Walt Whitman - Leaves of Grass Volume 3, 1902 by gnosisclassics

'1-3

MARY LAKE MEMORIAL

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2007

with funding from

Microsoft Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/completewritings07whitrich

THIS EDITION

ISSUED

UNDER ARRANGEMENT WITH

MESSRS. SMALL, MAYNARD,

CO.,

OF BOSTON

THE PUBLISHERS OF THE AUTHORIZED EDITIONS OF

THE WRITINGS OF WALT WHITMAN

PAUMANOK

EDITION

This Edition of the Complete Works of Walt

Whitman

printed on Ruisdael hand<^made

paper, and limited

which

Three Hundred

this is

Number

3.5

(r)

Sets,

CQMPLETg WRITINGS or

WALT \!/HlTMA Issued under the editorial super-

vision of his Literary Executors,

Richard

Maurice Bucke, Thomas B.Harned, and Horace L. Traubel

With

additional

bibliographical

and

critical

ma-

prepared by Oscar Lovell Triggs, Ph.D. terial

G.P.PUTNAM'5 S2NS

NEWYeRK

LCNDON

THE KNlCKERBeCKER PRESS

LEAVES OF GRASS BY

WALT WHITMAN VOLUME in

INCLUDING VARIORUM READINGS, TOGETHER WITH FIRST DRAFTS OF CERTAIN POEMS REJECTED PASSAGES, AND POEMS

DROPPED BY THE WAY EDITED BY

OSCAR LOVELL TRIGGS,

Ph.D.

PUTNAM'S SONS

NEW YORK AND LONDON XTbe Tknicfterbocfter

1902

press

y^/Kji^r^^

iJ^ COPYRIGHT

1871,

1876,

i860,

1855,

1856,

1881,

1882, 1883,

1867 1884, 1888,

1891

WALT WHITMAN

THOMAS

HARNED AND HORACE

LITERARY EXECUTORS OF

TRAUBEL

WALT WHITMAN

BY THOMAS

HARNED AND HORACE

SURVIVING LITERARY EXECUTORS OF

TRAUBEL

WALT WHITMAN

ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL

•• «

•••• • •< ••••••

••

Ube

ftniclierboclter press* l^evp IQorli

Contents

GOOD-BYE

MY Out

Sail

FANCY.

for

Good, Eid6lon Yacht

...

^^^^

...

Lingering Last Drops

Good-Bye

Fancy

On, on the Same, Ye Jocund Twain

71st Year

Apparitions

The

Pallid

Wreath

An Ended Day Old Age's Ship

Crafty Death's

.11

the Pending Year

Shakspere-Bacon's Cipher

Long, Long Hence

Bravo, Paris Exposition! Interpolation

Sounds

.-. '.•^'

the Sun-set Breeze

Old Chants

-'.i'-il^,/

;

*>.,-,

.'''\'-h*

.12 '')''''

U M

*'•';'•'•'''.'" ''15

Christmas Greeting

Sounds of the Winter

A Twilight Song When the Full-Grown

Poet

Came

Osceola

...

18 19

Voice from Death

Persian Lesson

.19 21 [iil]

S73541

Contend

MY FANCY— Continued

GOOD-BYE

PAOB

The Commonplace

" The Rounded Catalogue Divine Complete "

Mirages

of G.

Purport

The Unexpress'd Grand

...

^^-

the Seen

Unseen Buds

Good-Bye

Fancy

...

OLD AGE ECHOES. To Soar Then

Freedom and

in Fullness of

Shall Perceive

Power

....

The Few Drops Known One Thought Ever at the Fore

While Behind

All

Firm and Erect

Kiss to the Bride

Nay, Tell

Me Not To-day

the Publish'd

Shame

Supplement Hours

Of Many a Smutch'd Deed Reminiscent To Be At All

34 .

Death's Valley

On the Same Picture A Thought of Columbus

A Backward

....

Granee'b'er.Traverd Roads

ln(^?H pf; First -Lip^s

:;.]

31 41

A RIORUM READINGS.

Part

II.

—Variorum Readings — Rejected Lines and Passages .

Part III.— Rejected Poems

....

20 292

miustrations fValt

Whitman From a

....

daguerreotype,

Owned

18^4.

Frontispiece by J. H.

Johnston, Esq., Brooklyn, N. Y.

Walt Whitman, aged 72 From an

etching by H. D.

...

Young from a photo-

graph by Thomas Eakins.

Walt Whitman, 1890 From a photograph

100

by F. Gutekunst, Philadelphia.

'60

Walt Whitman From a photograph

by F. Gutekunst, Philadelphia.

(Second Annex)

inâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Walt Whitman [i]

IPreface

Bote

Conclu&fna %* ot

Had

2b Hnnei

©.— 1891*

not better withhold

paralysis of

me) such

(maybe specks,

afterward

from the

too democratic for such avoidances.

Perhaps Besides,

the verse-field, as originally planned by

for

my In

— (indeed amid no loud

call

—

not

theory,

or market

sort of poetic utterance).

answer, or rather defiance, to that kind of well-

put interrogation, here comes this conclusion of all

sufficiently illustrated— and full time for

silently retire ?

first

parrot-like repetitions

nor platitudes and the commonplace.

now

dusty jour-

have probably not

afraid of careless touches,

— and am not now — nor of

age and

and fringe-dots

stains,) as follow a long

ney, and witness

been enough

(in this old

tags

little

my preceding

little

clusters.

clear that, as here collated,

cluster,

and

Though not

worth printing

—

while have nothing fresh to write) away the hours of my 72d year hours of forced by putting in shape this confinement in my den (certainly

—

small old age collation

[3]

—

ILeavee of (Braea

Last droplets of and after spontaneous rain,

From many limpid

distillations

and past showers;

mere exhalations

(Will they germinate anything? are

Will they

filter

any deep emotion

However

may

that

day's opportunity and

years

be,

exhaustion,

chirps

certain

probably (undoubtedly) gather and put (for

any heart and brain

the

lulls

month, even I

— lingering-dying

may

ones

as well

they are dimming, and refuses,

slight tasks or revisions).

these current years 1890 and

(each successive fortnight getting

much

two

last

type while able to see correctly

in fair

In fact, here

of illness and

more and more palpably neglects or

after

deeper)

all

improving to-

During the

up.

— which now

eyes plainly warn

my brain month

feel like

wind

have sent out,

as they

— the land's and sea's — America's;

stiffer

some hard-cased

'91,

and stuck

dilapidated grim

ancient shell-fish or time-bang'd conch

(no legs,

up high and dry on the nothing shore-sands, helpless to move anywhere left but behave myself quiet, and while away the days yet assigned, and discover if there is anything for the said grim and time-bang'd conch to be got at last out of inherited good spirits and primal buoyant utterly non-locomotive) cast

—

centre-pulses

down

his gray-blurr'd

must allow a are too

many

there deep

old

little

shell.

fun

here —

somewhere within (Reader, you

for

one reason there

of the following poemets about death,

&c., and for another the passing hours O^ly [4]

1890)

preface mote

And

are so sunny-fine.

most a

part of

some

old as

to-day

feel

frolicsome wave, or for sporting

yet like a kid or kitten

— probably a streak of physi-

adjustment and perfection here and now. lieve I have it in me perennially anyhow.)

cal

Then behind a glum one, but in

all, I

al-

the deep-down consolation

be-

(it is

dare not be sorry for the fact of

the past, nor refrain from dwelling, even vaunting

here at the end) that this late-years palsied old shorn

and

shell-fish

condition of

outcome and growth, now near

the indubitable

for

20 years along,

emo-

of too over-zealous, over-continued bodily and tional excitement 1862,

'3,

and

and action through the times of visiting

'5,

and waiting on wounded

and sick army volunteers, both

campaigns

sides, in

or contests, or after them, or in hospitals or fields

south of Washington City, or

where—those volunteers,

all

in that place

and

else-

—

the army wrenching times the States,—or North or South

hot, sad,

—

wounded, suffering, dying ing summers, marches,

— the

exhausting, sweat-

— those trenches hurriedly heap'd by the corpse-thousands, — mainly unknown— Will the America of the future will this vast rich

Union ever

back there

all

after

?—those

deaths—Those times whole book

carnage

battles,

realize

what

itself cost,

hecatombs of

of which,

battle-

far-off reader, this

indeed finally but a reminiscent me-

morial from thence

by me

[51

you

fmc^

(5oob^Bi2e (Vb^

Sail

©ut

tor Goot), Bt&6lon Kacbtl

Heave the anchor short Raise main-sail and

little

will not call

jib

— steer

white-hull'd sloop, it

forth,

now

speed on

really

deep waters,

our concluding voyage,

But outset and sure entrance to the Depart, depart from

solid earth

truest, best, maturest;)

— no

more returning

to these

shores,

Now

for

Spurning Sail

all

aye our

infinite free

venture wending.

yet tried ports, seas, hawsers, densities, gravitation.

out for good, eid61on yacht of

XiriQCvim Xast Drops,

And whence and why come you ?

We know not whence, (was the answer,) We only know that we drift here with the That

linger'd

now To make

rest.

and lagg'd— but were wafted

here.

the passing shower's concluding drops

at last,

and are

Xeavca of ©raea

Good-bye* But Is

my fancy— (I

when

—The best

till

the

word or say,

of any man's

proper place arrives—and for

its

keep mine

had a word to say,

not quite the time

its

meaning,

last.)

®n, on tbe Same, Be 5ocun& XTwatn

On, on the same, ye jocund twain!

and

life

Fitful as

containing birth, youth, mid-age years.

motley-tongues of flame, inseparably twined and merged

—combining soul —aims, confirmations,

one

recitative,

single

all.

failures,

joys

—Nor

single

soul alone, I

chant

nation's crucial stage, (America's, haply humanity's)

—

^the trial great,

the victory great,

strange Eclair cissement of

all

the

masses

past, the eastern

world, the ancient, medieval. Here, here from wanderings, strayings, lessons, wars, defeats

here at the west a voice triumphant

gladsome pealing cry

—a

song

for

—^justifying

all,

once of utmost pride and

satisfaction * Behind a Good-bye there lurks much of the salutation of another beginning to me, Development, Continuity, Immortality, Transformation, are the chiefest

meanings of Nature and Humanity, and are the sine qua non of

all

facts,

life-

and each

fact.

