# A Glimpse explained — Leaves of Grass

> Chapter companion for Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

## What happens

The speaker recalls a fleeting, intimate moment in a crowded bar-room where a youth who loves him and whom he loves silently sits beside him, holding his hand. Amid the noise and coarseness of the workmen, the two are content and happy together, speaking little or not at all.

## Themes in this chapter

### Comradeship and Love

The central theme of the poem: a quiet, loving bond between two men in a public, rough setting.

### Individuality and Self

The narrator's unremark'd presence in the corner highlights his distinct, private self amid the crowd.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The speaker who observes and participates in the intimate moment.

### Comradeship and Love

The beloved youth who silently approaches and holds the narrator's hand.

## Key lines

> A glimpse through an interstice caught, Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room around the stove late of a winter night, and I unremark’d seated in a corner, Of a youth who loves me and whom I love, silently approaching and seating himself near, that he may hold me by the hand

I caught a brief sight through a gap: a crowd of laborers and drivers in a bar-room gathered around the stove on a late winter night, while I sat unnoticed in a corner. Then a youth who loves me and whom I love quietly came and sat close, so he could hold my hand.

_The speaker describes the setting and the intimate gesture of the youth._

> A long while amid the noises of coming and going, of drinking and oath and smutty jest, There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little, perhaps not a word.

For a long time, surrounded by the sounds of people moving, drinking, swearing, and making crude jokes, we two were content and happy just to be together, barely speaking, maybe not even a single word.

_The contrast between the noisy environment and the silent contentment of the pair._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/a-glimpse
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters