To One Shortly to Die
From all the rest I single out you, having a message for you,You are to die--let others tell you what they please, I cannot prevaricate,I am exact and merciless, but I love you--there is no escape for you.
Softly I lay my right hand upon you, you ’ust feel it,I do not argue, I bend my head close and half envelop it,I sit quietly by, I remain faithful,I am more than nurse, more than parent or neighbor,I absolve you from all except yourself spiritual bodily, that iseternal, you yourself will surely escape,The corpse you will leave will be but excrementitious.
The sun bursts through in unlooked-for directions,Strong thoughts fill you and confidence, you smile,You forget you are sick, as I forget you are sick,You do not see the medicines, you do not mind the weeping friends,I am with you,I exclude others from you, there is nothing to be commiserated,I do not commiserate, I congratulate you.
Words in this poem
- prevaricate v. t.
- To evade by a quibble; to transgress; to pervert. Jer.
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
- excrementitious a.
- Pertaining to, or consisting of, excrement; of the nature of excrement.
- commiserate v. t.
- To feel sorrow, pain, or regret for; to pity. [L. commiseratus, p. p. of commiserari to commiserate; com- + miserari to pity. See Miserable.]
- congratulate v. t.
- To address with expressions of sympathetic pleasure on account of some happy event affecting the person addressed; to wish joy to. [L. congratulatus, p.p. of congratulari to wish joy abundantly; con- + gratulari to wish joy, from gratus pleasing. See Grateful.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To One Shortly to Die 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 One Shortly to Die, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/to-one-shortly-to-die.html, id L04032.
Form and metre
To One Shortly to Die is 17 lines in 3 stanzas. 71% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.8 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 6% 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 youA · prevaricate · youA
- 2 AA----- itA · itA · faithful · neighbor · is · escape · excrementitious
- 3 ----A-A directions · smile · sick · friends · youA · commiserated · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| From all the rest I single out you, having a message for you, | 16 | ·····/˘··/˘·/˘·· |
| You are to die--let others tell you what they please, I cannot prevaricate, | 19 | ·····/˘······/˘˘/˘˘ |
| I am exact and merciless, but I love you--there is no escape for you. | 19 | ··˘/·/˘˘·······˘/·· |
| Softly I lay my right hand upon you, you ’ust feel it, | 14 | /˘············ |
| I do not argue, I bend my head close and half envelop it, | 16 | ···/˘·······˘/˘· |
| I sit quietly by, I remain faithful, | 11 | ··/˘˘··˘//˘ |
| I am more than nurse, more than parent or neighbor, | 12 | ·······/˘·/˘ |
| I absolve you from all except yourself spiritual bodily, that is | 19 | ·˘/·····˘//˘˘˘/˘˘·· |
| eternal, you yourself will surely escape, | 11 | ˘/˘·˘/·/˘˘/ |
| The corpse you will leave will be but excrementitious. | 13 | ············· |
| The sun bursts through in unlooked-for directions, | 11 | ·····˘/·˘/˘ |
| Strong thoughts fill you and confidence, you smile, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| You forget you are sick, as I forget you are sick, | 13 | ·˘/·····˘/··· |
| You do not see the medicines, you do not mind the weeping friends, | 16 | ·····/˘˘·····/˘· |
| I am with you, | 4 | ···· |
| I exclude others from you, there is nothing to be commiserated, | 18 | ·˘//˘····/˘··˘/˘·˘ |
| I do not commiserate, I congratulate you. | 13 | ···˘/˘··˘/˘·· |
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.