Why

do folks dwell so fondly on the last words, advice, appearance, of the Those last words are not samples of the best, which involve vitality at its full, and balance, and perfect control and scope. But they are valuable beyond measure to confirm and endorse the varied train, facts, theories and faith of the whole preceding life. departing ?

[8]

chant from

(the best

the

common

bulk, the general average horde,

no sooner than the worst)â&#x20AC;&#x201D; And

now

chant old

age,

(My

verses, written first for forenoon

life,

and for the summer's,

autumn's spread, I

pass to snow-white hairs the same, and give to pulses wintercool'd the same;)

As here

in careless

trill,

and

with

recitatives,

faith

and

love,

Wafting to other work, to unknown songs, conditions, On, on, ye jocund twain! continue on the samel

Ob^ list Keat* After surmounting three-score and

With

all

ten,

their chances, changes, losses, sorrows,

parents' deaths, the vagaries of

passions of me, the

As some

war

of '63 and

life,

the

many

tearing

'4,

old broken soldier, after a long, hot, wearying march,

or haply after battle.

To-day

at twilight, hobbling,

with Reporting

answering company

roll-call,

Here,

vital voice.

yet, saluting yet the Officer

over

all.

Hpparittons*

VAGUE mist hanging 'round

(Sometimes That

all

how

half the pages:

strange and clear to the soul,

concepts, these solid things are indeed but apparitions,

non-realities.) [9]

leavee of (Braas Zbc Somehow Let

With

cannot

let it

Mreatb^

ipallit)

yet, funeral

remain back there on pink, blue, yellow,

it is,

suspended.

its nail

all

though

blanch'd, and the white

now

gray

and ashy.

One But Is

wither'd rose put years ago for thee, dear friend

do not forget

Hast thou then faded

thee.

the odor exhaled

Are the

colors, vitalities,

No, while memories subtly play For but

Thy So

night

woke, and

dead

— the past vivid as ever;

in that spectral ring

saw

thee,

smile, eyes, face, calm, silent, loving as ever:

the wreath hang

let

It is

last

still

awhile within

not yet dead to me, nor even

an The soothing

pallid.

]£nt)eJ) 5)ai?»

hurried contest-glare and rush are done;

triumph! transformation! jubilate!*

*NoTE. rations

eye-reach,

sanity and blitheness of completion.

The pomp and

Now

— Summer country

life.

— Several years. —

found a woody place near the creek, where

for

rambles and explo-

some reason the

birds in

happy mood seem'd to resort in unusual numbers. Especially at the beginning of the day, and again at the ending, was sure to get there the most copious bird-concerts, repair'd there frequently at sunrise and also at sunset, or just before. Once the question arose in me: Which is the best singing, the first or the lattermost ? The first always exhilarated, and perhaps seem'd more joyous and stronger; but always felt the sunset or late afternoon sounds more penetrating and sweeter I

—

seem'd to touch the soul

— often

two or three of them, resome of the mornings, found

the evening thrushes,

sponding and perhaps blending.

Though

myself getting to be quite

punctual at the evening utterances.

Another Note.

strictly

miss'd

— " He went out with the [10]

tide

and the sunset," was a phrase

From

east

Two

mighty masterful vessels

and west across the horizon's edge,

we 'U make

But

sailers steal

upon the

race a-time

seas

upon

us:

— a battle-contest yet!

bear lively there

(Our joys of

strife

and derring-do to the

Put on the old ship

Crowd

all

and royal studding-sails,

top-sail, top-gallant

Out challenge and defiance

As we take

to the open

—

no weapon-word

and flaunting pennants added,

flags

— take to the deepest,

penOtng

XTo tbc

Have

last!)

power to-day!

her

for

freest waters.

ISear*

thee—-some message

brief

and

fierce ?

(Have

fought out and done indeed the battle?)

shot

For

all

Nor I

for

there

left.

thy affectations,

lisps, scorns,

myself — my own rebellious

heard from a surgeon describing an old

manifold

silliness ?

self in thee ?

sailor's

death under peculiarly gentle

conditions.

During the Secession War, 1863 and

Washington,

'4,

visiting the

form'd the habit, and continued

Army

Hospitals around

to the end, whenever the ebb or

flood tide began the latter part of the day, of punctually visiting those at that time

Somehow

populous wards of suffering men.

(or

thought

so) the effect of the

hour

and would like to talk a little, or be talk'd to. Intellectual and emotional natures would be at their best: Deaths were always easier; medicines seem'd to have better effect when given then,

was

The badly wounded would

palpable.

and a

lulling

get

even with

fields cover'd

ease,

atmosphere would pervade the wards.

and hours, day-close, after gi-eat bathad more than once the same experience on the

Similar influences, similar circumstances tles,

some

all

with

their horrors. fallen or dead.

leavee of Down, down, proud gorge! Thy bearded

6mes

— though choking thee;

throat and high-borne forehead to the gutter;

Crouch low thy neck

eleemosynary

gifts.

Sbaftspere^JBacon's Ctpben I

DOUBT

not

In each old

(Different

— then more,

song bequeathed

— something

far

—

every noble page or text,

unreck'd

before

— some

unsuspected

author,) In every object,

part of each

mountain,

tree,

and

star

—

every birth and

life,

— evolv'd from each — meaning, behind the ostent,

mystic cipher waits infolded.

XonGt

%om

fbcncc.

After a long, long course, hundreds of

years, denials,

Accumulations, rous'd love and joy and thought,

Hopes, wishes, aspirations, ponderings,

victories,

^^^^^'^'

Coating, compassing, covering

—

Then only may these songs reach

myriads of [tations.

after ages'

and ages' encrus-

fruition.

JSravo, parts Bjposttion!

Add

to your

With

all

show, before you close

it,

France,

the rest, visible, concrete, temples, towers, goods,

chines and ores, [12]

ma-

Our sentiment wafted from many but

million heart-throbs, ethereal

solid, [sires,)

(We

grandsons and great-grandsons do not forget your grand-

From

fifty

Nations and nebulous Nations, compacted, sent over-

sea to-day,

America's applause, love, memories and good-will.

f nterpolatfon Sount)5» (General Philip Sheridan was buried at the Cathedral, IVashington, D.

August, 1888, with all the pomp, music, and ceremonies of the

Roman

Catholic

service.)

Over and through

the burial chant.

Organ and solemn

service, sermon,

To me come

me, crowding up the

Of sudden

bending

priests.

interpolation sounds not in the

battle's

aisle

show

— plainly to

and from the window.

hurry and harsh noises

— war's grim game to

sight and ear in earnest;

The scout

call'd

— the general mounted and new-brought word — the instan-

up and forward

aids around

him

— the

his

taneous order issued

The

rifle

crack

from

The

— the

cannon thud

— the

rushing forth of

men

their tents;

clank of cavalry

— the strange

celerity of

forming ranks-—

the slender bugle note;

The sound of

horses' hoofs departing

— saddles, arms, accoutre-

ments.* Note.— Camden, N. J., August 7, 1888.— Walt Whitman asks the A/w York " Herald " to add his tribute to Sheridan :

In the

grand constellation of

five or six

[X3]

names, under Lincoln's Presidency,

leaver of 6ra00 TCo tbe Sun.»set Breeze*

Ah, whispering, something again, unseen,

Where Thou, Me,

late this

tempering

laving,

old, alone, sick,

Thou,

(Thou

all,

talk,

hast,

book,

and firm yet

soft,

— and my

companion

better

art,

taste to breathe within

face

heart

beyond

them,)

this is of

So sweet thy primitive fingers

cool-freshing, gently vitalizing

Nature! elements! utterance to

the rest

door,

weak-down, melted- worn with sweat;

nestling, folding close

than

my window,

heated day thou enterest at

— thy

soothing

and hands.

Thou, messenger-magical strange bringer to body and

spirit

of me,

— occult

(Distances balk'd

medicines penetrating

from head

to foot,) I

feel

the sky, the prairies vast

feel

the ocean and the forest

swift-swimming

Thou blown from

— the mighty northern — somehow the globe I

lakes,

feel

itself

space;

so loved,

lips

feel

now gone — haply

from endless

store, God-sent,

(For thou art

spiritual,

Godly, most of

all

known

sense,)

that history will bear for ages in her firmament as marking the last life-throbs of secession,

and beaming on

tion rising out of the

taking notice

of.

its

now

dying gasps, Sheridan's

dead

soldier's

will

example as

be bright. it

passes

One

considera-

mind,

the war had continued any long time these States,

worth in

would have shown and proved the most conclusive military talents ever evinced by any nation on earth. That they possess'd a rank and file ahead of all other known in points of quality and limitlessness of number are easily admitted. But we have, too, the eligibility of organizing, handling and officering equal to the These two, with modern arms, transportation, and inventive American other. genius, would make the United States, with earnestness, not only able to stand the whole world, but conquer that world united against us." opinion,

[14]

(5oo&^B?e flD? ifancu Minister to speak to me, here and

and cannot

told,

tell.

Art thou not universal concrete's

tronomy's

last

Hast thou no soul

refinement

Can

now, what word has never

distillation ?

Law's,

all

As-

not know, identify thee

r ÂŽl^ Gbant0ÂŤ

ancient song, reciting, ending.

Once gazing toward

thee,

Musing, seeking themes

Accept for me, thou

And name for me (Of

many

New

saidst, the elder ballads.

before thou goesteach ancient poet,

World's

Old chants, Egyptian

The Hindu Biblic

The

Iliad,

fitted for thee,

chieftest debt

to old poems.)

back, preluding thee, America,

far

The

All,

debts incalculable.

