To a Locomotive in Winter
Thee for my recitative,Thee in the driving storm even as now, the snow, the winter-day declining,Thee in thy panoply, thy measur’d dual throbbing and thy beat convulsive,Thy black cylindric body, golden brass and silvery steel,Thy ponderous side-bars, parallel and connecting rods, gyrating,shuttling at thy sides,Thy metrical, now swelling pant and roar, now tapering in the distance,Thy great protruding head-light fix’d in front,Thy long, pale, floating vapor-pennants, tinged with delicate purple,The dense and murky clouds out-belching from thy smoke-stack,Thy knitted frame, thy springs and valves, the tremulous twinkle ofthy wheels,Thy train of cars behind, obedient, merrily following,Through gale or calm, now swift, now slack, yet steadily careering;Type of the modern--emblem of motion and power--pulse of the continent,For once come serve the Muse and merge in verse, even as here I see thee,With storm and buffeting gusts of wind and falling snow,By day thy warning ringing bell to sound its notes,By night thy silent signal lamps to swing.
Fierce-throated beauty!Roll through my chant with all thy lawless music, thy swinging lampsat night,Thy madly-whistled laughter, echoing, rumbling like an earthquake,rousing all,Law of thyself complete, thine own track firmly holding,(No sweetness debonair of tearful harp or glib piano thine,)Thy trills of shrieks by rocks and hills return’d,Launch’d o’er the prairies wide, across the lakes,To the free skies unpent and glad and strong.
Words in this poem
- panoply n.
- Defensive armor in general; a full suit of defensive armor.
- dual a.
- Expressing, or consisting of, the number two; belonging to two; as, the dual number of nouns, etc. , in Greek. [L. dualis, fr. duo two. See Two.]
- cylindric a.
- Having the form of a cylinder, or of a section of its convex surface; partaking of the properties of the cylinder. Cylindrical lens, a lens having one, or more than one, cylindrical surface. [Gr.cylindrique.]
- pant v. i.
- To breathe quickly or in a labored manner, as after exertion or from eagerness or excitement; to respire with heaving of the breast; to gasp. [Cf. F. panteler to gasp for breath, OF. panteisier to be breathless, F. pantois out of breath; perh. akin to E. phantom, the verb prob. orig. meaning, to have t]
- twinkle v. i.
- To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. [OE. twinklen, AS. twinclian; akin to OE. twinken to blink, wink, G. zwinken, zwinkern, and perhaps to E. twitch.]
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- merge v. t.
- To cause to be swallowed up; to immerse; to sink; to absorb. [L. mergere, mersum. Cf. Emerge, Immerse, Marrow.]
- buffeting n.
- A striking with the hand.
- madly adv.
- In a mad manner; without reason or understanding; wildly. [From Mad, a.]
- rumbling
- a. & n. from Rumble, v. i.
- debonair a.
- Characterized by courteousness, affability, or gentleness; of good appearance and manners; graceful; complaisant. [OE. debonere, OF. de bon aire, debonaire, of good descent or lineage, excellent, debonair, F. débonnaire debonair; de of (L. de) + bon good (L. bonus) + aire. S]
- tearful a.
- Abounding with tears; weeping; shedding tears; as, tearful eyes.
- glib a.
- Smooth; slippery; as, ice is glib. [Prob. fr. D. glibberen, glippen, to slide, glibberig, glipperig, glib, slippery.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Locomotive in Winter 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, To a Locomotive in Winter, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/to-a-locomotive-in-winter.html, id L04043.
Form and metre
To a Locomotive in Winter is 29 lines in 2 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 12.4 syllables. 10 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 7% 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 -----A---A beauty · lamps · night · earthquake · all · holdingA · thine · return'd · lakes · strongA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Thee for my recitative, | 7 | ······· |
| Thee in the driving storm even as now, the snow, the winter-day declining, | 19 | ···/˘·/˘·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Thee in thy panoply, thy measur’d dual throbbing and thy beat convulsive, | 19 | ···/˘˘·/˘/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Thy black cylindric body, golden brass and silvery steel, | 15 | ·····/˘/˘··/˘˘· |
| Thy ponderous side-bars, parallel and connecting rods, gyrating, | 17 | ·/˘˘··/˘··˘/˘·/·˘ |
| shuttling at thy sides, | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Thy metrical, now swelling pant and roar, now tapering in the distance, | 18 | ·/˘˘·/˘····/˘˘··/˘ |
| Thy great protruding head-light fix’d in front, | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Thy long, pale, floating vapor-pennants, tinged with delicate purple, | 16 | ···/˘/˘/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| The dense and murky clouds out-belching from thy smoke-stack, | 13 | ···/˘··/˘···· |
| Thy knitted frame, thy springs and valves, the tremulous twinkle of | 15 | ·/˘······/˘˘/˘· |
| thy wheels, | 2 | ·· |
| Thy train of cars behind, obedient, merrily following, | 16 | ······˘/˘˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Through gale or calm, now swift, now slack, yet steadily careering; | 15 | ·········/˘˘˘/˘ |
| Type of the modern--emblem of motion and power--pulse of the continent, | 19 | ···/˘/˘·/˘·/˘···/˘˘ |
| For once come serve the Muse and merge in verse, even as here I see thee, | 17 | ··········/˘····· |
| With storm and buffeting gusts of wind and falling snow, | 13 | ···˘/˘····/˘· |
| By day thy warning ringing bell to sound its notes, | 12 | ···/˘/˘····· |
| By night thy silent signal lamps to swing. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Fierce-throated beauty! | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Roll through my chant with all thy lawless music, thy swinging lamps | 15 | ·······/˘/˘·/˘· |
| at night, | 2 | ·· |
| Thy madly-whistled laughter, echoing, rumbling like an earthquake, | 17 | ·/˘/˘/˘/˘˘/˘˘··/· |
| rousing all, | 3 | /˘· |
| Law of thyself complete, thine own track firmly holding, | 13 | ··˘/˘/···/˘/˘ |
| (No sweetness debonair of tearful harp or glib piano thine,) | 16 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Thy trills of shrieks by rocks and hills return’d, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Launch’d o’er the prairies wide, across the lakes, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| To the free skies unpent and glad and strong. | 10 | ·········· |
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