˘·······/˘·˘ |
| Behold the great rondure, the cohesion of all, how perfect! | 15 | ˘/··/˘·˘/˘···˘/ |
| But as for me, for you, the irresistible sea is to separate us, | 19 | ········˘/˘˘···/˘·· |
| As for an hour carrying us diverse, yet cannot carry us diverse forever; | 22 | ···/˘/˘˘·˘/·/˘/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| Be not impatient--a little space--know you I salute the air, the | 17 | ··˘/˘·/˘····˘/··· |
| ocean and the land, | 5 | /˘··· |
| Every day at sundown for your dear sake my love. | 13 | /˘˘··/······· |
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.