Tests
All submit to them where they sit, inner, secure, unapproachable toanalysis in the soul,Not traditions, not the outer authorities are the judges,They are the judges of outer authorities and of all traditions,They corroborate as they go only whatever corroborates themselves,and touches themselves;For all that, they have it forever in themselves to corroborate farand near without one exception.
Words in this poem
- corroborate v. t.
- To make strong, or to give additional strength to; to strengthen. [L. corroboratus, p. p. of corroborare to corroborate; cor- + roborare to strengthen, robur strength. See Robust.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Tests 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, Tests, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/tests.html, id L04008.
Form and metre
Tests is 8 lines in a single stanza. The metre is anapaestic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%). 71% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in anapaestic hexameter.
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-- to · soul · judges · traditions · themselvesA · themselvesA · far · exception
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. Read against anapaestic hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| All submit to them where they sit, inner, secure, unapproachable to | 18 | ·˘/·····/˘˘/······ |
| analysis in the soul, | 7 | ˘/˘˘··· |
| Not traditions, not the outer authorities are the judges, | 16 | ·˘/˘··/˘˘/˘˘··/˘ |
| They are the judges of outer authorities and of all traditions, | 18 | ···/˘·/˘˘/˘˘···˘/˘ |
| They corroborate as they go only whatever corroborates themselves, | 19 | ·˘/˘····/˘·/˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| and touches themselves; | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| For all that, they have it forever in themselves to corroborate far | 18 | ······˘/˘·˘/·˘/˘·· |
| and near without one exception. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
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.