Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling
Thou orb aloft full-dazzling! thou hot October noon!Flooding with sheeny light the gray beach sand,The sibilant near sea with vistas far and foam,And tawny streaks and shades and spreading blue;O sun of noon refulgent! my special word to thee.
Hear me illustrious!Thy lover me, for always I have loved thee,Even as basking babe, then happy boy alone by some wood edge, thytouching-distant beams enough,Or man matured, or young or old, as now to thee I launch my invocation.
(Thou canst not with thy dumbness me deceive,I know before the fitting man all Nature yields,Though answering not in words, the skies, trees, hear his voice--andthou O sun,As for thy throes, thy perturbations, sudden breaks and shafts offlame gigantic,I understand them, I know those flames, those perturbations well.)
Thou that with fructifying heat and light,O’er myriad farms, o’er lands and waters North and South,O’er Mississippi’s endless course, o’er Texas’ grassy plains,Kanada’s woods,O’er all the globe that turns its face to thee shining in space,Thou that impartially enfoldest all, not only continents, seas,Thou that to grapes and weeds and little wild flowers givest so liberally,Shed, shed thyself on mine and me, with but a fleeting ray out ofthy million millions,Strike through these chants.
Nor only launch thy subtle dazzle and thy strength for these,Prepare the later afternoon of me myself--prepare my lengthening shadows,Prepare my starry nights.
Words in this poem
- flooding n.
- The filling or covering with water or other fluid; overflow; inundation; the filling anything to excess.
- sheeny a.
- Bright; shining; radiant; sheen.
- refulgent a.
- Casting a bright light; radiant; brilliant; resplendent; shining; splendid; as, refulgent beams. [L. refulgens, p. pr. of refulgere to flash back, to shine bright; pref. re- re- + fulgere to shine. See Fulgent.]
- babe n.
- An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
- dumbness n.
- The quality or state of being dumb; muteness; silence; inability to speak.
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
- impartially a.
- In an impartial manner.
- liberally adv.
- In a liberal manner.
- dazzle v. t.
- To overpower with light; to confuse the sight of by brilliance of light. [Freq. of daze.]
- afternoon n.
- The part of the day which follows noon, between noon and evening.
- starry a.
- Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling 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, Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/thou-orb-aloft-full-dazzling.html, id L04040.
Form and metre
Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling is 30 lines in 5 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 87% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.6 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 13% 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.
- 2 -AA-- illustrious · theeA · thyA · enough · invocation
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thou orb aloft full-dazzling! thou hot October noon! | 14 | ··˘/·/˘˘··˘/˘· |
| Flooding with sheeny light the gray beach sand, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| The sibilant near sea with vistas far and foam, | 12 | ·/˘˘···/˘··· |
| And tawny streaks and shades and spreading blue; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| O sun of noon refulgent! my special word to thee. | 13 | ····˘/˘·/˘··· |
| Hear me illustrious! | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| Thy lover me, for always I have loved thee, | 11 | ·/˘··/····· |
| Even as basking babe, then happy boy alone by some wood edge, thy | 17 | /˘·/˘··/˘·˘/····· |
| touching-distant beams enough, | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Or man matured, or young or old, as now to thee I launch my invocation. | 19 | ··˘/············˘/˘ |
| (Thou canst not with thy dumbness me deceive, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| I know before the fitting man all Nature yields, | 12 | ·····/˘··/˘· |
| Though answering not in words, the skies, trees, hear his voice--and | 14 | ·/˘˘·········· |
| thou O sun, | 3 | ··· |
| As for thy throes, thy perturbations, sudden breaks and shafts of | 15 | ······˘/˘/˘···· |
| flame gigantic, | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| I understand them, I know those flames, those perturbations well.) | 15 | ··˘/·······˘/˘· |
| Thou that with fructifying heat and light, | 9 | ········· |
| O’er myriad farms, o’er lands and waters North and South, | 13 | ·/˘˘····/˘··· |
| O’er Mississippi’s endless course, o’er Texas’ grassy plains, | 15 | ··˘/˘/˘··/˘˘/˘· |
| Kanada’s woods, | 4 | ···· |
| O’er all the globe that turns its face to thee shining in space, | 14 | ··········/˘·· |
| Thou that impartially enfoldest all, not only continents, seas, | 17 | ··˘/˘˘˘/˘··/˘/˘˘· |
| Thou that to grapes and weeds and little wild flowers givest so liberally, | 19 | ·······/˘·/˘···/˘˘˘ |
| Shed, shed thyself on mine and me, with but a fleeting ray out of | 16 | ··˘/·······/˘··· |
| thy million millions, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Strike through these chants. | 4 | ···· |
| Nor only launch thy subtle dazzle and thy strength for these, | 14 | ·/˘··/˘/˘····· |
| Prepare the later afternoon of me myself--prepare my lengthening shadows, | 20 | ˘/·/˘·˘/···/˘/·/˘˘/· |
| Prepare my starry nights. | 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.