Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City.

ONCE I pass’d through a populous city, imprinting my brain, for future use, with its
shows, architecture, customs, and traditions;
Yet now, of all that city, I remember only a woman I casually met there, who detain’d me
for love of me;
Day by day and night by night we were together,–All else has long been forgotten by me;
I remember, I say, only that woman who passionately clung to me;
Again we wander–we love–we separate again;
Again she holds me by the hand–I must not go!
I see her close beside me, with silent lips, sad and tremulous.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Walt Whitman's poem Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City.

2 Comments

  1. ROY says:

    This is a powerful and very sensitive poem. I read a while ago (I can not quote the source, I forgot it) that this poem was intended to celebrate a homosexual relationship the poem had. Still is one of my favorites.

  2. Pinky says:

    The poem i hated, i might have if i would have been able to understand it. why does it have all the little ::TM””;”’::”” crap??!! please fix it!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Do you have any comments, criticism, paraphrasis or analysis of this poem that you feel would assist other visitors in understanding the meaning or the theme of this poem by Walt Whitman better? If accepted, your analysis will be added to this page of American Poems. Together we can build a wealth of information, but it will take some discipline and determination.