Reversals
Let that which stood in front go behind,Let that which was behind advance to the front,Let bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new propositions,Let the old propositions be postponed,Let a man seek pleasure everywhere except in himself,Let a woman seek happiness everywhere except in herself
About this text
Reversals 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, Reversals, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/reversals.html, id L03980.
Form and metre
Reversals is 6 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 12.5 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 behind · front · propositions · postponed · himselfA · herselfA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Let that which stood in front go behind, | 9 | ········· |
| Let that which was behind advance to the front, | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| Let bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new propositions, | 15 | ·/˘·˘//˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| Let the old propositions be postponed, | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| Let a man seek pleasure everywhere except in himself, | 14 | ····/˘/˘····˘/ |
| Let a woman seek happiness everywhere except in herself | 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.