Read the passage below and answer the question.

I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass. (lines 1281 - 1282)

What poetic technique does Whitman illustrate in the passage from "Song of Myself"?

A. rhyming lines

B. end-stopped lines

C. regular meter

D. regular rhythm

Question

Grace Wilcox

English

6 December, 14:27

Read the passage below and answer the question.

I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass. (lines 1281 - 1282)

What poetic technique does Whitman illustrate in the passage from "Song of Myself"?

A. rhyming lines

B. end-stopped lines

C. regular meter

D. regular rhythm

+1

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Jillian Cole · Answer 1

The poetic technique being used by Whitman is:

B. end-stopped lines

Explanation:

As we know, Walt Whitman is considered the father of free verse, which means he is NOT concerned with regular meter, rhythm, or rhymes in his poems. We could easily eliminate options A, C, and D with that knowledge. Still, even if people do not know that fact about Whitman, they could analyze the lines provided:

I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass. (lines 1281 - 1282)

As the end of each syntactic unit - - which can be a phrase, a clause, or a sentence - -, the writer uses punctuation to signal a pause. That is known as end-stopped lines. As we can see in the lines above, Whitman chose to use commas between each unit. That is how he shows the audience there is a pause between them.