Thanks in Old Age
Thanks in old age--thanks ere I go,For health, the midday sun, the impalpable air--for life, mere life,For precious ever-lingering memories, (of you my mother dear--you,father--you, brothers, sisters, friends,)For all my days--not those of peace alone--the days of war the same,For gentle words, caresses, gifts from foreign lands,For shelter, wine and meat--for sweet appreciation,(You distant, dim unknown--or young or old--countless, unspecified,readers belov’d,We never met, and neer shall meet--and yet our souls embrace, long,close and long;)For beings, groups, love, deeds, words, books--for colors, forms,For all the brave strong men--devoted, hardy men--who’ve forwardsprung in freedom’s help, all years, all landsFor braver, stronger, more devoted men--(a special laurel ere I go,to life’s war’s chosen ones,The cannoneers of song and thought--the great artillerists--theforemost leaders, captains of the soul:)As soldier from an ended war return’d--As traveler out of myriads,to the long procession retrospective,Thanks--joyful thanks!--a soldier’s, traveler’s thanks.
Words in this poem
- countless a.
- Incapable of being counted; not ascertainable; innumerable.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Thanks in Old Age 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, Thanks in Old Age, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/thanks-in-old-age.html, id L04102.
Form and metre
Thanks in Old Age is 21 lines in a single stanza. 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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---CC--BA------ goA · life · you · friends · same · landsB · appreciation · unspecified · belov'd · longC · longC · forms · forward · landsB · goA · ones · the · soul · myriads · retrospective · thanks
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thanks in old age--thanks ere I go, | 8 | ········ |
| For health, the midday sun, the impalpable air--for life, mere life, | 16 | ···/···˘/˘˘····· |
| For precious ever-lingering memories, (of you my mother dear--you, | 18 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘/˘˘···/˘·· |
| father--you, brothers, sisters, friends,) | 8 | /˘·/˘/˘· |
| For all my days--not those of peace alone--the days of war the same, | 16 | ········˘/······ |
| For gentle words, caresses, gifts from foreign lands, | 12 | ·/˘·˘/˘··/˘· |
| For shelter, wine and meat--for sweet appreciation, | 13 | ·/˘·····˘·˘/˘ |
| (You distant, dim unknown--or young or old--countless, unspecified, | 16 | ·/˘·˘/····/˘˘/˘· |
| readers belov’d, | 4 | /˘˘/ |
| We never met, and neer shall meet--and yet our souls embrace, long, | 16 | ·/˘·······/˘·˘/· |
| close and long;) | 3 | ··· |
| For beings, groups, love, deeds, words, books--for colors, forms, | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| For all the brave strong men--devoted, hardy men--who’ve forward | 15 | ······˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| sprung in freedom’s help, all years, all lands | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| For braver, stronger, more devoted men--(a special laurel ere I go, | 18 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘··/˘/˘··· |
| to life’s war’s chosen ones, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| The cannoneers of song and thought--the great artillerists--the | 15 | ··············· |
| foremost leaders, captains of the soul:) | 9 | /·/˘/˘··· |
| As soldier from an ended war return’d--As traveler out of myriads, | 19 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/·/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| to the long procession retrospective, | 10 | ···˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Thanks--joyful thanks!--a soldier’s, traveler’s thanks. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘· |
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.