Thought
Of persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies, wealth,scholarships, and the like;(To me all that those persons have arrived at sinks away from them,except as it results to their bodies and souls,So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked,And often to me each one mocks the others, and mocks himself or herself,And of each one the core of life, namely happiness, is full of therotten excrement of maggots,And often to me those men and women pass unwittingly the truerealities of life, and go toward false realities,And often to me they are alive after what custom has served them,but nothing more,And often to me they are sad, hasty, unwaked sonnambules walking the dusk.)
Words in this poem
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- gaunt a.
- Attenuated, as with fasting or suffering; lean; meager; pinched and grim. [Cf. Norw. gand a thin pointed stick, a tall and thin man, and W. gwan weak.]
- namely adv.
- By name; by particular mention; specifically; especially; expressly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Thought 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, Thought, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/thought.html, id L04000.
Form and metre
Thought is 13 lines in a single stanza. 76% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.6 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% 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-------A-- wealth · like · themA · souls · naked · herself · the · maggots · true · realities · themA · more · dusk
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Of persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies, wealth, | 15 | ·/˘˘/··˘/˘/˘·˘· |
| scholarships, and the like; | 6 | /˘···· |
| (To me all that those persons have arrived at sinks away from them, | 16 | ·····/˘·˘/··˘/·· |
| except as it results to their bodies and souls, | 12 | ····˘/··/˘·· |
| So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked, | 13 | ··/˘···˘/··/˘ |
| And often to me each one mocks the others, and mocks himself or herself, | 18 | ·/˘······/˘··˘/·˘/ |
| And of each one the core of life, namely happiness, is full of the | 17 | ········/˘/˘˘···· |
| rotten excrement of maggots, | 8 | /˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| And often to me those men and women pass unwittingly the true | 17 | ·/˘·····/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| realities of life, and go toward false realities, | 15 | ˘/˘˘·······˘/˘˘ |
| And often to me they are alive after what custom has served them, | 17 | ·/˘····˘/···/˘··· |
| but nothing more, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And often to me they are sad, hasty, unwaked sonnambules walking the dusk.) | 19 | ·/˘·····/˘·····/˘·· |
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.