Haply our Ever so

Mother of

priests,

and those of Ethiopia,

epics, the Grecian, Chinese, Persian,

books and prophets, and deep Odyssey,

plots, doings,

idyls of the Nazarene,

wanderings of Eneas,

Hesiod, Eschylus, Sophocles, Merlin, Arthur,

The

Cid, Roland at Roncesvalles, the Nibelungen,

The troubadours,

minstrels, minnesingers, skalds,

Chaucer, Dante, flocks of singing birds,

The Border

Minstrelsy, the bye-gone

plays,

Shakspere, Schiller, Walter Scott, Tennyson, [15]

ballads, feudal tales, essays,

Xeavee of (5ra00 As some The

vast

great

wondrous weird dream-presences.

shadowy groups gathering around,

Darting their mighty masterful eyes forward at thee,

Thou! with

now

thy bending neck and head, with courteous

hand and word, ascending,

Thou! pausing a moment, drooping thine eyes upon them, blent with their music.

Well pleased, accepting

Thou

all,

curiously prepared for

enterest at thy entrance porch.

Cbrtstmas 6reetina*

(From a Northern Star-Group

Welcome,

by them,

loving

a Southern.

1889-90.)

— thy ample place ready; hand — a smile from the north — a sunny Brazilian brother

instant

hail!

(Let the future care for

itself,

where

reveals

its

troubles,

im-

pedimentas, Ours, ours the present throe, the democratic aim, the acceptance

and the

faith;)

thee to-day our reaching arm, our turning neck

— to

thee

from us the expectant eye,

Thou

cluster free!

thou

brilliant lustrous

one! thou, learning

well

The

true lesson of a nation's light in the sky,

(More shining than the Cross, more than the Crown,)

The height

be superb humanity. [16]

Soun^9 ot tbe MIntct* Sounds of the winter

too.

Sunshine upon the mountains

From cheery

— many a distant

— from nearer

railroad train

field,

strain

barn, house,

— even the mute crops, garner'd apples, corn, women's tones — rhythm of many a farmer and

The whispering air Children's and

flail,

old man's garrulous lips

among

the

Think not we give out

rest.

yet.

Forth from these snowy hairs we keep up yet the

sit in

twilight late alone

by the

Musing on long-pass'd war-scenes

unknown Of

lilt*

flickering oak-flame.

— of

the countless buried

soldiers.

the vacant names, as unindented

air's

and

sea's

— the un-

return'd.

The

brief truce after battle,

with grim burial-squads, and the

deep-fill'd trenches

gather'd dead from

all

whence they came

America, North, South, East, West,

up,

From wooded Maine, New-England's

farms, from

fertile

Penn-

sylvania, Illinois, Ohio,

From the measureless West,

Virginia, the South, the Carolinas,

Texas,

(Even here

room-shadows and

flickering flames, VOL. Ill—

£x7]

half-lights in the noiseless

TUavcB of (Braea Again

ranks on-filing, rising

see the stalwart

—

hear the

rhythmic tramp of the armies;)

You

names

million unwrit

all, all

—you dark bequest from

all

the

war,

special verse for

mystic

Each name

roll

you

—a

flash of

duty long neglected

— your

strangely gather'd here,

recall'd

from out the darkness and death's

ashes.

Henceforth to be, deep, deep within

many Your mystic

heart recording, for

a future year. roll entire

Embalm'd with love

unknown names,

or North or South,

in this twilight song.

Kllben tbe jTulUGtown poet Came.

When

the full-grown poet came.

Out spake pleased Nature its

(the

shows of day and

round impassive globe, with

night,) saying,

all

mine;

But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled.

Nay, he

— Then the full-grown

mine alone; poet stood between the two, and took

each by the hand

And

to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands.

Which he

will never release until

And wholly and

he reconciles the two>

joyously blends them.

[i8]

©sceola, ikyhen I was nearly grown 1838), /

had long

that

him

talks with

The

ceola.

latter

time— was made

When

his

New York

in Brooklyn,

Marines from Fort Moultrie,

— learn' d the occurrence below

described

was a young, brave, leading Seminole

{middle of S.

C, and

— death of Os-

in the Florida

war of

surrender' d to our troops, imprison' d, and literally died of " a

broken heart " at Fort Moultrie. officers

manhood

met one of the return' d U.

every allowance

hour

He slowly

Drew on

his

around

of his confinement

— the doctor and the close.)

had come,

for death

rais'd

sicken' d

and kindness possible for him; then

himself from the bed on the

war-dress,

shirt,

floor,

leggings, and girdled the belt

his waist,

Call'd for vermilion paint (his looking-glass

was

held before him,)

Painted half his face and neck, his wrists, and back-hands,

Put the scalp-knife carefully in

his belt

— then lying down,

rest-

ing a moment,

Rose again,

half

sitting,

hand to each and

Sank

low

faintly

Fix'd his look

(And here

smiled, gave in silence his extended

all,

[handle,)

to the floor (tightly grasping the

on wife and

a line in

little

memory

children

of his

IDoicc

name and

last:

death.)

from Deatb,

{Thefohnstown, Penn., cataclysm,

— the

tomahawk

May

31, 1889.)

VOICE from Death, solemn and strange, in

all

his

sweep and

power,

With sudden,

indescribable

by thousands

blow

— towns drown'd — humanity

slain,

[19]

Xeavee of (Bra^a The vaunted work

goods, dwellings, forge,

thrift,

street, iron

bridge,

Dash'd pell-mell by the blow

(Amid the

saved

—a

baby

come and unannounc'd,

usher'd

life

amid the rushing, whirling, wild

woman

suffering

Although In

rest,

— yet

pouring flood and

fire,

safely

continuing on, debris,

born !)

in horror

and

and wholesale elemental

pang, crash, (this

voice so solemn, strange,) I

too a minister of Deity.

Yea, Death,

mourn

The

fair,

we bow

our

the old, the

faces, veil

our eyes to thee,

young untimely drawn

to thee,

the strong, the good, the capable.

The household wreck'd, the husband and

the wife, the engulf'd

forger in his forge,

The

corpses in the

The

gather'd thousands to their funeral mounds, and thousands

whelming waters and the mud,

never found or gather'd.

Then

after burying,

(Faithful to

them found

new

past, here

day

—

a passing

Silent, resign'd,

War,

mourning the dead, or unfound, forgetting not, bearing the

musing,)

moment

n^,^

or an hour

— America

itself

bends

submissive.

death, cataclysm like this, America,

Take deep E'en as

to thy

proud prosperous

chant, lo! out of death,

The blossoms

heart.

and out of ooze and slime,

rapidly blooming, sympathy, help, love, [20]

From West and Its

from South and North and over

East,

hot-spurr'd hearts and hands humanity to

human

sea,

aid

moves

on;

And from Thou

within a thought and lesson yet.

ever-darting Globe! through Space and Air!

Thou waters

that

Thou

all

that in

Thou laws

Thou

encompass us

the

life

and death of

permeate them and

invisible that

that in

all,

us, in action or in sleep!

and over

all,

all.

and through and under

all,

inces-

sant!

Thou thou !

the

vital, universal,

giant force resistless, sleepless,

calm,

Holding Humanity as

thy open hand, as some ephemeral toy,

How

ill

For

too have forgotten,

(Wrapt

to e'er forget thee

in these little

potencies of progress, politics, culture,

wealth, inventions, civilization,)

Have

lost

recognition of your silent ever-swaying power,

ye mighty, elemental throes. In

which and upon which we

float,

and every one of us

buoy'd.

H For

his o'erarching

and

In the fresh scent of the

Persian Xesson* last lesson

morning

the greybeard

in the

open

air,

the slope of a teeming Persian rose-garden, [21]

sufi,

Xea\>e6 of (5rae0 Under an ancient chestnut-tree wide spreading Spoke to the young **

Finally

branches,

and students.

priests

children,

its

envelop each word, each part of the

rest,

Allah

is all, all, all

Maybe

—

immanent

every

life

many and many-a-more removes

Allah

object,

— yet

Allah, Allah,

there.

**Has the estray wander'd far?

hidden

and

the reason-why strangely

Would you sound below Would you know

the restless ocean of the entire world

the dissatisfaction

the urge and spur of every

life;

The something never

still'd

need of every seed *'

It is

return to

Latent the

its

gone

the invisible

same

in subject

The commonplace cheap

evil,

downfallen,)

divine source and origin,

XTbc

How

entirely

the central urge in every atom,

(Often unconscious, often

— never

and

in object,

however

distant,

without one exception."

dommonplace*

sing;

health!

how

cheap nobility!

Abstinence, no falsehood, no gluttony, lust;

The open

air

sing, freedom, toleration,

(Take here the mainest lesson

—

less

schools,) [22]

from books

—

less

from the

The common day and night Your farm

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; your work,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the common earth and waters,

trade, occupation.

The democratic wisdom underneath,

XTbe 1Rount)eb Catalogue

{Sunday,

like solid

ground

for

all.

Mvinc Complete/'

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

fVent this forenoon to church. college 'professor gave us a fine sermon, during which I caught the above words; hut the minister included in his "rounded catalogue" letter and spirit, only the .

Rev. Dr.

and entirely ignored what

esthetic things,

The

name

in the following.)

and the dark, the dying and

devilish

The

countless

(nineteen-twentieths)

diseas'd,

low and

evil,

crude and

savage,

The

crazed, prisoners in

Venom and

filth,

jail,

the horrible, rank, malignant.

serpents, the ravenous sharks,

liars,

the disso-

lute;

(What

the part the wicked and the loathsome bear within

earth's orbic

scheme

Newts, crawling things

The barren

soil,

in slime

and mud, poisons,

the evil men, the slag and hideous rot

/Dtrades* (Noted verbatim after a supper-talk out doors in Nevada with two old miners. J

More Times

experiences and sights, stranger, than you 'd think again,

Sometimes

now

mostly just

for;

after sunrise or before sunset.

in spring, oftener in

autumn,

in plain sight,

[23]

perfectly clear weather,

Xeave0 of (Braee Camps

far or near,

the

crowded

streets of cities

and the shop-

fronts,

(Account

for

And my mate

or not

— credit or not —

there could

fab'd about

tell

you the

true.

it is all

— we have

often con-

it,)

People and scenes, animals,

trees, colors

and

lines, plain as

could

be,

Farms and dooryards of home, paths border'd with box,

lilacs in

corners.

