When the Full-Grown Poet Came
When the full-grown poet came,Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all itsshows of day and night,) saying, He is mine;But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled,Nay he is mine alone;--Then the full-grown poet stood between the two, and took eachby the hand;And to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands,Which he will never release until he reconciles the two,And wholly and joyously blends them.
Words in this poem
- impassive a.
- Not susceptible of pain or suffering; apathetic; impassible; unmoved.
- blender n.
- One who, or that which, blends; an instrument, as a brush, used in blending.
- uniter n.
- One who, or that which, unites.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
When the Full-Grown Poet Came 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, When the Full-Grown Poet Came, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/when-the-full-grown-poet-came.html, id L04137.
Form and metre
When the Full-Grown Poet Came is 10 lines in a single verse paragraph. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.2 syllables. 20% 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When the full-grown poet came, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all its | 14 | ···/˘··˘/˘···· |
| shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled, | 16 | ·········/˘·˘/˘· |
| Nay he is mine alone; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| --Then the full-grown poet stood between the two, and took each | 14 | ····/˘········ |
| by the hand; | 3 | ··· |
| And to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands, | 19 | ····/˘···/˘˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Which he will never release until he reconciles the two, | 15 | ···/˘˘/···/˘··· |
| And wholly and joyously blends them. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.