Whispers of Heavenly Death
Whispers of heavenly death murmur’d I hear,Labial gossip of night, sibilant chorals,Footsteps gently ascending, mystical breezes wafted soft and low,Ripples of unseen rivers, tides of a current flowing, forever flowing,(Or is it the plashing of tears? the measureless waters of human tears?)
I see, just see skyward, great cloud-masses,Mournfully slowly they roll, silently swelling and mixing,With at times a half-dimm’d sadden’d far-off star,Appearing and disappearing.
(Some parturition rather, some solemn immortal birth;On the frontiers to eyes impenetrable,Some soul is passing over.)
Words in this poem
- unseen a.
- Not seen or discovered.
- plashing n.
- The cutting or bending and intertwining the branches of small trees, as in hedges.
- measureless a.
- Without measure; unlimited; immeasurable.
- skyward a.
- Toward the sky.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Whispers of Heavenly Death 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, Whispers of Heavenly Death, in Leaves of Grass (1855–1892), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1322, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/whitman-leaves/whispers-of-heavenly-death.html, id L04023.
Form and metre
Whispers of Heavenly Death is 12 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. 71% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 12.8 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whispers of heavenly death murmur’d I hear, | 11 | /˘·/˘˘·/˘·· |
| Labial gossip of night, sibilant chorals, | 12 | /˘˘/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Footsteps gently ascending, mystical breezes wafted soft and low, | 17 | /·/˘˘/˘/˘˘/˘/˘··· |
| Ripples of unseen rivers, tides of a current flowing, forever flowing, | 19 | /˘·˘//˘···/˘/˘˘/˘/˘ |
| (Or is it the plashing of tears? the measureless waters of human tears?) | 18 | ····/˘···/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| I see, just see skyward, great cloud-masses, | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| Mournfully slowly they roll, silently swelling and mixing, | 15 | ···/˘··/˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| With at times a half-dimm’d sadden’d far-off star, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| Appearing and disappearing. | 8 | ˘/˘··˘/˘ |
| (Some parturition rather, some solemn immortal birth; | 14 | ·····/˘·/˘˘/˘· |
| On the frontiers to eyes impenetrable, | 11 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘˘ |
| Some soul is passing over.) | 7 | ···/˘·· |
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.