Virginia—The West
The noble sire fallen on evil days,I saw with hand uplifted, menacing, brandishing,(Memories of old in abeyance, love and faith in abeyance,)The insane knife toward the Mother of All.
The noble son on sinewy feet advancing,I saw, out of the land of prairies, land of Ohio’s waters and of Indiana,To the rescue the stalwart giant hurry his plenteous offspring,Drest in blue, bearing their trusty rifles on their shoulders.
Then the Mother of All with calm voice speaking,As to you Rebellious, (I seemed to hear her say,) why strive againstme, and why seek my life?When you yourself forever provide to defend me?For you provided me Washington--and now these also.
Words in this poem
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- abeyance n.
- Expectancy; condition of being undetermined. [OF. abeance expectation, longing; a (L. ad) + baer, beer, to gape, to look with open mouth, to expect, F. bayer, LL. badare to gape.]
- stalwart a.
- Brave; bold; strong; redoubted; daring; vehement; violent. [OE. stalworth, AS. stælwyrth serviceable, probably originally, good at stealing, or worth stealing or taking, and afterwards extended to other causes of estimat]
- rebellious a.
- Engaged in rebellion; disposed to rebel of the nature of rebels or of rebellion; resisting government or lawful authority by force.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Virginia—The West 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, Virginia—The West, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/virginia-the-west.html, id L03942.
Form and metre
Virginia—The West is 13 lines in 3 stanzas. 68% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.5 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 8% 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- advancingA · indiana · offspringA · shoulders
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The noble sire fallen on evil days, | 11 | ·/˘/˘/˘·/˘· |
| I saw with hand uplifted, menacing, brandishing, | 13 | ····/˘˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| (Memories of old in abeyance, love and faith in abeyance,) | 16 | /˘˘···˘/˘····˘/˘ |
| The insane knife toward the Mother of All. | 11 | ·˘/····/˘·· |
| The noble son on sinewy feet advancing, | 12 | ·/˘··/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| I saw, out of the land of prairies, land of Ohio’s waters and of Indiana, | 22 | ·······/˘··˘/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| To the rescue the stalwart giant hurry his plenteous offspring, | 17 | ··/˘·/˘/˘/˘·/˘˘/· |
| Drest in blue, bearing their trusty rifles on their shoulders. | 14 | ···/˘·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Then the Mother of All with calm voice speaking, | 11 | ··/˘·····/˘ |
| As to you Rebellious, (I seemed to hear her say,) why strive against | 16 | ···˘/˘·········· |
| me, and why seek my life? | 6 | ······ |
| When you yourself forever provide to defend me? | 13 | ··˘/˘/˘˘/·˘/· |
| For you provided me Washington--and now these also. | 14 | ··˘/˘·/˘˘···/˘ |
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.