Midnight: the witching hour, a haunted time, moment of epiphany. It is at this moment that our swaggering national bard, epic chanter of democracy, becomes a tender and delicate solitary, who addresses something wordless and imperishable inside himself, which he would free and let roam in the world. It is only four lines long: one quatrain. It is all about transport, about the imagination in cooperation and harmony with the universe. Whitman seems to address his soul to achieve that harmony. This is a dramatic utterance, but it is also a conjuration.

The Interpretation of A Clear Midnight By Walt Whitman


Explore A Clear Midnight
This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless, Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done, Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best, Night, sleep, death and the stars. About "A Clear Midnight" This final poem in the section "From Noon to Starry Night" in the seventh edition of Leaves of Grass , is, in the words of Edward Hirsch , "about releasing the soul back into the universe. O how can it be that the ground itself does not sicken? How can you be alive you growths of spring?
More by Walt Whitman
Here you will find the interpretation of this famous poem by walt whitman. The Structure The poem is A clear Midnight was written in a short verse of 42 words. It has a reverent anticipation tone. The poet used metaphor in communicating his message. You could also understand the structure more by visiting recitation of a clear midnight. The Meaning The message of the short poem is very clear.
THIS is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless, Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done, Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best. Night, sleep, death and the stars. He depicts it as silent and watchful, almost as if it has left its human body. This technique of personification is also used in his poem, The Noiseless, Patient Spider, where he describes the spider building its web with words such as tirelessly, thus giving the spider the illusion of human-like labor.