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As If a Phantom Caress'd Me by Walt Whitman


"As If a Phantom Caress'd Me" is a poem written by Walt Whitman. This poem is about the author walking along the shore and being with someone. However, once he leans over and looks, no one is there. He thinks that person disappeared. Then everyone arounds him start to mock him. This can be about various things. It could be about thinking we are something we aren't. It could be about being wrong about something. It could also be about someone dying or leaving you.

This poem is made up of one stanza with seven lines.


As If a Phantom Caress'd Me

As if a phantom caress'd me,
I thought I was not alone walking here by the shore;
But the one I thought was with me as now I walk by the shore, the
one I loved that caress'd me,
As I lean and look through the glimmering light, that one has
utterly disappear'd.
And those appear that are hateful to me and mock me.

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Literary Movement
19th Century

Being Alone, Ghost