The Pallid Wreath
Somehow I cannot let it go yet, funeral though it is,Let it remain back there on its nail suspended,With pink, blue, yellow, all blanch’d, and the white now gray and ashy,One wither’d rose put years ago for thee, dear friend;But I do not forget thee. Hast thou then faded?Is the odor exhaled? Are the colors, vitalities, dead?No, while memories subtly play--the past vivid as ever;For but last night I woke, and in that spectral ring saw thee,Thy smile, eyes, face, calm, silent, loving as ever:So let the wreath hang still awhile within my eye-reach,It is not yet dead to me, nor even pallid.
Words in this poem
- somehow adv.
- In one way or another; in some way not yet known or designated; by some means; as, the thing must be done somehow; he lives somehow.
- ashy a.
- Pertaining to, or composed of, ashes; filled, or strewed with, ashes.
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- subtly adv.
- In a subtle manner; slyly; artfully; cunningly.
- awhile adv.
- For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pallid Wreath 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 Pallid Wreath, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/the-pallid-wreath.html, id L04125.
Form and metre
The Pallid Wreath is 11 lines in a single stanza. 77% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.4 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.
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--AAB-B-- is · suspendedA · ashy · friend · fadedA · deadA · everB · thee · everB · reach · pallid
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Somehow I cannot let it go yet, funeral though it is, | 15 | /··/˘····/˘˘··· |
| Let it remain back there on its nail suspended, | 12 | ··˘/·····˘/˘ |
| With pink, blue, yellow, all blanch’d, and the white now gray and ashy, | 15 | ···/˘········/˘ |
| One wither’d rose put years ago for thee, dear friend; | 12 | ·/˘···˘/···· |
| But I do not forget thee. Hast thou then faded? | 12 | ····˘/····/˘ |
| Is the odor exhaled? Are the colors, vitalities, dead? | 15 | ··/˘˘/··/˘˘/˘˘· |
| No, while memories subtly play--the past vivid as ever; | 16 | ··/˘˘/˘˘···/˘·/˘ |
| For but last night I woke, and in that spectral ring saw thee, | 14 | ·········/˘··· |
| Thy smile, eyes, face, calm, silent, loving as ever: | 12 | ·····/˘/˘·/˘ |
| So let the wreath hang still awhile within my eye-reach, | 13 | ······˘/····· |
| It is not yet dead to me, nor even pallid. | 12 | ········/˘/˘ |
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.