Both Uses of
founder
in
Leaves of Grass
- …I know not,) spectral in mist of a wreck at sea, Of certain ships, how they sail from port with flying streamers and wafted kisses, and that is the last of them, Of the solemn and murky mystery about the fate of the President, Of the flower of the marine science of fifty generations founder'd off the Northeast coast and going down—of the steamship Arctic going down, Of the veil'd tableau-women gather'd together on deck, pale, heroic, waiting the moment that draws so close—O the moment!†
Chpt 30
- I see ships foundering at sea, I behold on deck and below deck the terrible tableaus.†
Chpt 32 *
Definition:
-
(founder as in: peace talks foundered) to fail or break-down
or:
to physically sink below the surface or fall