Patroling Barnegat
by Walt Whitman
Slide three contains a link to BBC Bitesize
video reading of the poem
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Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman lived from 1819 to 1892.
He worked as a printer, teacher and property speculator
He wrote the poem in 1880 whilst living near Barnegat (now called Ocean County)
a feeling or ambition to articulate and faithfully express
in…poetic form…my own physical, emotional, moral,
intellectual and aesthetic personality…
During the Civil War (1861 - 1865) he volunteered to
work in a hospital amongst the wounded
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Patroling Barnegat
• Themes
• Personal reflection
• Natural power Vs
Man
• Storms
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Key terms:
Present participle
End-stopping
Vivid imagery
Religious imagery
Anthropomorphism
Alliteration
Assonance
Sibilance
Patrolling Barnegat
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Three: This is also links
to the ‘Holy Trinity’
Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
Waves
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
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Leaving/
Going
Someone, presumably
the poet, is walking alone
The poem is set on a beach on a
along the beach through
stormy, wintry night
driving snow, looking out
to sea across the wild
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running waves.
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
Through the dark, snow and spray he is not quite sure what he sees - possibly a
shipwreck, and a distress signal - then what seems to be a group of walkers,
braving the storm.
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Some people claim this is a
sonnet because it is fourteen
lines long; it is not!
However, if it was it would be
interesting that a form usually
reserved for love is used for A bit like
something wild, confusing andlove!
chaotic.
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
-ing ending is unstressed in English which gives each line
more of an eerie echoing quality rather Hthan a rhyme
Patroling Barnegat
Who is the enemy?
Nature? The storm?
Sets a military tone from the
start. What does this imply about
what’s to come?
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
‘-ing’ present participle gives a sense of immediacy to events as if
they’re happening around the speaker.H In fact there is no main
verb in the poem! Why has Whitman done this?
This could be seen as allowing the reader to experience the
storm as it verbally blows you along without respite
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
Only End-stopped on the last line giving the poem a breathless
quality; it’s difficult to read because we H
are allowed only short
pauses at the commas
These conditions are fearfully described and create the
conditions in which we can not answer the questions
posed
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
Things are unclear, ‘murky’. The poet poses questions that are
never answered. How does this emphasise
the conditions in
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the storm?
Repeated phrase gives the impression of the
incessant, repeated battering of the waves
Sets the
tone of
the
poem
straight
away
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
Look at the length of the lines (number of syllables): they appear to ebb and flow
in the same way as the storm and the last line is one of the shortest perhaps
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suggesting the lack of resolution in the speaker’s
observations
Alliteration, assonance and sibilance are used by Whitman to
evoke the sounds of the storm and the sea for the reader
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
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Either way it
makes nature
sound alive
Whitman gives the storm human characteristics.
and malicious
What effect does this have on the reader?
or evil
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Is this man
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
standing up to
“Waves, air, Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
nature or
midnight” On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
are
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting, nature overcontrasted Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing, powering
with the
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?) man?
notion of an Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
‘unholy’
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
trinity of
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
destructive A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
natural
That savage trinity warily watching.
power
Given the human characteristics of the storm who is doing the
patrolling? The ‘dim, weird forms’’
or the ‘savage trinity’
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Anthropomorphism
What is the main mood/tone of this poem?
Frightening?
Amazing?
Mysterious?
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
Steady the roar of the gale, with incessant undertone muttering,
Shouts of demoniac laughter fitfully piercing and pealing,
Waves, air, midnight, their savagest trinity lashing,
Out in the shadows there milk-white combs careering,
On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting,
Where through the murk the easterly death-wind breasting,
Through cutting swirl and spray watchful and firm advancing,
(That in the distance! is that a wreck? is the red signal flaring?)
Slush and sand of the beach tireless till daylight wending,
Steadily, slowly, through hoarse roar never remitting,
Along the midnight edge by those milk-white combs careering,
A group of dim, weird forms, struggling, the night confronting,
That savage trinity warily watching.
Pick out quotations to support each
view before making your mind up
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Comparisons
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Storm on the Island Heaney
Both poems are from a personal viewpoint.
Both poems are about a storm at sea. Yet Whitman is Patrolling the beach,
almost participating in the storm, while Heaney is prepared, protected in his
house.
Heaney uses a simile - spits like a tamed cat turned savage - to describe the
wild sea; Whitman uses images that are even more menacing, like Shouts of
demoniac laughter.
Heaney describes the wind attacking - we are bombarded by the empty air.
Whitman uses another military image - that of troops moving forward, watchful
and firm advancing - to describe the force of the wind. Both images portray
the wind as the enemy.
The Field Mouse Clarke
Both poems are from a personal viewpoint, but ...
Clarke writes about hidden dangers of haymaking on a summer's day, in
contrast to Whitman's vivid portrayal of a beach during a winter storm.
Mankind creates the danger in Clarke's poem - man drives the tractor that kills
the mouse and man causes wars. However in Whitman's poem the powers in
nature create the danger, and mankind is vulnerable.
Clarke uses personification to illustrate the suffering caused by haymaking
(and the war in Bosnia) - the field lies bleeding. Whitman also uses
personification - the high sea runningH... incessant undertone muttering - to
suggest the hostility of the natural world.
Comparisons
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Inversnaid G. M. Hopkins
Both poems are from a personal viewpoint, but ...
Hopkins writes about the beauties of Inversnaid, like the braes dappled with
dew, as well as its dangers.
The main danger in Inversnaid is the pool so pitchblack, fell-frowning.
Whitman also uses alliteration to highlight dangers (piercing and pealing
Whitman shows the relentlessness of the storm through the lack of full stops
- perhaps to suggest that anything fixed and solid (like rules of grammar) are
destroyed by the storm. In contrast, Hopkins uses a steadier rhythm, using
rhyming couplets to suggest the fast pace of the rushing water.
• What other
poems could
we compare
and why?
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Writing about poems
What might you want to say about Whitman's depiction of
stormy weather?
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•The poem is a striking list of vivid impressions of a beach in a winter storm. It is not
a complete sentence, but as if anything fixed and solid (like rules of grammar) are
destroyed by the storm. Our expectations are deceived - we imagine that the poem
will build up to a striking main verb to complete the sentence emphatically, but that
doesn't happen - we are left on a cliff-hanger.
•The natural elements that are described using verbs normally applied to people or
animals - the waves are careering, the wind breasting - which is disconcerting: the
elements are somehow alive, and more powerful than humans. The reference to
demoniac laughter even suggests the supernatural.
•The poet uses alliteration to heighten our sense of the storm. In line 6 he combines
alliteration with consonance: On beachy slush and sand spirts of snow fierce slanting
- which give the impression of the harsh, hissing, swirling snow.
•There is a lot of repetition in the poem and some near-repetition: for example,
beachy slush and sand (line 6) is echoed by Slush and sand of the beach (line 10).
Perhaps the reader feels bombarded by words as the poet did by the storm, as we
are given the same image again and again.
The poem ends on a sinister note: the savage trinity are still warily wathing and so
we are left with the idea of an evil presence. We are haunted by the idea that the
elements are stronger than man - and possibly threatening.
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Patroling Barnegat
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