Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone
Roots and leaves themselves alone are these,Scents brought to men and women from the wild woods and pond-side,Breast-sorrel and pinks of love, fingers that wind around tighterthan vines,Gushes from the throats of birds hid in the foliage of trees as thesun is risen,Breezes of land and love set from living shores to you on the livingsea, to you O sailors!Frost-mellow’d berries and Third-month twigs offer’d fresh to youngpersons wandering out in the fields when the winter breaks up,Love-buds put before you and within you whoever you are,Buds to be unfolded on the old terms,If you bring the warmth of the sun to them they will open and bringform, color, perfume, to you,If you become the aliment and the wet they will become flowers,fruits, tall branches and trees.
Words in this poem
- tighter n.
- A ribbon or string used to draw clothes closer.
- whoever pron.
- Whatever person; any person who; be or she who; any one who; as, he shall be punished, whoever he may be.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone 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, Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/roots-and-leaves-themselves-alone.html, id L03870.
Form and metre
Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone is 16 lines in a single stanza. 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.4 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 A-----B-B-----AA theseA · side · tighter · vines · the · risen · livingB · sailors · youngB · up · are · terms · bring · you · flowersA · treesA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Roots and leaves themselves alone are these, | 9 | ···˘/˘/·· |
| Scents brought to men and women from the wild woods and pond-side, | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| Breast-sorrel and pinks of love, fingers that wind around tighter | 15 | ·/˘····/˘····/˘ |
| than vines, | 2 | ·· |
| Gushes from the throats of birds hid in the foliage of trees as the | 16 | /˘········/˘···· |
| sun is risen, | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Breezes of land and love set from living shores to you on the living | 17 | /˘······/˘·····/˘ |
| sea, to you O sailors! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Frost-mellow’d berries and Third-month twigs offer’d fresh to young | 14 | ·/˘/˘····/˘··· |
| persons wandering out in the fields when the winter breaks up, | 15 | /˘/˘˘······/˘·· |
| Love-buds put before you and within you whoever you are, | 15 | ··········˘/˘·· |
| Buds to be unfolded on the old terms, | 10 | ···˘/˘···· |
| If you bring the warmth of the sun to them they will open and bring | 16 | ············/˘·· |
| form, color, perfume, to you, | 7 | ·/˘˘/·· |
| If you become the aliment and the wet they will become flowers, | 17 | ··˘/·/˘˘·····˘//˘ |
| fruits, tall branches and trees. | 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.