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Leaves of grass.

  
[title page]
  
CONTENTS.
  
INSCRIPTION.

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[book]
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STARTING FROM PAUMANOK.
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WALT WHITMAN.
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CHILDREN OF ADAM.
  
FROM PENT-UP ACHING RIVERS.
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[poem]
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I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC.
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A WOMAN WAITS FOR ME.
  
SPONTANEOUS ME
  
ONE HOUR TO MADNESS AND JOY
  
WE TWO — HOW LONG WE WERE FOOL'D.
  
NATIVE MOMENTS.
  
ONCE I PASS'D THROUGH A POPULOUS CITY.
  
FACING WEST FROM CALIFORNIA'S SHORES.
  
AGES AND AGES, RETURNING AT INTERVALS.
  
O HYMEN! O HYMENEE.
  
I AM HE THAT ACHES WITH LOVE.
  
AS ADAM, EARLY IN THE MORNING.
  
EXCELSIOR.
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CALAMUS.
  
IN PATHS UNTRODDEN.
  
SCENTED HERBAGE OF MY BREAST.
  
Whoever you are, Holding me now in Hand.
  
THESE I, SINGING IN SPRING.
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A SONG.
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Not Heaving from my Ribb'd Breast only.
  
Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances.
  
RECORDERS AGES HENCE.
  
When I Heard at the Close of the Day.
  
Are you the New Person Drawn Toward me?
  
Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone.
  
Not Heat Flames up and Consumes.
  
TRICKLE, DROPS.
  
Of Him I Love Day and Night.
  
CITY OF ORGIES.
  
BEHOLD THIS SWARTHY FACE.
  
I saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing.
  
That Music Always Round Me.
  
TO A STRANGER.
  
This Moment, Yearning and Thoughtful.
  
I Hear it was Charged Against Me.
  
The Prairie-Grass Dividing.
  
We Two Boys Together Clinging.
  
O Living Always — Always Dying!
  
When I Peruse the Conquer'd Fame.
  
A GLIMPSE.
  
A PROMISE TO CALIFORNIA.
  
HERE, SAILOR!
  
HERE THE FRAILEST LEAVES OF ME.
  
WHAT THINK YOU I TAKE MY PEN IN HAND?
  
No LABOR-SAVING MACHINE.
  
I DREAMED IN A DREAM.
  
To THE EAST AND TO THE WEST.
  
EARTH! MY LIKENESS!
  
A LEAF FOR HAND IN HAND.
  
FAST ANCHOR'D, ETERNAL, O LOVE.
  
SOMETIMES WITH ONE I LOVE.
  
THAT SHADOW, MY LIKENESS.
  
AMONG THE MULTITUDE.
  
TO A WESTERN BOY.
  
O YOU WHOM I OFTEN AND SILENTLY COME.
  
FULL OF LIFE, NOW.
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SALUT AU MONDE!
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WHAT PLACE IS BESIEGED?
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LEAVES OF GRASS.
  
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BEGINNERS.
  
TESTS.
  
PERFECTIONS.
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SONG OF THE BROAD-AXE.
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WITH ANTECEDENTS.
  
SAVANTISM.
  
CROSSING BROOKLYN FERRY.
  
TO A FOIL'D REVOLTER OR REVOLTRESS.
  
TO GET BETIMES IN BOSTON TOWN.
  
TO A COMMON PROSTITUTE.
  
TO A PUPIL.
  
TO RICH GIVERS.
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A WORD OUT OF THE SEA.
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A LEAF OF FACES.
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STRONGER LESSONS.
  
EUROPE, The 72d and 73d Years of These States.
  
THOUGHT.
  
THE RUNNER.
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TO THE SAYERS OF WORDS.
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LONGINGS FOR HOME.
  
TO A PRESIDENT.
  
WALT WHITMAN'S CAUTION.
  
TO OTHER LANDS.
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SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD.
  
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TO THE STATES, To Identify the 16th, 17th, or 18th Presidentiad.
  
TO A CERTAIN CANTATRICE.
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TO WORKINGMEN.
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DEBRIS.
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LEAVES OF GRASS.
  
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AMERICAN FEUILLAGE.
  
MANNAHATTA.
  
To You.
  
FRANCE, The 18th Year of These States.
  
