To a Stranger
Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to meas of a dream,)I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate,chaste, matured,You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yoursonly nor left my body mine only,You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, youtake of my beard, breast, hands, in return,I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone orwake at night alone,I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,I am to see to it that I do not lose you.
Words in this poem
- somewhere adv.
- In some place unknown or not specified; in one place or another.
- flit a.
- Nimble; quick; swift. See Fleet.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Stranger 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 Stranger, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/to-a-stranger.html, id L03876.
Form and metre
To a Stranger is 15 lines in a single stanza. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.5 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% 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 AB-A--B--A----A youA · meB · dream · youA · affectionate · matured · meB · yours · only · youA · return · or · alone · again · youA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Passing stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you, | 17 | /˘/˘·····/˘˘····· |
| You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me | 18 | ······/˘····/˘···· |
| as of a dream,) | 4 | ···· |
| I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you, | 13 | ··/·/˘······· |
| All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, | 17 | ··˘/·····/˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| chaste, matured, | 3 | ·˘/ |
| You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me, | 15 | ··············· |
| I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours | 16 | ·········/˘·˘/·· |
| only nor left my body mine only, | 10 | /˘···/˘·/˘ |
| You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you | 15 | ····/˘········· |
| take of my beard, breast, hands, in return, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or | 19 | ················˘/· |
| wake at night alone, | 5 | ···˘/ |
| I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again, | 15 | ·············˘/ |
| I am to see to it that I do not lose you. | 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.