University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Leaves of grass (1872)

Whitman, Walt (1819-1892)

collapse section 
Leaves of Grass.
collapse section 
INSCRIPTIONS.
  
ONE'S-SELF I SING.
  
AS I PONDER'D IN SILENCE.
  
IN CABIN'D SHIPS AT SEA.
  
TO FOREIGN LANDS.
  
TO A HISTORIAN.
  
FOR HIM I SING.
  
WHEN I READ THE BOOK.
  
BEGINNING MY STUDIES.
  
TO THEE, OLD CAUSE!
collapse section 
Starting from Paumanok.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19
 20. 
20
  
THE SHIP STARTING.
  
UNFOLDED OUT OF THE FOLDS.
  
TO YOU.
collapse section 
WALT WHITMAN.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19
 20. 
20
 21. 
21
 22. 
22
 23. 
23
 24. 
24
 25. 
25
 26. 
26
 27. 
27
 28. 
28
 29. 
29
 30. 
30
 31. 
31
 32. 
32
 33. 
33
 34. 
34
 35. 
35
 36. 
36
 37. 
37
 38. 
38
 39. 
39
 40. 
40
 41. 
41
 42. 
42
 43. 
43
 44. 
44
 45. 
45
 46. 
46
 47. 
47
 48. 
48
 49. 
49
 50. 
50
 51. 
51
 52. 
52
  
Laws for Creations.
  
VISOR'D.
collapse section 
CHILDREN OF ADAM.
  
To the Garden, the World.
  
From Pent-up Aching Rivers.
collapse section 
I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
  
A Woman Waits for Me.
  
Spontaneous Me.
  
One Hour to Madness and Joy.
  
We Two—How long We were Fool'd.
  
Out of the Rolling Ocean, the Crowd.
  
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!
  
AS ADAM, EARLY IN THE MORNING.
  
I Heard You, Solemn-sweet Pipes of the Organ.
  
I AM HE THAT ACHES WITH LOVE.
  
To Him that was Crucified.
  
Perfections.
collapse section 
CALAMUS.
  
In Paths Untrodden.
  
Scented Herbage of My Breast.
  
Whoever you are, Holding me now in Hand.
  
These I, Singing in Spring.
  
A Song.
  
Not Heaving from my Ribb'd Breast only.
  
Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances.
  
The Base of all Metaphysics.
  
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.
  
City of Orgies.
  
Behold this Swarthy Face.
  
I saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing.
  
TO A STRANGER.
  
This Moment, Yearning and Thoughtful.
  
I Hear it was Charged Against Me.
  
The Prairie-Grass Dividing.
  
We Two Boys Together Clinging.
  
A Promise to California.
  
Here the Frailest Leaves of Me.
  
When I Peruse the Conquer'd Fame.
  
What Think You I take my Pen in Hand?
  
A Glimpse.
  
No Labor-Saving Machine.
  
A LEAF FOR HAND IN HAND.
  
TO THE EAST AND TO THE WEST.
  
Earth! My Likeness!
  
I DREAM'D IN A DREAM.
  
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.
collapse section 
SALUT AU MONDE!
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
  
A Child's Amaze.
  
The Runner.
  
Beautiful Women.
  
Mother and Babe.
  
Thought.
  
American Feuillage.
collapse section 
Song of the Broad-Axe.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
collapse section 
Song of the Open Road.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
collapse section 
Leaves of Grass.
  
I Sit and Look Out.
  
Me Imperturbe.
  
As I Lay with my Head in your Lap, Camerado.
collapse section 
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
collapse section 
WITH ANTECEDENTS.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
collapse section 
THE ANSWERER.
collapse section 
Now List to my Morning's Romanza.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
  
The Indications.
  
Poets to Come.
  
I hear America Singing.
  
The City Dead-House.
  
A Farm Picture.
collapse section 
Carol of Occupations.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
  
THOUGHTS.
collapse section 
THE SLEEPERS.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19
 20. 
20
 21. 
21
collapse section 
CAROL OF WORDS.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
16
  
Ah Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky Retreats.
collapse section 
Leaves of Grass.
  
A BOSTON BALLAD.
  
Year of Meteors.
collapse section 
A Broadway Pageant.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
  
SUGGESTIONS.
collapse section 
Great are the Myths.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
  
Thought.
collapse section 
Leaves of Grass.
  
There was a Child went Forth.
  
Longings for Home.
  
Think of the Soul.
  
You Felons on Trial in Courts.
  
To a Common Prostitute.
  
I was Looking a Long While.
  
To a President.
  
