17 pages • 34 minutes read
Walt WhitmanA Glimpse
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1860A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“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.
Enjambment
Enjambment occurs in poetry when a line does not end with a hard stop, meaning that it does not end with a form of punctuation such as a period, semicolon, comma, etc. Instead, with enjambment, the idea expressed in the line continues onto the next line. Five out of seven of the lines in “A Glimpse” end with some form of punctuation. The second and fourth lines, however, don’t have any hard stops but rather continue into the next line. For example, the first instance of enjambment reads, “...and I, / unremark’d seated in a corner” (Lines 2-3). Enjambment often helps to move the reader from one line to another, picking up the pace between lines as opposed to having readers pause. In this case, the usage of enjambment also helps emphasize the solitary nature of the speaker. Just as the speaker is set aside and on their own, this portion of the poem is set aside and sequestered through enjambment. The second instance of enjambment reads, “...that he, / may hold me by the hand” (Lines 5-6). Enjambment in this instance serves the same purpose of emphasizing the content of the shorter line, heightening the sense of intimacy between the two lovers.
Repetition
One significant instance of repetition occurs in “A Glimpse,” which is made even more significant by the fact that no other notable repetition occurs throughout the rest of the poem. Line two begins with “Of a crowd…” and line four also similarly begins with “Of a youth…” The repetition of “Of a…” helps to cue the attention of the reader. Both instances of repetition relate back to the first line, where the speaker alludes to the “glimpse” that has been “caught.” One of those instances, the first instance of repetition, is of the gathering of workers after they have clocked out from that day’s work. The second instance, or the second “glimpse,” is of the “youth” the speaker is in love with who comes to sit with them (Line 4). The usage of repetition helps to move the reader from one scene to another, from one plot point in the cursory text to another. Beginning these different lines and scenarios with the same wording also heightens the contrast between their differing public and private natures.
Related Titles
By Walt Whitman