Weddings

churches, thanksgiving dinners, returns of long-

absent sons.

Glum

funerals, the crape-veil'd

Trials in courts, jury

mother and the daughters.

and judge, the accused

in the box.

Contestants, battles, crowds, bridges, wharves.

Now (I

and then mark'd faces of sorrow or

could pick them out this

Show'd

moment

joy,

saw them

again,)

just aloft to the right in the sky-edge,

plainly there to the left

on the

hill-tops,

%. ot (3/s ipurport

Not

to exclude or demarcate, or pick out evils

from their formid-

able masses (even to expose them,)

But add,

fuse,

complete, extend

— and

celebrate the immortal

and the good.

Haughty

To span

this song, its

words and scope,

vast realms of space

Evolution

and time,

— the cumulative — growths and generations. [24]

Begun

in ripen'd

youth and steadily pursued,

Wandering, peering, dallying with all— war, peace, day and night absorbing.

Never even I

end

sing of

for

one brief hour abandoning

task,

here in sickness, poverty, and old age.

life,

yet

mind me well of death

To-day shadowy Death dogs has for years

Draws sometimes

steps,

seated shape, and

—

close to me, as face to face.

r XTbe Taneipress*6.

How

dare one say

After the cycles, poems, singers, plays.

Vaunted

Ionia's,

India's

— Homer,

— the

long, long

of stars

— Nature's

Shakspere

times' thick dotted roads, areas.

The

shining clusters and the Milky

Ways

pulses reap'd. All retrospective passions, heroes, war, love, adoration.

All ages' All

plummets dropt

human

lives, throats,

to their utmost depths,

wishes, brains

—

all

experiences' utter-

ance; After the countless songs,

or long or short,

all

tongues,

all

lands, Still

something not yet told

in poesy's voice or print

— something

lacking,

(Who knows ?

the best yet unexpress'd and lacking.) [as]

Xeaves of (Braes (3ran&

Grand

ITs

tbe

me — grand

the seen, the light, to

Seem are the sky

and

stars,

Grand

the earth, and grand are lasting time and space.

And grand

their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary;

But grander ing

far

all

the unseen soul of me, comprehending,

endow-

those,

Lighting the

light,

the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing

the sea,

(What were

all

those, indeed, without thee, unseen

what amount without thee More

O my

evolutionary, vast, puzzling,

More multiform

far

soul? of

soul

— more lasting thou than they.

TUnseen Bu^s. Unseen buds,

infinite,

Under the snow and

hidden well.

ice,

under the darkness,

every square or

cubic inch,

Germinal, exquisite, in delicate Like babes in

wombs,

Billions of billions,

(On earth and

and

lace,

latent, folded, trillions

in the sea

microscopic, unborn.

compact, sleeping;

trillions

them waiting,

— the universe — the

stars there in the

heavens,)

Urging slowly, surely forward, forming endless,

And

waiting ever more, forever more behind. [26]

Goo&«»Bse

Good-bye

/IDs if anc]?

Fancy!

Farewell dear mate, dear love! I

'm going away,

what

fortune, or

So Good-bye

Now

for

know

The slower

last

not where,

whether

may

ever see you again.

Fancy.

—

let

moment;

look back a

fainter ticking of the clock

me,

Exit, nightfall,

and soon the heart-thud stopping.

Long have we

lived, joy'd, caress'd together;

Delightful

Yet

— now separation —Good-bye my Fancy.

let

not be too hasty.

Long indeed have we

lived, slept, filter'd,

become

blended

really

into one;

Then

die

die together, (yes,

*11

remain one,)

we go anywhere we go together to meet what happens. Maybe we be better off and blither, and learn something, Maybe it is yourself now really ushering me to the true songs, '11

'11

(who knows

May

now Good-bye

you the mortal knob

finally.

— and

hail

Fancy.

[27]

really

undoing, turning— so

©lb Hae lEcboes (Posthumous Additions^

[*»]

AN EXECUTOR'S DIARY NOTE, I

said to

W. W.

Leaves, closed

"Though you have put

to-day:

them with your good-by, you

The question

longer and writing more poems.

poems when the time comes I

not unprepared

reserve:

—

demand

may have

under ban

anything to do with

complete as able,

You have

different editions, to

be added to the Leaves I

left it,

what

living a year

will

volume

— applying not so much to

shall

make a volume.

Why

place

with them

have a

title

the roadside, as

Some day

— how

could

it ? I

you

the world will "

Certainly.

far as

you

be supplementary, avowed as such, leaving the book

deep down, unobliteratable division I

—

these

upon you the injunction that whatever may

consecutive to the point

pleases with the book.

"Do

" Do you think

should

two

you do with

things as to echoes of things,

dropt enough

to have that put together somewhere." it

the finishing touches on the

go on

have even contemplated that emergency

Old Age Echoes

Should you put

is,

to fix their place in the

reverberant, an aftermath."

went along, from

will

1891.

left oft",

line.

marking always an unmistak-

In the long run the

determined to have the world

world

will

know what

do as I

was

pleased to do."

Here

a late personal note from

good

will,

There

W. W. " :

JVly

tho't

to collect a lot of prose

— small or smallish mostly, but a few — appealing to the the heart — sorrowful ones not rejected — but no morbid ones given."

and poetry

pieces

larger

no reason

Echoes," was

for

W.'s

doubt that

"A Thought

last deliberate

of Columbus," closing

composition, dating December, 1891.

[30]

Old Age

©lb Hge JEcboes XTo

Soar

in if ree^om

anb in jfuUness of power*

HAVE not so much emulated the birds

have abandon'd myself to

The hawk, the

seagull,

broad

flights,

have

that musically sing, circles.

more possess'd me than the

far

canary or mocking-bird. I

have not

felt

have

to soar in freedom

felt

to warble

and

trill,

however sweetly,

and

in the fullness of

power,

joy,

—

that

volition.

Zbcn Sball

perceive*

In softness, languor,

bloom, and growth.

Thine eyes,

thy sense

ears, all

— thy

loftiest attribute

all

takes cognizance of beauty, Shall rouse

and

fill

— then

shall perceive!

tCbe ipew

Drops Itnown.

heroes, history, grand events, premises, myths, poems,

The few drops known must stand

this beautiful

for oceans of the

and thick peopl'd

specimen put on record, [31]

earth, here

unknown.

and there a

little

TLcnvcB Of 6vaB6

little

of Greeks and

Romans, a few Hebrew

canticles, a

few

death odors as from graves, from Egypt —

What

are they to the long

and copious retrospect of antiquity

One ZboviQbt One thought That

ever at the fore

in the Divine Ship, the

iBvct at tbe iFore*

— World, breasting Time and Space,

All Peoples of the globe together sail, sail the

bound

to the

same

all,

same voyage,

an5 Erect.

firm and erect as ever,

Undismay'd amid the rapids

— amid

the irresistible and deadly

urge.

Stands a helmsman, with brow elate and strong hand.

fciBs to tbe :Bvi^c.

Marriage of Nelly Grant, A/ay 21, 1874.

Sacred, blithesome, undenied.

With benisons from East and West,

And

salutations North

and South,

Through me indeed to-day a Wafting a million

million hearts

and hands,

loves, a million soulfelt prayers;

— Tender and true remain the arm that shields thee! Fair

winds always

are

destination.

TWlbile JBebtnb HIl jf itm

While behind

fill

the ship's sails that [32]

sail

thee!

®l& Uqc igcboea Clear sun by day, and light stars at night,

Dear

girl

For the

New

World, through me, the

youth and health!

thee!

too.

old, old

sweet Missouri rose!

Yield thy red cheeks, thy

Unto

beam on

— through me the ancient privilege

wedding

greeting;

bride!

bonny

to-day.

lips,

a Nation's loving kiss.

Via^, Uell ADe laot Ucvbai? tbc pubU5b*5 Sbamc. IVinter of 1873, Congress in Session.

Nay,

tell

not to-day the publish'd shame.

Read not to-day the

journal's

The

merciless reports

The

guilty

To-day

still

branding forehead

column following

Turning from

crowded page. after forehead.

guilty column.

the tale refusing, it

— from the white capitol turning,

Far from these swelling domes, topt with statues,

endless, jubilant, vital visions rise

Unpublish'd, unreported.

Through

all

States,

Your

your quiet ways, or North or South, you Equal

you honest

million untold

farms.

manly healthy

lives, or

East or West, city

or country.

Your

noiseless mothers, sisters, wives, unconscious of their good.

Your mass of homes nor poor nor

rich,

in visions rise

— (even

your excellent poverties,)

Your

self-distilling, VOL. 111-3

never-ceasing virtues, self-denials, graces, ,

C33]

Xeave0 of 6ra60 Your endless base Your

of deep integrities within, timid but certain,

blessings steadily bestow'd, sure as the light, and

(Plunging to these as a determin'd diver

down

still,

the deep hidden

waters,

These,

these to-day will

To-day

brood upon

—

all

else

refusing,

these

con,

to these give audience.

Supplement Doura^ Sane, random, negligent hours. Sane, easy, culminating hours. After the flush, the Indian

Away

from Books

summer, of

life.

— away from Art — the lesson

learn'd, pass'd

o'er,

— the sane, magnetic. the day and night themselves — the open the the seasons, — the

Soothing, bathing, merging

Now Now

for

all

air,

for

insects, trees

fields,

rain

and

snow.

Where wild

bees

flitting

hum.

