On the Beach at Night

by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

On the beach at night,
Stands a child with her father,
Watching the east, the autumn sky.
Up through the darkness,
While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading,
Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky,
Amid a transparent clear belt of ether yet left in the east,
Ascends large and calm the lord-star Jupiter,
And nigh at hand, only a very little above,
Swim the delicate sisters the Pleiades.
From the beach the child holding the hand of her father,
Those burial-clouds that lower victorious soon to devour all,
Watching, silently weeps.
Weep
not,
Weep not, my darling,
With these kisses let me remove your tears,
The ravening clouds shall not long be victorious,
They shall not long possess the sky, they devour the stars only in apparition,
Jupiter shall emerge, be patient, watch again another night, the Pleiades shall emerge,
They are immortal, all those stars both silvery and golden shall shine out again,
The great stars and the little ones shall shine out again, they endure,
The vast immortal suns and the long-enduring pensive moons shall again shine.

child,

Then dearest child mournest thou only for Jupiter?

Considerest thou alone the burial of the stars?
Something there is,
(With my lips soothing thee, adding I whisper,
I give thee the first suggestion, the problem and indirection,)
Something there is more immortal even than the stars,
(Many the burials, many the days and nights, passing away,)
Something that shall endure longer even than lustrous Jupiter
Longer than sun or any revolving satellite,
Or the radiant sisters the Pleiades.
[Walt Whitman (1819 1892) paints a scene of a little girl and her father looking up at the
stars on an autumn night, at a beach. Notice that Whitman approves of the father teaching his
daughter astronomy. Whitman had very liberal ideas about education that were ahead of his
time,
the
19th
century.
She sees clouds engulf the stars, blocking her view. The voice of the poet reassures her that
one, the stars will return, and two, a force exists that is even more eternal than the stars.
Whitman really knows his stars. The astronomy in this poem is quite accurate. In autumn, in
the Northern Hemisphere, Jupiter is visible for most of the night. Also, you would find it
where Whitman tells you to look, in the East. http://www.ehow.com/how_6398171_jupiter-

night-sky.html. He also alludes to the Pleiades, aka, the Seven Sisters, another autumn
constellation.
The repetition of the word weep here is striking. First the child silently weeps. Then
Whitman says twice weep not. His sensitivity to the weeping of a child shows compassion.
There is a touch of realism here too since if one were really consoling a child, one would
repeatedly tell the child not to cry. Whitman uses many w words throughout this poem like
whisper, watch, watching and while among others. These sounds evoke a gentleness,
a sense of soothing.
It is interesting how Whitman pulls out a profound realization out of a childs simple sadness.
The child cries seeing clouds obscure Jupiter, thinking the planet has gone forever. Whitman
doesnt mock her simplicity. Far from it, he sees within it a higher truth. He realizes that even
though the clouds are a temporary threat to Jupiter, a day will come when the existence of
Jupiter will end. In fact, the sun and the stars will all expire. But Whitman has faith that there
is a being in the universe that will endure, long after all the stars have burned out.
Whitman hints at the existence of a deity here, but the characteristics of that deity are
uncertain. It certainly possesses immortality (Something there is more immortal even than
the stars,) but beyond that there is little we can say about it. Yet for Whitman, this
immortality itself is an incredible thing. He marvels at a being that can exist while Jupiter, the
moon, the sun, and the other stars pass away. To the extent that he was anything, Whitman
was probably a Unitarian. His work shows considerable influence from Thoreau and
Emerson, both Unitarians. He likely believed in a God who expressed Himself through the
creation of nature.
Even if one comes to this poem as an atheist, one can still take away something, perhaps a
sense of wonder. What is it like for a star to die? Is there something older than the stars? Is
there something that will exist when the stars are gone? Whitman doesnt give us dogmatic
answers to these questions. He is content to simply raise the questions.]
In On the Beach at Night Alone, Walt Whitman develops the idea that everyone has a
connection with everything else, including nature. Whitman uses a variety of writing
techniques to get his point across. First, the repetition and parallel structure that his poems
contain reinforce the connection between everything in nature. The usage of All 11 times
emphasizes the inclusion of everything in the universe. The sentence structure remains the
same throughout the poem, without any drastic change; however, the length of the lines in the
poem vary. In addition, Whitmans extravagance with his words further illustrates his idea of
the Over-Soul. For example, A vast similitude interlocks all (4) shows his verbose nature.
Whitman does not do directly to the point, but gives every little detail. Most importantly,
Whitmans use of catalogues stands as the most recognizable Whitman characteristic that
illustrates his beliefs. These long lists that he uses set the mood of the poem. All spheres,
grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons, planets, (5) shows the idea that everything is
connected in nature. Similarly, All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations languages. (10)
furthermore
emphasize
Whitmans
belief
in
the
Over-Soul.
Although Whitman uses a great deal of structural ways to stress his ideas, he also uses many
other ways of delivering his ideas. First of all, Whitman portrays himself as a public
spokesman of the masses. The tone of the poem is a very loud, informative tone that grabs

ones attention. The emphasis placed on the word all adds to the characterization of
Whitman as a powerful speaker. Furthermore, Whitman takes part in his own poem.
Participating in his own poem, Whitman moreover illustrates the connection between
everything in life. Lastly, Whitman, most of all, celebrates universal brotherhood and
democracy. Once again, the inclusion of the word all so many times demonstrates
Whitmans belief in that everyone is connected no matter what their position is in society.
Whitman stresses the fact that all humans are equal in that All identities that have existed or
may exist on this globe (11) share similar connections with nature. Ultimately, Whitmans
belief in the Over-Soul reveals the bond between nature and the universe.