Analysis of Europe, The 72d And 73d Years Of These States
Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)
SUDDENLY, out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves,
Like lightning it le'pt forth, half startled at itself,
Its feet upon the ashes and the rags--its hands tight to the throats
of kings.
O hope and faith!
O aching close of exiled patriots' lives!
O many a sicken'd heart!
Turn back unto this day, and make yourselves afresh.
And you, paid to defile the People! you liars, mark!
Not for numberless agonies, murders, lusts,
For court thieving in its manifold mean forms, worming from his
simplicity the poor man's wages, 10
For many a promise sworn by royal lips, and broken, and laugh'd at in
the breaking,
Then in their power, not for all these, did the blows strike revenge,
or the heads of the nobles fall;
The People scorn'd the ferocity of kings.
But the sweetness of mercy brew'd bitter destruction, and the
frighten'd monarchs come back;
Each comes in state, with his train--hangman, priest, tax-gatherer,
Soldier, lawyer, lord, jailer, and sycophant.
Yet behind all, lowering, stealing--lo, a Shape,
Vague as the night, draped interminably, head, front and form, in
scarlet folds,
Whose face and eyes none may see,
Out of its robes only this--the red robes, lifted by the arm, 20
One finger, crook'd, pointed high over the top, like the head of a
snake appears.
Meanwhile, corpses lie in new-made graves--bloody corpses of young
men;
The rope of the gibbet hangs heavily, the bullets of princes are
flying, the creatures of power laugh aloud,
And all these things bear fruits--and they are good.
Those corpses of young men,
Those martyrs that hang from the gibbets--those hearts pierc'd by the
gray lead,
Cold and motionless as they seem, live elsewhere with unslaughter'd
vitality.
They live in other young men, O kings!
They live in brothers, again ready to defy you!
They were purified by death--they were taught and exalted. 30
Not a grave of the murder'd for freedom, but grows seed for freedom,
in its turn to bear seed,
Which the winds carry afar and re-sow, and the rains and the snows
nourish.
Not a disembodied spirit can the weapons of tyrants let loose,
But it stalks invisibly over the earth, whispering, counseling,
cautioning.
Liberty! let others despair of you! I never despair of you.
Is the house shut? Is the master away?
Nevertheless, be ready--be not weary of watching;
He will soon return--his messengers come anon.
Scheme | AXXB XXCX XAXXDEXXB FXXC XDXGXFX XHXXX HFXCG BIX XXXX XEE I XED |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 100111101010111 110111110101 1101010001111101 11 1101 1101111001 1100101 111011010101 011110101101 111100101 1110011011111 010001110 110010111010100110 010 101101111101101 10110101 01010010011 101011011001000 10111 11011111011100 101011001 101110010101 11011100011010 101 1101111 111110101110101 11010101100110110 101 11010111101011 1 0110111000101101 10010110101 0111110111 110111 1101110111110 11 101001111111 0100 110101111 1101001101011 1010111010010 1011010110111110 011111 1011001011001001 10 10001010101011011 11111001100100 100 10011001111100111 1011101001 0011101110110 11101110011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,594 |
Words | 404 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 9, 4, 7, 5, 5, 3, 4, 3, 1, 3 |
Lines Amount | 52 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 9 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 153 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 37 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:04 min read
- 136 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Europe, The 72d And 73d Years Of These States" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/38005/europe%2C-the-72d-and-73d-years-of-these-states>.
Discuss this Walt Whitman poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In