TO THE STATES,
collapse section 
DRUM-TAPS.
  
[Aroused and angry]
collapse section 
DRUM-TAPS.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
  
1861.
  
BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS!
  
From Paumanok Starting I Fly like a Bird.
  
Rise, O Days, from your Fathomless Deeps.
  
City of Ships.
  
The Centenarian's Story.
  
An Army Corps on the March.
  
Cavalry Crossing a Ford.
  
Bivouac on a Mountain Side.
  
By the Bivouac's Fitful Flame.
collapse section 
Come Up from the Fields, Father.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
  
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field one Night.
  
A March in the Ranks Hard-prest, and the Road Unknown.
  
A Sight in Camp in the Day-break Grey and Dim.
  
Not the Pilot.
  
As Toilsome I Wander'd Virginia's Woods.
  
Year that Trembled and Reel'd Beneath Me.
collapse section 
The Dresser.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
  
Long, too long, O Land.
  
Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun.
  
Dirge for Two Veterans.
  
Over the Carnage Rose Prophetic a Voice.
  
The Artilleryman's Vision.
  
I Saw Old General at Bay.
  
O Tan-Faced Prairie-Boy.
  
LOOK DOWN FAIR MOON.
  
Reconciliation.
  
Spirit whose Work is Done.
  
How Solemn, as One by One.
  
Not Youth Pertains to Me.
  
To the Leaven'd Soil They Trod.
collapse section 
Leaves of Grass.
collapse section 
FACES.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
collapse section 
MANHATTAN'S STREETS I SAUNTER'D, PONDERING.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
  
All is Truth.
  
Voices.
collapse section 
Marches now the War is Over.
collapse section 
As I sat Alone by Blue Ontario's Shore.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19
 20. 
20
 21. 
21
 22. 
22
  
Pioneers! O Pioneers!
  
RESPONDEZ!
  
Turn O Libertad.
  
Adieu to a Soldier.
  
As I walk These Broad, Majestic Days.
  
Weave In, Weave In, My Hardy Life.
  
Race of Veterans.
  
O Sun of Real Peace.
collapse section 
Leaves of Grass.
collapse section 
THIS COMPOST.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
  
UNNAMED LANDS.
  
Mannahatta.
  
OLD IRELAND.
  
To Oratists
  
SOLID, IRONICAL, ROLLING ORB.
collapse section 
Bathed in War's Perfume.
  
BATHED IN WAR'S PERFUME.
  
DELICATE CLUSTER.
  
Song of the Banner at Day-Break.
  
Ethiopia Saluting the Colors.
  
Lo! Victress on the Peaks!
  
World, Take Good Notice.
  
Thick-Sprinkled Bunting.
  
A Hand-Mirror.
  
Germs.
collapse section 
Leaves of Grass.
  
O ME! O LIFE!
  
THOUGHTS.
  
BEGINNERS.
collapse section 
Songs of Insurrection.
  
STILL THOUGH THE ONE I SING.
collapse section 
TO A FOIL'D EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONAIRE.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
collapse section 
FRANCE,
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
collapse section 
EUROPE,
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
  
Walt Whitman's Caution.
  
To a Certain Cantatrice.
collapse section 
Leaves of Grass.
  
To You.
collapse section 
SONGS OF PARTING.
collapse section 
AS THE TIME DRAWS NIGH.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
  
YEARS OF THE MODERN.
  
THOUGHTS.
  
Song at Sunset.
  
When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer.
  
To Rich Givers.
  
Thought.
collapse section 
SO LONG!
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
collapse section 
PASSAGE TO INDIA.
  
[Gliding o'er all, through all]
collapse section 
Passage to India.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
  
Thought.
  
O Living Always—Always Dying!
collapse section 
Proud Music of the Storm.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
collapse section 
ASHES OF SOLDIERS.
  
ASHES OF SOLDIERS.
  
IN MIDNIGHT SLEEP.
  
Camps of Green.
  
TO A CERTAIN CIVILIAN.
  
PENSIVE ON HER DEAD GAZING, I HEARD THE MOTHER OF ALL.
collapse section 
President Lincoln's Burial Hymn.
collapse section 
WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOOR-YARD BLOOM'D.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
DEATH CAROL. 16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19
 20. 
20
  
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
collapse section 
HUSH'D BE THE CAMPS TO-DAY.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
  
THIS DUST WAS ONCE THE MAN.
collapse section 
POEM OF JOYS.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
 14. 
14
 15. 
15
 16. 
16
 17. 
17
 18. 
18
 19. 
19
collapse section 
To Think of Time.
 1. 
[1]
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
  
CHANTING THE SQUARE DEIFIC.
collapse section 
WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH.
  
WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH.
  
DAREST THOU NOW, O SOUL.
  
OF HIM I LOVE DAY AND NIGHT.
  
ASSURANCES.
  
YET, YET, YE DOWNCAST HOURS.
  
QUICKSAND YEARS.
  
THAT MUSIC ALWAYS ROUND ME.
  
AS IF A PHANTOM CARESS'D ME.
  
HERE, SAILOR!
  
A NOISELESS, PATIENT SPIDER.
  
THE LAST INVOCATION.
  
AS I WATCH'D THE PLOUGHMAN PLOUGHING.
  
PENSIVE AND FALTERING.
collapse section 
SEA-SHORE MEMORIES.
collapse section 
OUT OF THE CRADLE ENDLESSLY ROCKING.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
collapse section 
ELEMENTAL DRIFTS.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
  
TEARS.
  
ABOARD, AT A SHIP'S HELM.
collapse section 
ON THE BEACH, AT NIGHT.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
  
THE WORLD BELOW THE BRINE.
  
ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE.
collapse section 
Leaves of Grass.
collapse section 
A CAROL OF HARVEST, FOR 1867.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
 6. 
6
 7. 
7
 8. 
8
 9. 
9
 10. 
10
 11. 
11
 12. 
12
 13. 
13
collapse section 
THE SINGER IN THE PRISON.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3 The Hymn.
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
  
WARBLE FOR LILAC TIME.
  
Who Learns My Lesson Complete?
  
Thought.
  
Myself and Mine.
  
TO OLD AGE.
  
MIRACLES.
collapse section 
SPARKLES FROM THE WHEEL.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
  
EXCELSIOR.
  
Mediums.
  
KOSMOS.
  
TO A PUPIL.
  
WHAT AM I, AFTER ALL.
  
OTHERS MAY PRAISE WHAT THEY LIKE.
collapse section 
BROTHER OF ALL, WITH GENEROUS HAND.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
 3. 
3
 4. 
4
 5. 
5
  
NIGHT ON THE PRAIRIES.
  
ON JOURNEYS THROUGH THE STATES.
  
SAVANTISM.
  
LOCATIONS AND TIMES.
  
THOUGHT.
  
OFFERINGS.
  
TESTS.
  
THE TORCH.
  
TO YOU.
  
GODS.
collapse section 
TO ONE SHORTLY TO DIE.
 1. 
1
 2. 
2
collapse section 
Now Finale to the Shore.
  
NOW FINALE TO THE SHORE.
  
SHUT NOT YOUR DOORS, &c.
  
THOUGHT.
  
THE UNTOLD WANT.
  
PORTALS.
  
THESE CAROLS.
  
THIS DAY, O SOUL.
  
WHAT PLACE IS BESIEGED?
  
TO THE READER AT PARTING.
  
JOY, SHIPMATE, JOY!

collapse section Collapse All | Expand All expand section
previous section Leaves of grass (1872)
next section

20

92

Who goes there? hankering, gross, mystical, nude;
How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat?
49

93

What is a man, anyhow? What am I? What are you?

94

All I mark as my own, you shall offset it with your own;
Else it were time lost listening to me.

95

I do not snivel that snivel the world over,
That months are vacuums, and the ground but wallow and filth;
That life is a suck and a sell, and nothing remains at the end but threadbare crape, and tears.

96

Whimpering and truckling fold with powders for invalids—conformity goes to the fourth-remov'd;
I wear my hat as I please, indoors or out.

97

Why should I pray? Why should I venerate and be ceremonious?

98

Having pried through the strata, analyzed to a hair, counsell'd with doctors, and calculated close,
I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones.

99

In all people I see myself—none more, and not one a barley-corn less;
And the good or bad I say of myself, I say of them.

100

And I know I am solid and sound;
To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow;
All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.

101

I know I am deathless;
I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by the carpenter's compass;
I know I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt stick at night.

102

I know I am august;
50

I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood;
I see that the elementary laws never apologize;
(I reckon I behave no prouder that the level I plant my house by, after all.)

103

I exist as I am—that is enough;
If no other in the world be aware, I sit content;
And if each and all be aware, I sit content.

104

One world is aware, and by far the largest to me, and that is myself;
And whether I come to my own to-day, or in ten thousand or ten million years,
I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait.

105

My foothold is tenon'd and mortis'd in granite;
I laugh at what you call dissolution;
And I know the amplitude of time.
previous section Leaves of grass (1872)
next section