Or August mulleins grow, Or

stars in the skies roll

The

silent

sun and

©t

/iDani^

or winter's snowflakes

round

fall,

—

stars.

a Smutcb'& !S)ee^ IRemlniscent

Full of wickedness,

— of

many

— of worse deeds capable, [34]

a smutch'd deed reminiscent

ÂŽlb Hge ficboea Yet

look composedly upon nature, drink day and night the

joys of

Because of

and await death with

life,

because of his boundless love

XTo J5e (C/.

To I

at all

think

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; what

there

me.

better than that ?

were nothing more developed, the clam

not in any callous shell;

cased with supple conductors,

all

over

by the hand, and

object

in its

were august enough.

They

are thousands, each

They

are always watching with their

love and

Ht HIU

They take every

for

stanza 27, "Song of Myself," p. 68.)

callous shell in the sand

perfect equanimity,

tender and boundless love for him

one with

lead

within me;

his entry to himself; little

eyes, from

head

feet;

One no more

than a point

lets in

and out of

such bliss and

magnitude, I

think

could

me and

lift

the girder of the house

whatever

from

lay

between

request.

IDallei?*

" The Valley of the Shadow of Death,"

the painting by George Inness.

Nay, do not dream, designer dark.

Thou

if it

wanted.

Bcatb's To accompany a picture; by

away

hast portray'd or hit thy

theme [35]

entire;

leaves of (Brase hoverer of

late

glimpses of

this

dark valley, by

it,

my right to make

Here enter lists with thee, claiming For

have seen

many wounded

After dread suffering

And

confines, having

its

symbol too.

soldiers die.

— have seen

with smiles;

their lives pass off

have watch'd the death-hours of the old; and seen the

infant die;

The

rich,

And

then the poor, in meagreness and poverty;

And

Amid

And I

with

myself

for long,

and

his doctors;

Death, have breath'd

every breath

out of these and thee, a scene, a song (not fear of thee,

Nor gloom's

his nurses

the nearness and the silent thought of thee.

make

Nor

all

ravines, nor bleak, nor dark

—

for

do not

fear thee,

celebrate the struggle, or contortion, or hard-tied knot).

the broad blessed light and perfect

air,

with meadows,

rip-

pling tides, and trees and flowers and grass,

And

the low

hum

of living breeze

— and

beautiful eternal right hand,

Thee, holiest minister of Heaven

midst God's

in the

r^^

l^^^

Rich, florid, loosener of the stricture-knot call'd

life,

Sweet, peaceful, welcome Death.

On tbe Same Intended for first stanza of

Aye, well

know

'tis

picture* **

Death's

yalley.*'

ghastly to descend that valley:

Preachers, musicians, poets, painters, always render [36]

^f ^U^

— thee, envoy, usherer, guide

it,

ÂŽlb Hge JEchoce Philosophs exploitâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the beds, All, all

all

battlefield, the ship at sea, the

lands,

the past have enter'd, the ancientest humanity

now

for us

we know,

Rome's;

Syria's, India's, Egypt's, Greece's, Till

myriad

under our very eyes spreading the same to-day,

Grim, ready, the same to-day, for entrance, yours and mine. Here, here

limn'd.

H The mystery

Ubougbt of dolumbus^

of mysteries, the crude and hurried ceaseless flame,

spontaneous, bearing on

itself.

The bubble and the huge, round,

A breath

of Deity, as thence the bulging universe unfolding!

The many

The

concrete orb!

issuing cycles from their precedent minute!

eras of the soul incepting in an hour,

Haply the widest,

farthest evolutions of the

world and man.

Thousands and thousands of miles hence, and now four centuries back,

mortal impulse thrilling

its

brain

cell,

Reck'd or unreck'd, the birth can no longer be postpon'd:

stalking, sudden.

phantom of the moment, mystic,

Only a

down

silent thought, yet toppling

more than walls

brass or stone.

flutter at the

darkness' edge as

old Time's and Space's

secret near revealing.)

thought! a definite thought works out in shape.

Four hundred years

roll

on. [37]

Xeapea of (Braee The

roll

The

—

rapid cumulus

trade, navigation, war, peace,

restless

armies and the

fleets

of time following their leader

— the old camps of ages pitch'd The

democracy,

newer, larger areas.

eclaircissement of

long-deferr'd

tangl'd,

human

life

and

hopes boldly begins untying.

here to-day up-grows the Western World.

(An added word yet

song, far Discoverer, as ne'er before

sent back to son of earth If still

—

thou hearest, hear me,

Voicing as

now— lands,

races, arts, bravas to thee.

O'er the long backward

path to thee

— one

vast consensus,

north, south, east, west,

Soul plaudits

One

acclamation! reverent echoes

manifold, huge

The modern world

memory

to thee

to thee! oceans and lands!

and thought of thee!

[38]

Backwatb

(Blance o'er ZTravel'b

IRoabs*

From " November Boughs."

[39]

Walt Whitmah

Backwarb

(5lance o'er Uraverb

IRoabs

Perhaps the best of songs heard, or of any and true love, or

trying scenes on land or sea,

or any of them,

the resume of them,

long afterwards, looking at the

away back

actualities

all

episodes, or sailors', soldiers'

life's fairest

past,

How

excitations gone.

with

all

their practical

the soul loves to float amid

such reminiscencesi

So here old age

—

sit

and

gossiping

the early candle-light of

my book — casting backward glances

over our travel'd road. the journey

— (a

After completing, as

varied jaunt of years, with

were,

many

—

or some lengthen'd shipand gaps of intervals voyage, wherein more than once the last hour had apparently arrived, and we seem'd certainly going halts

— yet reaching port — discomfitures at

down all

last)

a sufficient

after

way through

completing

po-

am curious to review them in the light of their own (at the time unconscious, or mostly unconems,

with certain unfoldings of the These lines, thirty years they seek to embody. therefore, will probably blend the weft of first scious)

intentions,

[41]

ffiachwarb (5lance o'er ^raverb IRoaba

purposes and speculations, with the warp of that experience afterwards, always bringing strange de-

velopments. Results of seven or eight stages and struggles

extending through nearly thirty years, (as three-score-and-ten

nigh

on memory,)

live largely

look

upon Leaves of Grass, now end of its opportunities and powers, as my definitive carte de visite to the coming generations of the New World,* if may assume to say so. That have not gain'd finished to the

the acceptance of

my own

time, but have fallen back

— anticipations — Regnar dies") — that from a ('

on fond dreams of the future lives the song,

though

still

worldly and business point of view Leaves of Grass has been worse than a failure—that public criticism on the book and myself as author of

yet

shows mark'd

— C'l of enemies to you everywhere," — K., Boston, May 1884) — and that

anger and contempt more than anything else find a solid line ter

from

let-

28,

solely for publishing

have been the object of two

or three pretty serious special official buffetings all I

probably no more than

had

choice

for soft eulogies,

ought to have expected. commenced. bid neither 1

returns, nor the appro-

bation of existing schools and conventions. fill'd

or partially

When

when big money I

—

fulfilled,

ful-

the best comfort of the

Champollion, on his death-bed, handed to the printer the revised proof Grammar, he said gayly, " Be careful of this it is my carU d%

—

of his Egyptian

visite to posterity."

[42]

BackwarD Glance

^raverb IRoabe

o'er

whole business (after a small band of the dearest and upholders ever vouchsafed to man or cause doubtless all the more faithful and uncompromising—this little phalanx! for being so few) friends

—

unstopp'd and unwarp'd by any influence

that,

outside the soul within me,

have had

tirely

my own

—the

value thereof to be decided by time.

way, and put

say en-

unerringly on record

calculating that decision, William

O'Connor and Dr. Bucke are far more peremptory than am. Behind all else that can be said, consider Leaves Grass and its theory experimental as, in the of In

—

deepest sense, to be, with

its

consider our American republic

theory.

think

have

at least

itself

enough

philosophy not to be too absolutely certain of any-

any

thing, or

ume

results.)

a sortie

— whether to

conquer

its field

nothing

less

answer.

all

second place, the vol-

prove triumphant, and

of aim and escape and construction,

than a hundred years from

consider the point that

gained a hearing, to far

and

In the

fully

have positively

more than make up

other lacks and withholdings.

was from the

now can

any

for

Essentially,

and has remain'd throughout, the main object. Now it seems to be achiev'd, am certainly contented to waive any otherwise momentous drawbacks, as of little account. Candidly and that

first,

dispassionately reviewing

all

that they

were creditable— and

whatever

may

be. [43]

intentions,

feel

accept the result,

Bachvparb <5lance o'er ^raver& IRoaba and

After continued personal ambition

young

as a

effort,

fellow, to enter with the rest into competition

for the usual

— to take

rewards, business,

political, literary,

&c.

part in the great melee, both for victory's

—

and to do some good after years of those aims and pursuits, I found myself remaining prize itself

possess'd, at the age of thirty-one to thirty-three,

with a special desire and conviction.

be quite exact, a desire that had been

flitting

rather, to

through

or hovering on the flanks, mostly

life,

had steadily advanced to the front, defined itself, and finally dominated everything else. This was a feeling or ambition to articulate and faithfully express in literary or poetic form, and unindefinite hitherto,

compromisingly, intellectual,

and

my own

physical, emotional, moral,

assthetic Personality, in the

midst

of,

and tallying, the momentous spirit and facts of its immediate days, and of current America and to exploit that Personality, identified with place and

—

date, in a far

more candid and comprehensive sense

than any hitherto

Perhaps this

sought to do.

poem

or book.

is in brief,

or suggests,

all

have

Given the nineteenth century, with

the United States,

and what they furnish as area

and points of view, Leaves of Grass is, or seeks to be, simply a faithful and doubtless self-wiird the record. In the midst of all, it gives one man's author's identity, ardors, observations, faiths, and

—

thoughts, color'd hardly at

all

[44]

with any decided color-

Bacftwarb (Blance o'er ^raverb IRoabe

ing from other faiths or other identities.

songs had been

sung— beautiful,

adjusted to other lands than

and stage of evolution; but out or put

Plenty of

songs— these— another spirit would sing, and leave matchless

quite solely with reference to America

in,

Modern

and to-day.

science and democracy seem'd

to be throwing out their challenge to poetry to put

them

statements

its

songs and myths of the

haps too

late),

lenge and

contradistinction to the

past.

see

now

(per-

have unwittingly taken up that chal-

made an attempt

such statements—

which certainly would not assume knowing more clearly what it means. I

to do

now,

For grounds for Leaves of Grass, as a poem, I abandon'd the conventional themes, which do not

appear

none of the stock ornamentation, or

choice plots of love or war, or high, exceptional per-

sonages of Old-World song; nothing, as for beauty's

sake

— no

nor euphemism, nor rhyme.

age of humanity and

its

identities in the

now in

ripen-

each of

practical occupations

examples and

the United States to-day.

