Question

Walt Whitman was an American poet who was born in 1819. Leaves of Grass is one of his most well-known poetry collections.

Listen to an excerpt from one of his poems here.

View the excerpt of the poem here.

What did you notice about this poem’s structure as you listened? Check all that apply.

It is a poem with a fixed form.
It does not have a specific rhyme scheme.
It has rhyming quatrains.
It has a free form.
It does not have a set meter.

Answer 1

- It does not have a specific rhyme scheme. — Yes. Whitman’s lines don’t follow regular end-rhyme patterns.
- It has a free form. — Yes. This is free verse with varying line lengths and open structure.
- It does not have a set meter. — Yes. There’s no regular, repeating metrical pattern (iambic, trochaic, etc.).

Not true: "It is a poem with a fixed form" and "It has rhyming quatrains."