Once I Pass'd Through a Populous City
Once I Pass'd Through a Populous City - meaning Summary
Memory Over the Metropolis
Whitman contrasts the crowded, forgettable details of a city with the intense, singular memory of a woman he met there. The poem emphasizes how one personal encounter eclipses architecture, customs, and other impressions. Recollections alternate between union and separation, conveying tenderness, urgency, and the persistence of feeling. The speaker’s focus on this intimate bond suggests memory shaped by emotional significance rather than by public spectacle.
Read Complete AnalysesONCE 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.
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