Aboard At A Ship's Helm
ABOARD, at a ship's helm, A young steersman, steering with care. A bell through fog on a sea-coast dolefully ringing, An ocean-bell--O a warning bell, rock'd by the waves. O you give good notice indeed, you bell by the sea-reefs ringing, Ringing, ringing, to warn the ship from its wreck-place. For, as on the alert, O steersman, you mind the bell's admonition, The bows turn,--the freighted ship, tacking, speeds away under her gray sails, The beautiful and noble ship, with all her precious wealth, speeds away gaily and safe. But O the ship, the immortal ship! O ship aboard the ship! 10 O ship of the body--ship of the soul--voyaging, voyaging, voyaging. In the poem by Walter Whitman Aboard At A Ship's Helm, there is a open form of poetry that is used called free verse. Free verse is defined as a form of poetry that does not acknowledge the traditional defining characteristics of closed forms of poetry. This includes following a specific meter or foot like iambic pentameter. This poem fails to establish a set meter or foot, so it does not conform to the guidelines that are seen in closed form poetry. The thing that makes it free verse instead prose verse is that it uses enjambment in the entire poem. For example, Walt says in the poem "speeds away under her gray sails." The way he does this is by saying the first part of the idea, which is speeds away under her," on the first line then on the next line he continues that idea by saying "gray sails." This is considered enjambment because it has one whole idea that is continued on the next line in the poem instead of being on one line for the entirety of the thought. Because this poem has enjambment that is able to be seen throughout the rest of the poem, it is considered free verse because free verse does not follow the traditional characteristics of open form poetry but it does include the concept of enjambment within the poem.
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October 2014
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