Two Rivulets
Two Rivulets - meaning Summary
Life and Death as Streams
Whitman likens existence to two rivulets—parallel, mingling currents—that symbolize paired opposites (life and death, real and ideal, temporal strands) moving together toward a single, mystical Ocean. The poem addresses reader and self to assert a universal, shared flow and to emphasize interconnectedness and longing for union with a vast, embracing whole. Its final lines express yearning for the Ocean’s shore as a reconciliatory, tender destination.
Read Complete AnalysesTWO Rivulets side by side, Two blended, parallel, strolling tides, Companions, travelers, gossiping as they journey. For the Eternal Ocean bound, These ripples, passing surges, streams of Death and Life, Object and Subject hurrying, whirling by, The Real and Ideal, Alternate ebb and flow the Days and Nights, (Strands of a Trio twining, Present, Future, Past.) In You, whoe’er you are, my book perusing, In I myself—in all the World—these ripples flow, All, all, toward the mystic Ocean tending. (O yearnful waves! the kisses of your lips! Your breast so broad, with open arms, O firm, expanded shore!)
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