Recorders Ages Hence
Recorders ages hence,Come, I will take you down underneath this impassive exterior, Iwill tell you what to say of me,Publish my name and hang up my picture as that of the tenderest lover,The friend the lover’s portrait, of whom his friend his lover was fondest,Who was not proud of his songs, but of the measureless ocean of lovewithin him, and freely pour’d it forth,Who often walk’d lonesome walks thinking of his dear friends, his lovers,Who pensive away from one he lov’d often lay sleepless anddissatisfied at night,Who knew too well the sick, sick dread lest the one he lov’d mightsecretly be indifferent to him,Whose happiest days were far away through fields, in woods, on hills,he and another wandering hand in hand, they twain apart from other men,Who oft as he saunter’d the streets curv’d with his arm the shoulderof his friend, while the arm of his friend rested upon him also.
Words in this poem
- impassive a.
- Not susceptible of pain or suffering; apathetic; impassible; unmoved.
- measureless a.
- Without measure; unlimited; immeasurable.
- lonesome a.
- Secluded from society; not frequented by human beings; solitary.
- sleepless a.
- Having no sleep; wakeful.
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Recorders Ages Hence 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, Recorders Ages Hence, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/recorders-ages-hence.html, id L03868.
Form and metre
Recorders Ages Hence is 16 lines in a single stanza. 74% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.7 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 31% 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------BB----- hence · iA · meA · lover · fondest · love · forth · lovers · and · nightB · mightB · him · hills · men · shoulder · also
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Recorders ages hence, | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| Come, I will take you down underneath this impassive exterior, I | 18 | ·······˘/·˘/˘˘/˘˘· |
| will tell you what to say of me, | 8 | ········ |
| Publish my name and hang up my picture as that of the tenderest lover, | 19 | /˘······/˘····/˘˘/˘ |
| The friend the lover’s portrait, of whom his friend his lover was fondest, | 17 | ···/˘/˘·····/˘·/˘ |
| Who was not proud of his songs, but of the measureless ocean of love | 17 | ··········/˘˘/˘·· |
| within him, and freely pour’d it forth, | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Who often walk’d lonesome walks thinking of his dear friends, his lovers, | 16 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘·····/˘ |
| Who pensive away from one he lov’d often lay sleepless and | 15 | ·/˘˘/····/˘·/˘· |
| dissatisfied at night, | 6 | ˘/˘··· |
| Who knew too well the sick, sick dread lest the one he lov’d might | 14 | ·············· |
| secretly be indifferent to him, | 9 | /˘˘·˘/˘·· |
| Whose happiest days were far away through fields, in woods, on hills, | 15 | ·/˘˘···˘/······ |
| he and another wandering hand in hand, they twain apart from other men, | 19 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·····˘/·/˘· |
| Who oft as he saunter’d the streets curv’d with his arm the shoulder | 15 | ·············/˘ |
| of his friend, while the arm of his friend rested upon him also. | 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.