A HAND-MIRROR.
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THOUGHTS.
  
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TO HIM THAT WAS CRUCIFIED.
  
TO OLD AGE.
  
TO ONE SHORTLY TO DIE.
  
TO YOU.
  
UNNAMED LANDS.
  
KOSMOS.
  
WHEN I READ THE BOOK.
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SAYS.
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DESPAIRING CRIES.
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PICTURE.
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POEMS OF JOY.
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RESPONDEZ!
  
THE CITY DEAD-HOUSE.
  
LEAFLETS.
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LEAVES OF GRASS.
  
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VISOR'D.
  
NOT THE PILOT.
  
AS IF A PHANTOM CARESS'D ME.
  
PICTURE.
  
GREAT ARE THE MYTHS.
  
NOW LIST TO MY MORNING'S ROMANZA.
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BURIAL.
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THIS COMPOST!
  
I HEAR AMERICA SINGING.
  
Manhattan's Streets I Saunter'd, Pondering.
  
I WAS LOOKING A LONG WHILE.
  
THE INDICATIONS.
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LEAVES OF GRASS.
  
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ME IMPERTURBE.
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SLEEP-CHASINGS.
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ELEMENTAL DRIFTS.
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MIRACLES.
  
YOU FELONS ON TRIAL IN COURTS.
  
MEDIUMS.
  
NOW LIFT ME CLOSE.
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WALT WHITMAN'S DRUM -TAPS. New-York. 1865.
  
[page]
  
CONTENTS.
  
DRUM-TAPS.
  
SHUT NOT YOUR DOORS TO ME PROUD LIBRARIES.
  
CAVALRY CROSSING A FORD.
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SONG OF THE BANNER AT DAY-BREAK.
  
POET.
  
BANNER AND PENNANT.
  
CHILD.
  
FATHER.
  
POET.
  
CHILD.
  
FATHER.
  
BANNER AND PENNANT.
  
POET.
  
BANNER AND PENNANT.
  
CHILD.
  
FATHER.
  
POET.
  
BANNER AND PENNANT.
  
POET. (Finale.)
  
BY THE BIVOUAC'S FITFUL FLAME.">
  
1861.
  
FROM PAUMANOK STARTING I FLY LIKE A BIRD.
  
BEGINNING MY STUDIES.
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THE CENTENARIAN'S STORY.
  
VOLUNTEER OF 1861, (At Washington Park, Brooklyn, assisting the Centenarian.)
  
THE CENTENARIAN.
  
TERMINUS.
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PIONEERS! O PIONEERS!
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QUICKSAND YEARS THAT WHIRL ME I KNOW NOT WHITHER.
  
THE DRESSER.
  
WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER.
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RISE O DAYS FROM YOUR FATHOMLESS DEEPS.
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A CHILD'S AMAZE.
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BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS!
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COME UP FROM THE FIELDS FATHER.
  
CITY OF SHIPS.
  
MOTHER AND BABE.
  
VIGIL STRANGE I KEPT ON THE FIELD ONE NIGHT.
  
BATHED IN WAR'S PERFUME.
  
A MARCH IN THE RANKS HARD-PREST, AND THE ROAD UNKNOWN.
  
LONG, TOO LONG, O LAND.
  
A SIGHT IN CAMP IN THE DAY-BREAK GREY AND DIM.
  
A FARM PICTURE.
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GIVE ME THE SPLENDID SILENT SUN.
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OVER THE CARNAGE ROSE PROPHETIC A VOICE.
  
DID YOU ASK DULCET RHYMES FROM ME?
  
YEAR OF METEORS. (1859-60.)
  
THE TORCH.
  
YEARS OF THE UNPERFORM'D.
  
YEAR THAT TREMBLED AND REEL'D BENEATH ME.
  
THE VETERAN'S VISION.
  
O TAN-FACED PRAIRIE-BOY.
  
CAMPS OF GREEN.
  
AS TOILSOME I WANDER'D VIRGINIA'S WOODS.
  
HYMN OF DEAD SOLDIERS.
  
THE SHIP.
  
A BROADWAY PAGEANT. (RECEPTION JAPANESE EMBASSY, JUNE 16, 1860.)
  