One main of

say,

But the broadest aver-

ing nineteenth century, and especially their countless

may

legend, or myth, or romance,

verses,

contrast of the ideas behind every page

their different relative attitude

the objective universe, and confession,

establish'd poems,

compared with

assumption,

towards God, towards

still

&c.) [45]

more (by the

quite

reflection,

changed

a Bachwarb

(Blance o'er ZTraiocrb 1Roab0

attitude of the ego, the

one chanting or

talking, to-

wards himself and towards

his fellow-humanity.

certainly time for America,

above

adjustment

all,

to begin this re-

the scope and basic point of view of

verse; for everything else has changed. I

It is

write,

see in an article on Wordsworth, in one of the

current English magazines, the lines, ''A few

weeks

owing

to the

ago an eminent French special

said that,

tendency to science and to

force, poetry

But

critic

would cease

Only a

area begins to exist

firmer,

— nay,

— to

which the poetic genius must Whatever may have been the case in

already form'd emigrate.

new

all-devouring

to be read in fifty years."

anticipate the very contrary.

vastly broader,

its

years gone by, the true use for the imaginative faculty of

modern times

to give ultimate vivification

to facts, to science, and to

common

lives,

endowing

them with the glows and glories and final illustriousness which belong to every real thing, and to real things only. Without that ultimate vivification reality which the poet or other artist alone can give would seem incomplete, and science, democracy, and

—

life itself,

Few

finally in vain.

appreciate the moral revolutions, our age,

which have been profounder far than the material or inventive or war-produced ones. The nineteenth century, now well towards its close (and ripening into fruit the seeds of the

The ferment and germination

two preceding

centuries^')

even of the United States to-day, dating back [46]

to,

Bachwarb

(Blance o'er

^raverb IRoabe

—the

uprisings of national masses and shiftings of boundary-lines— the historical and other prominent

United States— the war of attempted Secession— the stormy rush and haste of nebulous

facts of the

forces— never can future years witness more excitement and din of action never completer change of

—

army

front along the

world.

For

all

whole

line,

the whole civilized

new and evolutionary facts, new poetic messages, new forms

these

meanings, purposes,

and expressions, are inevitable. My Book and I—what a period we have presumed to span! those thirty years from 1850 to '80— and America in them! Proud, proud indeed may we be, if we have cull'd enough of that period in its own spirit to

worthily waft a few

live breaths of

to the

future!

Let

not dare, here or anywhere, for

my own

purposes, or any purposes, to attempt the definition of Poetry, nor answer the question what Religion,

made

all

opinion no definition that

sufficiently encloses the

but some great exception

advent

lost

name

may

it.

opinion mainly founded on, the Elizabethan age in English history, the Indeed, when we pursue it, what growth or

age of Francis Bacon and Shakspere.

dues

in-

give a sufficiently accurate

and disregard and overturn

arise

nor can any rule or convention ever so

;

absolutely obtain

and

to them, in

has ever been Poetry

is.

Love, Nature, while those terms are

dispensable, and

meaning

there that does not date back, back, until lost

—

the receded horizons of the past

[473

— perhaps

its

most tantalizing

Backwari) (Blance o'er ZTraverb IRoaba

must be

remember'd that firstclass literature does not shine by any luminosity of its own; nor do its poems. They grow of circumstances, and are evolutionary. The actual living light Also

carefully

always curiously from elsewhere

countable sources, and

There

best.

are,

unac-

lunar and relative at the

know,

—follows

certain controlling

themes

that

seem endlessly appropriated to the poets

war,

the past

adoration

—

the Bible, religious rapture and

— always

love, beauty,

pensive or other emotion.

sound

at first,

for

the best elements of modern song.

their kind,

entirely

all

may

something striking

deeper and towering

far

fine plot, or

But, strange as

say there

will

some

far

Just as

— as

higher than those themes

the old imaginative works

rest,

after

on long trains of presuppositions, often

unmention'd by themselves, yet supplying

most important bases of them, and without which they could have had no reason for being, so

the

Leaves of Grass,

before

supposed something it

stands,

a line

different

was

written,

pre-

from any other, and, as

the result of such presupposition.

should say, indeed,

were useless to attempt read-

book without first carefully tallying that preparatory background and quality in the mind. Think of the United States to-day— the facts of these thirtysixty or eight or forty empires solder'd in one ing the

—

seventy millions of equals, with their sions, their future

lives, their

pas-

—these incalculable, modern, Amer[48]

a BachwarD

(Blance o'er ?Iraperb IRoa&e

around

ican, seething multitudes

inseparable

Think,

parts!

us, of

which we

are

comparison, of the

petty environage and limited area of the poets of past or present Europe, no matter how great their

Think of the absence and ignorance

genius.

cases hitherto, of the

multitudinousness,

in all

vitality,

and the unprecedented stimulants of to-day and here. It almost seems as if a poetry with cosmic and dynamic features of magnitude and to the

human

soul,

limitlessness suitable

were never possible before.

certain that a poetry of absolute faith for the use of the democratic In

It is

and equality

masses never was.

estimating first-class song, a sufficient Nation-

ality, or,

on the other hand, what may be

call'd

negative and lack of

it,

(as in Goethe's case

times seems to me),

often,

element.

One needs

only a

some-

not always, the

little

the

first

penetration to see,

more or less removes, the material facts of their country and radius, with the coloring of the moods of humanity at the time, and its gloomy or hopeful prospects, behind all poets and each poet, and format

ing their birth-marks.

know

very well that

Leaves could not possibly have emerged or been fashioned or completed, from any other era than the of the nineteenth century, nor any other land than democratic America, and from the absolute

latter half

triumph of the National Union arms.

And whether my friends claim it for me or not, know well enough, too, that in respect to pictorial V0U.U.-4.

j^^3

H Bachwarb talent,

(Blance o'er {Traverb IRoaba

dramatic situations, and especially in verbal

melody and

all

the conventional technique of poetry,

not only the divine works that to-day stand ahead in

the world's reading, but dozens more, transcend

(some of them immeasurably transcend) all have done, or could do. But it seem'd to me, as the objects in Nature, the themes of asstheticism, and all special exploitations of the mind and soul, involve I

not only their

own

inherent quality, but the quality,

and important, oi their point of view, '^ the time had come to reflect all themes and things, old and new, in the lights thrown on them by the just as inherent

advent of America and democracy

— to chant those

themes through the utterance of one, not only the grateful and reverent legatee of the past, but the born child of the

New World — to

illustrate

all

through the genesis and ensemble of to-day; and that

such

illustration

and ensemble are the chief demands

of America's prospective imaginative literature. to carry out, in the approved style,

some choice

Not plot

of fortune or misfortune, or fancy, or fine thoughts, or incidents, or courtesies

—

done overwhelmingly and but that while be exceird

—

all

which has been

well, probably never to in

such aesthetic present-

ation of objects, passions, plots, thoughts, &c., our

lands and days do not want, and probably will never

have, anything better than they already possess from According significance to

to all

Immanuel Kant, the

the

last

rest.

[SO]

essential

reality,

giving shape and

Bachwarb 6lance

the bequests of the past, that there

o'er ^EraveFb IRoaba

it still

even towards

all

remains to be said those a subjective

and contemporary point of view appropriate to ourselves alone, and to our new genius and environments, differing from anything hitherto; and that

such conception of current or gone-by for us the

life

and

art is

only means of their assimilation consistent

with the Western world. Indeed, and anyhow, to put

not the time arrived when,

has

specifically,

must be plainly said, for democratic America's sake, if for no other) there must imperatively come a readjustment of the whole theory and nature of Poetry? The question is important, and may turn the argument over and repeat it: Does not the best thought of our day and Republic conceive of a birth and spirit of song supe(if it

rior to

anything past or present?

and moral consolidation of our lands

the effectual (already,

materially established, the greatest factors in

known

greater through

what they

pre-

lude and necessitate, and are to be

in future)

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to

history,

and

far, far

conform with and build on the concrete theories of the universe furnish'd

realities

science,

and and

henceforth the only irrefragable basis for anything, verse included

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to root both

influences in the

emo-

and imaginative action of the modern time, and dominate all that precedes or opposes them is not either a radical advance and step forward, or a

tional

new

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

verteber of the best song indispensable? [SI]

Bacftwarb (Blance o'er tTraverb IRoabe

The

New World

poems of

receives with joy the

the antique with European feudalism's rich fund of epics, plays, ballads

— seeks not

the least to deaden

or displace those voices from our ear and area

them indeed

indispensable

influences,

But though the dawn-dazzle

records, comparisons.

of the sun of literature

studies,

— holds

is in

those poems for us of to-day

— though perhaps the best parts of current character in nations, social

woman's from them

groups, or any man's or

—

Old World or New, are and though if were ask'd to name the most precious bequest to current American civilization from all the hitherto ages, am not sure but would name those old and less old songs ferried hither from east and individuality,

west

— some serious words and debits remain;

acrid considerations

poems

demand

receiv'd from abroad

a hearing.

