The Dalliance of the Eagles
Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,)Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles,The rushing amorous contact high in space together,The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel,Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling,In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling,Till o’er the river pois’d, the twain yet one, a moment’s lull,A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing,Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight,She hers, he his, pursuing.
Words in this poem
- skirting n.
- A skirting board.
- forenoon n.
- The early part of the day, from morning to meridian, or noon.
- skyward a.
- Toward the sky.
- dalliance n.
- The act of dallying, trifling, or fondling; interchange of caresses; wanton play. [From Dally.]
- twain a.
- Two;- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque. [OE. twein, tweien, tweyne, AS. twegen, masc. See Two.]
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dalliance of the Eagles 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 Dalliance of the Eagles, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/the-dalliance-of-the-eagles.html, id L03930.
Form and metre
The Dalliance of the Eagles is 10 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 77% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.4 syllables. 6 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Skirting the river road, (my forenoon walk, my rest,) | 12 | /˘·/˘··/˘··· |
| Skyward in air a sudden muffled sound, the dalliance of the eagles, | 18 | /˘···/˘/˘··/˘˘··/˘ |
| The rushing amorous contact high in space together, | 14 | ·/˘/˘˘/····˘/˘ |
| The clinching interlocking claws, a living, fierce, gyrating wheel, | 16 | ·/˘/˘·˘··/˘·/·˘· |
| Four beating wings, two beaks, a swirling mass tight grappling, | 13 | ·/˘····/˘··/˘ |
| In tumbling turning clustering loops, straight downward falling, | 15 | ·/˘˘/˘/˘˘··/˘/˘ |
| Till o’er the river pois’d, the twain yet one, a moment’s lull, | 14 | ···/˘······/˘· |
| A motionless still balance in the air, then parting, talons loosing, | 17 | ·/˘˘·/˘····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Upward again on slow-firm pinions slanting, their separate diverse flight, | 18 | /˘˘/···/˘/˘·/˘·˘/· |
| She hers, he his, pursuing. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
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.