Song for All Seas, All Ships
To-day a rude brief recitative,Of ships sailing the seas, each with its special flag or ship-signal,Of unnamed heroes in the ships--of waves spreading and spreadingfar as the eye can reach,Of dashing spray, and the winds piping and blowing,And out of these a chant for the sailors of all nations,Fitful, like a surge.
Of sea-captains young or old, and the mates, and of all intrepid sailors,Of the few, very choice, taciturn, whom fate can never surprise nordeath dismay.Pick’d sparingly without noise by thee old ocean, chosen by thee,Thou sea that pickest and cullest the race in time, and unitest nations,Suckled by thee, old husky nurse, embodying thee,Indomitable, untamed as thee.
(Ever the heroes on water or on land, by ones or twos appearing,Ever the stock preserv’d and never lost, though rare, enough forseed preserv’d.)
Flaunt out O sea your separate flags of nations!Flaunt out visible as ever the various ship-signals!But do you reserve especially for yourself and for the soul of manone flag above all the rest,A spiritual woven signal for all nations, emblem of man elate above death,Token of all brave captains and all intrepid sailors and mates,And all that went down doing their duty,Reminiscent of them, twined from all intrepid captains young or old,A pennant universal, subtly waving all time, o’er all brave sailors,All seas, all ships.
Words in this poem
- piping a.
- Playing on a musical pipe. [From Pipe, v.]
- fitful a.
- Full of fits; irregularly variable; impulsive and unstable. [From 7th Fit.]
- taciturn a.
- Habitually silent; not given to converse; not apt to talk or speak. [L. taciturnus: cf. F. taciturne. See Tacit.]
- husky a.
- Abounding with husks; consisting of husks. [From Husk, n.]
- flaunt n.
- Anything displayed for show.
- elate a.
- Lifted up; raised; elevated. [L. elatus elevated, fig., elated, proud (the figure, perh., being borrowed from a prancing horse); e out + latus (used as p. p. of ferre to bear), for tlatus, a]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- reminiscent a.
- Recalling to mind, or capable of recalling to mind; having remembrance; reminding one of something. [L. reminiscens, -entis, p. pr. of reminisci to recall to mind, to recollect; pref.re- re + a word akin to mens mind, memini I remember. See Mind.]
- subtly adv.
- In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Song for All Seas, All Ships 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, Song for All Seas, All Ships, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/song-for-all-seas-all-ships.html, id L03918.
Form and metre
Song for All Seas, All Ships is 27 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 79% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.8 syllables. 11 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% 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.
- 2 ---A-AA sailors · nor · dismay · theeA · nations · theeA · theeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To-day a rude brief recitative, | 9 | ········· |
| Of ships sailing the seas, each with its special flag or ship-signal, | 16 | ··/˘·····/˘···/˘ |
| Of unnamed heroes in the ships--of waves spreading and spreading | 15 | ·˘//˘·····/˘·/˘ |
| far as the eye can reach, | 6 | ······ |
| Of dashing spray, and the winds piping and blowing, | 12 | ·/˘····/˘·/˘ |
| And out of these a chant for the sailors of all nations, | 14 | ········/˘··/˘ |
| Fitful, like a surge. | 5 | /˘··· |
| Of sea-captains young or old, and the mates, and of all intrepid sailors, | 18 | ··/˘·········˘/˘/˘ |
| Of the few, very choice, taciturn, whom fate can never surprise nor | 17 | ···/˘·/˘····/˘˘/· |
| death dismay. | 3 | ·˘/ |
| Pick’d sparingly without noise by thee old ocean, chosen by thee, | 16 | ·/˘˘······/˘/˘·· |
| Thou sea that pickest and cullest the race in time, and unitest nations, | 18 | ···/˘·/˘·····/˘˘/˘ |
| Suckled by thee, old husky nurse, embodying thee, | 13 | /˘···/˘·˘/˘˘· |
| Indomitable, untamed as thee. | 9 | ˘/˘˘˘···· |
| (Ever the heroes on water or on land, by ones or twos appearing, | 18 | /˘·/˘·/˘·······˘/˘ |
| Ever the stock preserv’d and never lost, though rare, enough for | 15 | /˘··˘/·/˘···˘/· |
| seed preserv’d.) | 3 | ·˘/ |
| Flaunt out O sea your separate flags of nations! | 12 | ·····/˘···/˘ |
| Flaunt out visible as ever the various ship-signals! | 15 | ··/˘˘·/˘·/˘˘·/˘ |
| But do you reserve especially for yourself and for the soul of man | 17 | ···˘/˘/˘·˘/······ |
| one flag above all the rest, | 7 | ······· |
| A spiritual woven signal for all nations, emblem of man elate above death, | 22 | ·/˘˘˘/˘/˘··/˘/˘··˘/··· |
| Token of all brave captains and all intrepid sailors and mates, | 16 | /˘···/˘··˘/˘/˘·· |
| And all that went down doing their duty, | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| Reminiscent of them, twined from all intrepid captains young or old, | 17 | ·˘/˘·····˘/˘/˘··· |
| A pennant universal, subtly waving all time, o’er all brave sailors, | 19 | ·/˘·˘/˘/˘˘/˘·····/˘ |
| All seas, all ships. | 4 | ···· |
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.