Of the

great

and from the ages, and

to-day enveloping and penetrating America,

one that

some

there

consistent with these United States, or

them as they are and are to be ? Is there one whose underlying basis is not a denial and insult to democracy ? What a comment it forms, anyhow, on this era of literary fulfilment, essentially applicable to

with the splendid day-rise of science and resuscitation of history, that our chief religious and poetical

works are not our own, nor adapted to our light, but have been furnish 'd by far-back ages out of their arri^re and darkness, or, at most, twilight dimness! What is there in those works that so imperiously and [52]

ffiackwarD (5Iance o'er ZTravert) IRoaba

scornfully dominates

our advanced civilization

all

and culture ? Even Shakspere, who so suffuses current letters and art (which indeed have in most degrees grown out of him) belongs essentially to the buried past. Only he holds the proud distinction

for certain

phases of that past, of being the

loftiest

life

has yet given voice

to.

All,

important

of the singers

however,

relate to

upon conditions, standards, politics, sociologies, ranges of belief, that have been quite eliminated from the Eastern Hemisphere, and never existed at all in the Western. As authoritative types of song they belong in America just about as much as the persons and institutes they depict. True, it may be said, the emotional, moral, and aesthetic natures of humanity that in these the old have not radically changed poems apply to our times and all times, irrespective of date; and that they are of incalculable value and

rest

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

as pictures of the past.

willingly

make those

ad-

missions, and to their fullest extent; then advance

the points herewith as of serious, even paramount

importance. 1

have indeed put on record elsewhere

rever-

ence and eulogy for those never-to-be-excell'd poetic bequests,

and

their

indescribable preciousness as

Another and separate point must now be candidly stated. If I had not stood before those poems with uncover'd head, fully aware of their colossal grandeur and beauty of form and heirlooms for America.

ÂŁ53]

H Bachwar& spirit,

(Blance o'er ZTravert) 1Roa&6

could not have written Leaves of Grass,

and conclusions as illustrated in its pages are arrived at through the temper and inculcation of verdict

the old works as

perhaps more

America

fully

much

than

and

as through anything else

through

fairly

anything

construed

else.

—

the legitimate

and evolutionary outcome of the past, so would dare to claim for my verse. Without stopping to qualify the averment, the Old World has had the poems of myths, fictions, feudalism, conquest, caste, result

dynastic wars, and splendid exceptional characters

which have been great; but the New World needs the poems of realities and science and of the democratic average and basic equality, which shall be greater. In the centre of all, and object of all, stands the Human Being, towards whose heroic and spiritual evolution poems and everything directly or indirectly tend, Old World or New. and

affairs,

Continuing the subject, than once

suggested — or

may possessing me

friends

be the garrulity of

— some further em-

advancing age

bryonic facts

of Leaves of Grass,

how

have more

and especially

upon them. Dr. Bucke has, in his volume, already fully and fairly described the preparation of my poetic field, with the particular and general plowing, planting, seeding, and occupation I

enter'd

of the ground,

and ready to

till

everything

start its

was

fertilized, rooted,

own way for good or bad. [54]

Not

H till

Bacftwar& Glance o'er ZTraverb IRoa&a

after all this, did

ance with poetic

attempt any serious acquaint-

Along

literature.

sixteenth

had become possessor of a stout, well-cramm'd one thousand page octavo volume (I have it yet,) containing Walter Scott's poetry entire an inexhaustible mine and treasury of poetic forage (espeyear

—

cially

the endless forests and jungles of notes)— has

been so to

for fifty years,

and remains so to

this

day.*

summers and falls, used to go week at a stretch, down in the

Later, at intervals, off,

sometimes

for a

country, or to Long Island's sea-shores— there,

presence of outdoor influences,

oughly the Old and

New

or indoor

room

the

thor-

Testaments, and absorb'd

(probably to better advantage for library

went over

—

than

makes such

any

difference

where you read,) Shakspere, Ossian, the best translated versions

could get of Homer, Eschylus, So-

German *'Nibelungen," the ancient Hindoo poems, and one or two other masterpieces, read the Dante's among them. As it happen'd, The Iliad (Buckley's latter mostly in an old wood.

phocles, the old

prose version)

read

first

thoroughly on the penin-

* Sir Walter Scott's Complete Poems; especially including '* Border Minstrelsy"; then "Sir Tristrem"; " Lay of the Last Minstrel"; " Ballads from the German"; "Marmion"; "Lady of the Lake"; "Vision of Don Roderick"; "Lord of the Isles";

"Rokeby"; "Bridal

Dauntless";

all

of Triermain"; "Field of Waterloo";

"Harold the

the Dramas; various Introductions, endless interesting Notes, and

Essays on Poetry, Romance, &c. Lockhart's 1833 (or '34) edition with Scott's latest and copious revisions and an(All the poems were thoroughly read by me, but the ballads of the

notations. **

Border Minstrelsy " over and over again.)

[SS]

H ®achwar&

(Blance o'er

^raver& 1Roa&0

end of Long Island, in a shelter'd hollow of rocks and sand, with the sea on each side. (I have wonder'd since why was not sula of Orient, northeast

overwhelm'd by those mighty masters. cause

read them, as described, in the

of Nature,

Likely be-

full

presence

under the sun, with the far-spreading

landscape and vistas, or the sea rolling

Toward the

in.)

had among much else look'd over Edgar Poe's poems— of which was not an admirer, tho' I always saw that beyond their limited range of melody (like perpetual chimes of music bells, nnging from lower ^ flat up to^) they were melodious expressions, and perhaps never excell'd ones, of cerlast

tain

Poetic area

human

pronounc'd phases of

many

But

mansions!)

by the idea

morbidity.

very spacious — has room I

was

for all

(The

— has

repaid in Poe's prose

that (at any rate for our occasions, our

day) there can be no such thing as a long poem.

The same thought had been haunting fore,

mind be-

but Poe's argument, though short, work'd the

sum and proved

to me.

Another point had an early settlement, clearing the ground greatly. saw, from the time my enterI

and questionings positively shaped themselves (how best can express my own distinctive era and

prise

surroundings, America, Democracy

that the trunk

and centre whence the answer was to radiate, and to which all should return from straying however far a distance, must be an identical body and soul, a per[56]

BacftwarD (Blance o'er ZTraveri) 1Roa&5

sonality

ations

— which

many

personality, after

and ponderings,

deliberately settled should be

myself— indeed could not be any other. strongly (whether have shown it or not) I

and

true

full

consider-

also felt

that to the

estimate of the Present both the Past

and the Future are main considerations. These, however, and much more might have gone on and come to naught (almost positively would have come to naught,) if a sudden, vast, terrible, direct and indirect stimulus for new and national declamatory expression had not been given to me. It

certain,

say, that, although

had made a

start

before, only from the occurrence of the Secession

War, and what

show'd me as by

with the emotional depths

ning,

arous'd (of course, only,

saw

mean

don't

flashes of light-

sounded and

my own

heart

just as plainly in others, in millions)

—

that only from the strong flare and provocation of that war's sights and scenes the final reasons-for-be-

ing of an autochthonic and passionate song definitely

came forth. went down 1

1862), lived tles all

to the

war

camp

the fluctuations, gloom,

arous'd, courage cause, too

evoked

— along

and

despair,

— death filling

readily risk'd

— the

(more than 1776-83) of [57]

hopes again

— ^A^

those agonistic and

lurid following years, i863-'64-'65

tion years

(end of

— saw great batand nights afterward — partook of

thenceforward

and the days

fields in Virginia

real parturi-

this henceforth

a Backward

(Blance o'er

^rave^^ IRoaD^

homogeneous Union. Without those three or four years and the experiences they gave, Leaves of Grass would not now be existing. But

with the intention also of indicating

set out

or hinting

some

see (though

which

point-characteristics

since

did not then, at least not definitely)

were bases and object-urgings toward those Leaves from the

first.

the description

The word myself put primarily for of them as they stand at last, is the I

word Suggestiveness.

round and

anything; and could not,

finish

consistently

little,

with

The reader will always have his or her do, just as much as have had mine. seek state or display any theme or thought, and

scheme. part to less to

more to bring you, reader, into the atmosphere of the theme or thought there to pursue your own flight. Another impetus-word is Comradeship as for all lands, and in a more commanding and acknowledg'd sense than hitherto. Other word signs would be Good Cheer, Content, and Hope. The chief trait of any given poet is always the spirit he brings to the observation of Humanity and Nature the mood out of which he contemplates his subjects. What kind of temper and what amount

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Up to how recent a What the equipment, and

of faith report these things ?

date

the song carried ?

special raciness of the singer

coloring ?

The

last

value of [58]

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; what

his tinge of

artistic expressers,

past

Bacftwarb (Blance o'er braver?) IRoabe

and present our

— Greek

aesthetes,

own day Tennyson,

erson—is

Shakspere

— or

Victor Hugo, Carlyle,

Em-

certainly involv'd in such questions.

say the profoundest service that poems or any other writings can do for their reader is not merely to satisfy the intellect,

and

interesting, nor

or supply something polish'd

even to depict great passions, or fill him with vigorous and

persons or events, but to clean

manliness, religiousness, and give him good heart as a radical possession and habit. The educated world seems to have been growing more and

more ennuy^d heritance of

for ages, leaving to all.

our time the

Fortunately there

in-

the original

inexhaustible fund of buoyancy, normally resident in

the race, forever eligible to be appeal'd to and

relied on.

for native

tain to

and

American

individuality,

come, and on a large

ideal

though

cer-

scale, the distinctive

type of Western character (as consistent

with the operative

and even money-making features of United States' humanity in the nineteenth century as chosen knights, gentlemen and warriors were the ideals of the centuries of European feudalism)

the stress of

has not yet appear'd.

my poems

upon American because that

political

have allow'd

from beginning to end to bear

individuality

and

assist

a great lesson in Nature,

— not only

amid

all

her

generalizing laws, but as counterpoise to the level-

ing tendencies of

Democracy [59]

—and

for other reasons.

Bacftwar& (5Iance o'er ^raperb 1Roa&6

Defiant of ostensible literary and other conventions,

avowedly chant self," and permit

''the great pride of

nearly

all

to an

verse.

American.

more or

to be

less a

him-

motif oi

think this pride indispensable

think

man

not inconsistent with

obedience, humility, deference, and self-questioning.

