The United States to Old World Critics
Here first the duties of to-day, the lessons of the concrete,Wealth, order, travel, shelter, products, plenty;As of the building of some varied, vast, perpetual edifice,Whence to arise inevitable in time, the towering roofs, the lamps,The solid-planted spires tall shooting to the stars.
Words in this poem
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- towering a.
- Very high; elevated; rising aloft; as, a towering height.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The United States to Old World Critics 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 United States to Old World Critics, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/the-united-states-to-old-world-critics.html, id L04100.
Form and metre
The United States to Old World Critics is 5 lines in a single stanza. The lines average 14.6 syllables. 2 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here first the duties of to-day, the lessons of the concrete, | 15 | ···/˘····/˘··˘/ |
| Wealth, order, travel, shelter, products, plenty; | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| As of the building of some varied, vast, perpetual edifice, | 17 | ···/˘··/˘·˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Whence to arise inevitable in time, the towering roofs, the lamps, | 18 | ··˘/˘/˘˘˘···/˘˘··· |
| The solid-planted spires tall shooting to the stars. | 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.