FLAG OF STARS, THICK-SPRINKLED BUNTING.
  
OLD IRELAND.
  
LOOK DOWN FAIR MOON.
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OUT OF THE ROLLING OCEAN, THE CROWD.
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WORLD, TAKE GOOD NOTICE.
  
I SAW OLD GENERAL AT BAY.
  
OTHERS MAY PRAISE WHAT THEY LIKE.
  
SOLID, IRONICAL, ROLLING ORB.
  
HUSH'D BE THE CAMPS TO-DAY. A. L. BURIED APRIL 19, 1865.
  
WEAVE IN, WEAVE IN, MY HARDY LIFE.
  
TURN O LIBERTAD.
  
BIVOUAC ON A MOUNTAIN SIDE.
  
PENSIVE ON HER DEAD GAZING, I HEARD THE MOTHER OF ALL.
  
NOT YOUTH PERTAINS TO ME.
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SEQUEL TO DRUM-TAPS. (SINCE THE PRECEDING CAME FROM THE PRESS.) WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOOR-YARD BLOOM'D. AND OTHER PIECES.WASHINGTON. 1865-6.
  
CONTENTS.
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WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOOR-YARD BLOOM'D.
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RACE OF VETERANS.
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O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
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SPIRIT WHOSE WORK IS DONE.
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CHANTING THE SQUARE DEIFIC.
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I HEARD YOU, SOLEMN-SWEET PIPES OF THE ORGAN.
  
NOT MY ENEMIES EVER INVADE ME.
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O ME! O LIFE!
  
[section]
  
Answer.
  
AH POVERTIES, WINCINGS, AND SULKY RETREATS.
  
AS I LAY WITH MY HEAD IN YOUR LAP, CAMERADO.
  
THIS DAY, O SOUL.
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IN CLOUDS DESCENDING, IN MIDNIGHT SLEEP.
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AN ARMY ON THE MARCH.
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DIRGE FOR TWO VETERANS.
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HOW SOLEMN, AS ONE BY ONE.
  
LO! VICTRESS ON THE PEAKS!
  
RECONCILIATION.
  
TO THE LEAVEN'D SOIL THEY TROD.
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LEAVES OF GRASS. SONGS BEFORE PARTING.
  
CONTENTS.
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AS I SAT ALONE BY BLUE ONTARIO'S SHORE.
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LEAVES OF GRASS.
  
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THOUGHTS.
  
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AS NEARING DEPARTURE.
  
AS I WALK, SOLITARY, UNATTENDED.
  
SONG AT SUNSET.
  
TO A HISTORIAN.
  
ASSURANCES.
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SO LONG!
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2

5   This is the poem of occupations;
In the labor of engines and trades, and the labor of      fields, I find the developments,
And find the eternal meanings.
6  Workmen and Workwomen!
Were all educations, practical and ornamental, well      display'd out of me, what would it amount to?
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Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor,      wise statesman, what would it amount to?
Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you,      would that satisfy you?
7  The learn'd, virtuous, benevolent, and the usual      terms;
A man like me, and never the usual terms.
8  Neither a servant nor a master am I;
I take no sooner a large price than a small price — I      will have my own, whoever enjoys me;
I will be even with you, and you shall be even with      me.
9  If you stand at work in a shop, I stand as nigh as      the nighest in the same shop;
If you bestow gifts on your brother or dearest friend,      I demand as good as your brother or dearest      friend;
If your lover, husband, wife, is welcome by day or      night, I must be personally as welcome;
If you become degraded, criminal, ill, then I become      so for your sake;
If you remember your foolish and outlaw'd deeds, do      you think I cannot remember my own foolish      and outlaw'd deeds?
If you carouse at the table, I carouse at the opposite      side of the table;
If you meet some stranger in the streets, and love      him or her — why I often meet strangers in the      street, and love them.
10  Why, what have you thought of yourself?
Is it you then that thought yourself less?
Is it you that thought the President greater than      you?
Or the rich better off than you? or the educated      wiser than you?
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11   Because you are greasy or pimpled, or that you was      once drunk, or a thief,
Or diseas'd, or rheumatic, or a prostitute, or are so      now;
Or from frivolity or impotence, or that you are no      scholar, and never saw your name in print,
Do you give in that you are any less immortal?
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