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Walt WhitmanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Whitman’s poem can be classified by readers as a lyric poem, as it relates the personal thoughts and feelings of the speaker. The first line of the poem catches readers off guard with its inverted word order. The direct object, “a glimpse through an interstice” is “caught” (Line 1). The subject of this sentence, the individual who is “catching” this glimpse, is left unnamed. The anonymity of the subject position has a dual effect: creating a tone of mystery and suspense for the readers while also putting the reader into the subject position themself and making them feel as though they are a part of the text. An “interstice” can be defined as a small opening or gap. Seeing a “glimpse” through an “interstice” implies that the subject is peeking, or spying. They are looking into a private space or world that is not intended for public view. The fact that they are only seeing a “glimpse” means that they are only seeing a partial image or view of this private setting - not the full picture.
The exact description of this “glimpse” that is seen by the speaker, the reader, or the unnamed subject comes together in the second line.
By Walt Whitman
America
America
Walt Whitman
A Noiseless Patient Spider
A Noiseless Patient Spider
Walt Whitman
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
Walt Whitman
As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days
Walt Whitman
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry
Walt Whitman
For You O Democracy
For You O Democracy
Walt Whitman
Hours Continuing Long
Hours Continuing Long
Walt Whitman
I Hear America Singing
I Hear America Singing
Walt Whitman
I Sing the Body Electric
I Sing the Body Electric
Walt Whitman
I Sit and Look Out
I Sit and Look Out
Walt Whitman
Leaves of Grass
Leaves of Grass
Walt Whitman
O Captain! My Captain!
O Captain! My Captain!
Walt Whitman
Song of Myself
Song of Myself
Walt Whitman
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
Walt Whitman
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer
Walt Whitman
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
Walt Whitman