The Last Invocation
At the last, tenderly,From the walls of the powerful fortress’d house,From the clasp of the knitted locks, from the keep of the well-closed doors,Let me be wafted.
Let me glide noiselessly forth;With the key of softness unlock the locks--with a whisper,Set ope the doors O soul.
Tenderly--be not impatient,(Strong is your hold O mortal flesh,Strong is your hold O love.)
Words in this poem
- tenderly adv.
- In a tender manner; with tenderness; mildly; gently; softly; in a manner not to injure or give pain; with pity or affection; kindly.
- unlock v. t.
- To unfasten, as what is locked; as, to unlock a door or a chest. [Cf. AS. unl. See 1st Un-, and Lock, v. t.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Last Invocation 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 Last Invocation, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/the-last-invocation.html, id L04035.
Form and metre
The Last Invocation is 10 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.8 syllables. 4 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 |
|---|---|---|
| At the last, tenderly, | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| From the walls of the powerful fortress’d house, | 11 | ·····/˘˘··· |
| From the clasp of the knitted locks, from the keep of the well-closed doors, | 16 | ·····/˘········· |
| Let me be wafted. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Let me glide noiselessly forth; | 8 | ········ |
| With the key of softness unlock the locks--with a whisper, | 14 | ····/˘˘/····/˘ |
| Set ope the doors O soul. | 6 | ······ |
| Tenderly--be not impatient, | 8 | /˘˘··˘/˘ |
| (Strong is your hold O mortal flesh, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Strong is your hold O love.) | 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.