The Dead Tenor
As down the stage again,With Spanish hat and plumes, and gait inimitable,Back from the fading lessons of the past, I’d call, I’d tell and own,How much from thee! the revelation of the singing voice from thee!(So firm--so liquid-soft--again that tremulous, manly timbre!The perfect singing voice--deepest of all to me the lesson--trialand test of all:)How through those strains distill’d--how the rapt ears, the soul ofme, absorbingFernando’s heart, Manrico’s passionate call, Ernani’s, sweet Gennaro’s,I fold thenceforth, or seek to fold, within my chants transmuting,Freedom’s and Love’s and Faith’s unloos’d cantabile,(As perfume’s, color’s, sunlight’s correlation:)From these, for these, with these, a hurried line, dead tenor,A wafted autumn leaf, dropt in the closing grave, the shovel’d earth,To memory of thee.
Words in this poem
- inimitable a.
- Not capable of being imitated, copied, or counterfeited; beyond imitation; surpassingly excellent; matchless; unrivaled; exceptional; unique; as, an inimitable style; inimitable eloquence. [L. inimitabilis: cf. F. inimitable. See In- not, and Imitable.]
- fading n.
- An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.
- timbre n.
- The crest on a coat of arms. [F., a bell to be struck with a hammer, sound, tone, stamp, crest, in OF., a timbrel. Cf. Timbrel.]
- rapt n.
- An ecstasy; a trance. Bp. Morton. [From F. rapt abduction, rape, L. raptus, fr. rapere to seize and carry off, to transport; or fr. E. rapt, a. See Rapt, a., and Rapid.]
- thenceforth adv.
- From that time; thereafter.
- cantabile a.
- In a melodious, flowing style; in a singing style, as opposed to bravura, recitativo, or parlando. [It., cantare to sing.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Dead Tenor 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 Dead Tenor, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/the-dead-tenor.html, id L04096.
Form and metre
The Dead Tenor is 16 lines in a single stanza. 84% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.2 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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-BB-C-C----A again · inimitable · own · theeA · timbre · trialB · allB · of · absorbingC · gennaro's · transmutingC · cantabile · correlation · tenor · earth · theeA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As down the stage again, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| With Spanish hat and plumes, and gait inimitable, | 13 | ·/˘·····˘/˘˘˘ |
| Back from the fading lessons of the past, I’d call, I’d tell and own, | 16 | ···/˘/˘········· |
| How much from thee! the revelation of the singing voice from thee! | 16 | ······˘/˘··/˘··· |
| (So firm--so liquid-soft--again that tremulous, manly timbre! | 16 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| The perfect singing voice--deepest of all to me the lesson--trial | 17 | ·˘//˘·/˘·····/˘/˘ |
| and test of all:) | 4 | ···· |
| How through those strains distill’d--how the rapt ears, the soul of | 13 | ····˘/······· |
| me, absorbing | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| Fernando’s heart, Manrico’s passionate call, Ernani’s, sweet Gennaro’s, | 18 | ˘/˘····/˘˘·····˘/˘ |
| I fold thenceforth, or seek to fold, within my chants transmuting, | 15 | ···/··········· |
| Freedom’s and Love’s and Faith’s unloos’d cantabile, | 12 | /˘······˘/˘˘ |
| (As perfume’s, color’s, sunlight’s correlation:) | 11 | ·˘//˘/··˘/˘ |
| From these, for these, with these, a hurried line, dead tenor, | 13 | ·······/˘··/˘ |
| A wafted autumn leaf, dropt in the closing grave, the shovel’d earth, | 16 | ·/˘/˘····/˘··/˘· |
| To memory of thee. | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
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.