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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.
“A Glimpse” is a single-stanza poem of seven lines. The cursory nature of this poem’s form parallels the subject matter. The form is just as brief and fleeting as a “glimpse.” There is no rhyme scheme, and the line lengths vary. The first five lines alternate between a relatively short line, and a long line. Lines 1, 3, and 5 are shorter lines, with Lines 2 and 4 being almost twice as long. This switching back and forth between line lengths also matches the shifting focus between the public setting and the private nature of the two lovers’ relationship. The last two lines are longer and relatively the same length, providing a sense of finality for the text. In addition to there being no rhyme scheme, there is also a lack of a set metrical pattern, making it a free verse poem. This lack of a set meter makes the lines sound colloquial and unassuming, just like the “glimpse” being described by the speaker.
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