The City Dead-House
By the city dead-house by the gate,As idly sauntering wending my way from the clangor,I curious pause, for lo, an outcast form, a poor dead prostitute brought,Her corpse they deposit unclaim’d, it lies on the damp brick pavement,The divine woman, her body, I see the body, I look on it alone,That house once full of passion and beauty, all else I notice not,Nor stillness so cold, nor running water from faucet, nor odorsmorbific impress me,But the house alone--that wondrous house--that delicate fair house--that ruin!That immortal house more than all the rows of dwellings ever built!Or white-domed capitol with majestic figure surmounted, or all theold high-spired cathedrals,That little house alone more than them all--poor, desperate house!Fair, fearful wreck--tenement of a soul--itself a soul,Unclaim’d, avoided house--take one breath from my tremulous lips,Take one tear dropt aside as I go for thought of you,Dead house of love--house of madness and sin, crumbled, crush’d,House of life, erewhile talking and laughing--but ah, poor house,dead even then,Months, years, an echoing, garnish’d house--but dead, dead, dead.
Words in this poem
- clangor n.
- A sharp, harsh, ringing sound. [L., fr. clangere. See Clang, v. t.]
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
- outcast a.
- Cast out; degraded. [Cf. Sw. utkasta to cast out.]
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
- stillness n.
- The quality or state of being still; quietness; silence; calmness; inactivity.
- morbific a.
- Causing disease; generating a sickly state; as, a morbific matter. [L. morbus disease + -ficare (in comp.) to make: cf. F. morbifique. See -fy.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- capitol
- The temple of Jupiter, at Rome, on the Mona Capitolinus, where the Senate met. [L. capitolium, fr. caput head: cf. F. capitole. See Chief.]
- spired a.
- Having a spire; being in the form of a spire; as, a spired steeple. Mason.
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- erewhile adv.
- Some time ago; a little while before; heretofore.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The City Dead-House 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, The City Dead-House, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/the-city-dead-house.html, id L03985.
Form and metre
The City Dead-House is 21 lines in a single stanza. 78% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.1 syllables. 5 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 -------AB--A-B----B-- gate · clangor · brought · pavement · alone · not · odors · meA · houseB · ruin · built · theA · cathedrals · houseB · soul · lips · you · crush'd · houseB · then · dead
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 |
|---|---|---|
| By the city dead-house by the gate, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| As idly sauntering wending my way from the clangor, | 14 | ·/˘/˘˘/˘····/˘ |
| I curious pause, for lo, an outcast form, a poor dead prostitute brought, | 18 | ·/˘˘····/·····/˘·· |
| Her corpse they deposit unclaim’d, it lies on the damp brick pavement, | 16 | ···˘/˘˘/······/˘ |
| The divine woman, her body, I see the body, I look on it alone, | 19 | ·˘//˘·/˘···/˘····˘/ |
| That house once full of passion and beauty, all else I notice not, | 16 | ·····/˘·/˘···/˘· |
| Nor stillness so cold, nor running water from faucet, nor odors | 16 | ·/˘···/˘/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| morbific impress me, | 6 | ···˘/· |
| But the house alone--that wondrous house--that delicate fair house | 15 | ···˘/·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| --that ruin! | 3 | ·/˘ |
| That immortal house more than all the rows of dwellings ever built! | 16 | ·˘/˘·······/˘/˘· |
| Or white-domed capitol with majestic figure surmounted, or all the | 18 | ···/˘˘·˘/˘/˘˘/˘··· |
| old high-spired cathedrals, | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| That little house alone more than them all--poor, desperate house! | 14 | ·/˘·˘/·····/˘· |
| Fair, fearful wreck--tenement of a soul--itself a soul, | 14 | ·/˘·/˘˘···˘/·· |
| Unclaim’d, avoided house--take one breath from my tremulous lips, | 15 | ˘/˘/˘······/˘˘· |
| Take one tear dropt aside as I go for thought of you, | 13 | ····˘/······· |
| Dead house of love--house of madness and sin, crumbled, crush’d, | 13 | ······/˘··/˘· |
| House of life, erewhile talking and laughing--but ah, poor house, | 16 | ·······/˘·/˘···· |
| dead even then, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| Months, years, an echoing, garnish’d house--but dead, dead, dead. | 13 | ···/˘˘/˘····· |
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.