Still Though the One I Sing
Still though the one I sing,(One, yet of contradictions made,) I dedicate to Nationality,I leave in him revolt, (O latent right of insurrection! Oquenchless, indispensable fire!)
Words in this poem
- nationality n.
- The quality of being national, or strongly attached to one's own nation; patriotism. [Cf. F. nationalité.]
- quenchless a.
- Incapable of being quenched; inextinguishable; as, quenchless fire or fury.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Still Though the One I Sing 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, Still Though the One I Sing, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/still-though-the-one-i-sing.html, id L03842.
Form and metre
Still Though the One I Sing is 4 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 12.2 syllables. 2 lines end 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Still though the one I sing, | 6 | ······ |
| (One, yet of contradictions made,) I dedicate to Nationality, | 18 | ····˘/˘··/˘···˘/˘˘ |
| I leave in him revolt, (O latent right of insurrection! O | 16 | ····˘/·/˘···˘/˘· |
| quenchless, indispensable fire!) | 9 | /˘·˘/˘˘/˘ |
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.