Analysis of In Midnight Sleep

Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)




   IN midnight sleep, of many a face of anguish,
   Of the look at first of the mortally wounded--of that indescribable
         look;
   Of the dead on their backs, with arms extended wide,
       I dream, I dream, I dream.

Of scenes of nature, fields and mountains;
   Of skies, so beauteous after a storm--and at night the moon so
         unearthly bright,
   Shining sweetly, shining down, where we dig the trenches and gather
         the heaps,
       I dream, I dream, I dream.

Long, long have they pass'd--faces and trenches and fields;
   Where through the carnage I moved with a callous composure--or away
         from the fallen,
   Onward I sped at the time--But now of their forms at night,
       I dream, I dream, I dream.                                     10


Scheme xxxxA xxbxxA xxxba
Poetic Form
Metre 01111001110 101111010010110100 1 101111110101 111111 111101010 11111001011011 0101 1010101111010010 01 111111 111111001001 11010111010010101 1010 10111011111111 111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 777
Words 121
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 6, 5
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 170
Words per stanza (avg) 52
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 30, 2023

36 sec read
198

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. more…

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

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