Sea-Shore Memories by Walt Whitman: poem analysis

This is an analysis of the poem Sea-Shore Memories that begins with:

OUT of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird's throat, the musical shuttle,... full text

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: abcdcefghfXdiXjckhlaalmhXna XdaXomdchaXa mmo opqnnX mcccm foffXj rsf dqhh cX rcahkkasa kX idkf cg dg jhX dg hsg meco Xmdq hr cspc hXhmfh roffmrX gsrr skfh mX ffcc mf fhdXs aaaaagajXXaXaaacag bfarXdhff frhfccmXf sskkfffdh Xbmhh fcqpphXcbop coXnohX
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 27,12,3,6,5,6,3,4,2,9,2,4,2,2,3,2,3,4,4,2,4,6,7,4,4,2,4,2,5,18,9,9,9,5,11,9,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: alternate rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 1001010010 1001011010010 1001111 10010110101101 1001100111011 1001010 10010101110110101 001 10010011110 0010000111001 01100110001010110 11 01011011110110100 11 01010101011100 0101 00100100111001 001001011 0011011010110 011111010100 10110010110110 11011011100 011111010101 101110101001 11001111000110101 101101011010010 010101 1100 1011101011110011 0111110 1011011 11010101010 111111111001 11001011011111 1100101111011001 1 11001101001101110010 01 10010010010 111 111111 11111010 1010 1111111 1111111 111011001 10111011 11110101 10010 10101001 110001111101 1011101101 1100101 11000110001001 111100100101010 100110001 11001001011 11111100001010111 01010101010 111 1111011001 111111111101 110110 111101001101 111010101 10110100101 11101 1110101101111 111011 0111111101001 11111110100110 1001001110110011 010100110100111 1011 0111001010010 101101011011 10111 100101101001 10011101 111 110110101 1010100101011010011 11111111 1101011 1001011100100101 1100110100101 0101 1111111110011010 10 10110111110011 111 1110111 11111111001 1011110101 11111111 1101 10110101110 1000101011 111110011010 11111 010111111111111101 01101 11111111010010111 1101 0101111101010101 1111001 11010101 10101 11100011100111 1110 1010101101 100101110 101011010101 110111111110001 11001010 1111 111110 1111010110101 111101111101001 11110101010 1110101111111010000 11 1011 1111 0010111011101 01010111111 11010011 1001000100111 1001000100001 1101101 110101 11110111001 1110001101100101 110010001 111101 11111010001000101 1110101 11011011010011111 11111101 001001101 11111 1111111011 1101011 010010 1101000110 0110010010100100 010101110010010 101010011110 010110110110010 011110 011000011010010 10110 0100111111111000 10 0101001011001001 01110110 010010111100 0101010110010010 001110100101110 10 00100101 10111011 00010111111001001 111101110110 11111 100101111111011 101001010010110101 110011 0101001011001011 1001 11101010101100101 110101100101111010101 1011101101001010 1010100101101001 10011100010111011 1001 101100101101 0100101010011011 0011010001 1110101001111 101101111111 1011101101011001110 11111000101111 01101011 1101101011101 111010010101111011 110010111010 111101110 0111101001 0110010001 1011100110 111000110101111 01001101111 10010001 01011001 101101110100111 100101101011 101110111 10010010101111011 11 110111001110111 10110010111101101 10 11111 111101 1101011010110 111010011110011 00100101110 1111000110 10001011001 01001011111 1110101110011 01101
  • Amount of stanzas: 36
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 285
  • Average number of words per stanza: 46
  • Amount of lines: 222
  • Average number of symbols per line: 46 (strings are more long than medium ones)
  • Average number of words per line: 8

  • Mood of the speaker:

    There are many exclamation marks in the poem. The speaker is excited. He or she has strong feelings on the subject that is described in the poem.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; out, of, from, and, shine, or, nor, blow, i, soothe, love, it, o, loud, land, carols, still, to, you, in, loved, me, never, more, death, songs are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words out, from, and, nor, blow, he, listen'd, o, loud, carols, that, the, now, never are repeated.

    The author used the same word o at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

    There is a poetic device epiphora at the end of some neighboring lines together, you, sea, death are repeated).

    The poet repeated the same word love at the end of some neighboring stanzas. The poetic device is a kind of epiphora.

    The literary device anadiplosis is detected in two or more neighboring lines. The words/phrases blow, loud, carols connect the lines.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of Sea-Shore Memories;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

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