Democracy has been so retarded and jeopardized

by powerful to

clip,

personalities, that its first instincts are fain

conform, bring

thing to a dead of

song

gate Nation,

in stragglers,

While the ambitious thought

level.

to help the forming of a great aggreit

is,

perhaps, altogether through the

forming of myriads of individuals.

and reduce every-

develop'd and enclosing

fully

Welcome

are

equality's

and

and popular education, a accompanies them all, as we see.

ternity's doctrines liability

primal and interior something in man,

abysms, coloring

and,

all,

giving the last majesty to ally

fra-

certain

That

in his soul's

by exceptional

fruitions,

himâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; something

continu-

touch'd upon and attain'd by the old poems and

ballads of feudalism, and often the principal foundation of

themâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; modern

to be endangering,

science and

Democracy appear

perhaps eliminating.

forms an appearance only; the reality ent.

The new

influences,

surely preparing the

than ever.

way

for

But that quite differ-

upon the whole,

are

grander individualities

To-day and here personal

hind everything, just the same.

force

The times and

bede-

pictions from the Iliad to Shakspere inclusive can [60]

Bachwarb

(Blance o'er TEraioerb IRoabe

happily never again be realized— but the elements of

courageous and

lofty

manhood

are unchanged.

Without yielding an inch the working-man and working-woman were to be in my pages from first The ranges of heroism and loftiness with to last. which Greek and feudal poets endow'd their godlike or lordly

born characters— indeed prouder and

better based and with

fuller

ranges than those

—

was to endow the democratic averages of America. was to show that we, here and to-day, are eligible to the grandest and the best— more eligible now I

than any times of old were. utterances in

spirit

the

will also

want

said to myself before beginning) to be

poems of the morning.

been founded and mainly written

(They have

the sunny fore-

noon and early midday of my life.) will want them to be the poems of women entirely as much as men. I have wish'd to put the complete Union of the States in my songs without any preference or parHenceforth, if they live and are tiality whatever. I

read,

must be

much

just as

much South

North—just

along the Pacific as Atlantic— in the valley

of the Mississippi, in Canada, up in Maine,

down

Texas, and on the shores of Puget Sound.

From another point of view Leaves of Grass is avowedly the song of Sex and Amativeness, and

— though

meanings that do not usually go along with those words are behind all, and will duly emerge; and all are sought to be lifted even

Animality

[6i]

B Bachwarb

(Blance o'er

into a different light

^raverb IRoaba

Of this feature,

and atmosphere.

intentionally palpable in a

few

lines,

shall

only say

the espousing principle of those lines so gives breath

whole scheme that the bulk of the pieces might as well have been left unwritten were of

life

those lines omitted.

become, shifted

Difficult as

opinion,

from

attitude

will be,

has

imperative to achieve a

superior

men and women

towards the thought and fact of sexuality, as an element in character, personality, the emotions, and a theme

in literature.

question by vitality of

significance

itself; it is

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

am, not going to argue the does not stand by itself. The I

altogether in

relations, bearings,

the clef of a symphony.

analogy the lines

its

and the

allude to,

they are spoken, permeate

all

last

which Leaves of Grass, and spirit in

work must stand or fall with them, as the human body and soul must remain as an entirety. Universal as are certain facts and symptoms of

the

communities or individuals

all

times, there

nothing

so rare in modern conventions and poetry as their

normal recognizance.

Literature

always calling

the doctor for consultation and confession, and

ways

in al-

giving evasions and swathing suppressions in

which only a

place of that ''heroic nudity"^ on

genuine diagnosis of serious cases can be built.

And

respect to editions of Leaves of Grass in time

come

(if

there should be such) * Nineteenth Century, [62]

July, 1883.

take occasion

H Bachwarb

Glance o'er tlraverb IRoaba

now

to confirm those lines with the settled convic-

tions

and deliberate renewals of

hereby prohibit, as

any

elision of

Then

still

beneath

far

them. a purpose enclosing

Ever

all.

and to as word of mine can do so, thirty years,

and over and might be call'd

all,

what

since

thought, or the budding of thought,

youthful mind,

some worthy record

had had a

began

desire to attempt

of that entire faith and accept-

ance C'to justify the ways of ton's

fairly

God

men"

Mil-

well-known and ambitious phrase) which

the foundation of moral America.

my young

positively then in

old ones

;

to formulate a

days as

felt

do now

all

poem whose every thought

or fact should directly or indirectly be or connive at

an implicit belief

the wisdom, health, mystery,

beauty of every process, every concrete object, every

human

or other existence, not only consider'd from

the point of view of

While

all,

but of each.

cannot understand

fully believe in a clue

or argue

and purpose

out,

in nature, entire

and several and that invisible spiritual results, just as real and definite as the visible, eventuate all conMy crete life and all materialism, through Time. book ought to emanate buoyancy and gladness ;

legitimately enough, for

was grown out

elements, and has been the comfort of it

was

originally

One main

of those life

since

commenced.

genesis

motive of the Leaves was [63]

a my

ffiacftwarb (Blance o'er ZTraveFb IRoaba

conviction (just as strong to-day as ever) that

the crowning growth of the United States

and

spiritual

heroic.

growth—or even

to be

help start and favor that

to call attention to

it,

or the need

of it— is the beginning, middle, and final purpose of

the poems.

summ'd

when

(In fact,

to the

plowing up

last,

terminable average fallows of

government justification

merely, in the

main

and

really cipher'd out in

earnest the in-

humanity— not ''good common sense— is the

purpose of these United

States.)

any rank or grace or

Isolated advantages in

for-

—the direct or indirect threads of the poetry of the past— are my opinion distasteful to the

tune

all

re-

publican genius, and offer no foundation for Establish'd poems,

verse.

its fitting

know, have the very

great advantage of chanting the already performed,

full

of glories, reminiscences dear to the minds of

men.

But

volume

a candidate for the future.

"All original art," says Taine, anyhow, 'Ms regulated,

without;

and no it

not receive

blood"

original art can be regulated

carries its it

own

from

counterpoise, and does

from elsewhere

—a solace to

self-

—lives

its

own

frequent bruises and sulky

vanity.

As the present

perhaps mainly an attempt at

personal statement or illustration,

will

allow myself

as further help to extract the following anecdote from

a book. Annals of

Old

Painters, conn'd [64]

by me

a Bachwarb

(Blance o'er ZCraioert) IRoaba

Rubens, the Flemish painter,

youth.

wanderings through the

came

answer to

his

After looking at

good while, and

criticisms of his suite of students, in

one of

galleries of old convents,

across a singular work.

thoughtfully for a

listening to the

he said to the

their questions, (as to

latter,

what school the

work

implied or belonged,) *M do not believe the

artist,

unknown and perhaps no

longer living,

who

has given the world this legacy, ever belong'd to any school, or ever painted anything but this one picture,

which

a personal

affair

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a

piece out of a man's

life."

Leaves of Grass indeed iterate)

cannot too often

has mainly been the outcropping of

emotional and other personal nature

from

first

to put a Person, a

last,

(myself, in the latter half in

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an

my own attempt,

human being

otthe nineteenth century,

America,) freelyy^fully and-truly on record.

could not find any similar personal record literature that satisfied

re-

But

me.

in current

not on Leaves

of Grass distinctively as literature, or a specimen thereof, that

one

will get at

them

to dwell, or advance claims.

feel

verses

who

insists

upon viewing

as a literary performance, or attempt at such

performance,

or as aiming

mainly toward

art

aestheticism. I

say no land or people or circumstances ever

poems difown, as the

existed so needing a race of singers and fering from

all

others,

and

VOL. UI.â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 5.

[65]

rigidly their

Bacftvoarb (Blance o'er ^raveFb 1?oa&0

land and people and circumstances of our United States need such singers and

the future.

Still further,

poems

to-day, and for

as long as the States con-

tinue to absorb and be dominated

by the poetry

the Old World, and remain unsupplied with autoch-

and define

their

and give color to material and political success, and

minister to

them

distinctively, so long will

thonous song, to express,

vitalize

they stop

short of first-class Nationality and remain defective. In the free

evening of

day

give to you,

reader, the foregoing garrulous talk, thoughts,

rem-

iniscences,

idly drifting

Such

down

the ebb.

ripples, half-caught voices,

echo from the shore.

Concluding with two items genius of the West,

when

what Herder taught

to the

great poetry

always

for the imaginative

worthily rises

young Goethe,

(like the

privilege of a polish'd

and

First,

that really

Homeric or

canticles) the result of a national spirit,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Biblical

and not the

select few; Second, that

the strongest and sweetest songs yet remain to be sung.

[66]

flnbei ot jfirst

[Â«7]

%mcs

irnbei of jfirst A

batter'd, wreck'd old

Aboard

A A

at a ship's

California

man

Adieu

—

take to the open road

After a long, long course, hundreds of years, denials

of physical anguish

After surmounting threescore After the dazzle of day

and ten gone

—

Ages and ages returning

at intervals

after the

little

winds day is done .

294

ii.

iii.

177 12

ii.

321

iii.

ii.

9 297 24

ii.

^22

131

lesser proof than old Voltaire's, yet greater

287

238

ii.

305

ii.

261

iii.

^57

ii.

318

ii.

170

recks the laborer

Ah, not this marble, dead and cold Ah, poverties, wincings, and sulky retreats Ah, whispering, something again, unseen A leaf for hand in hand

A A

iii.

ii.

glimpse through an interstice caught great year and place

198

...

After the sea-ship, after the whistling After the supper and talk

A A

PAGB

ii.

Soldier

week

VOL.

a resume a repetition show, before you close it, France

Afoot and light-hearted After a

ii.

song

to your

helm

carol closing sixty-nine

Add

Xines

line in long array where they wind betwixt green

islands inner, secure, un-

submit to them where they sit, approachable to analysis in the soul All you are doing and saying is to America dangled mirages Always our old feuillage

All

[69]

"•33 i«

206

leaver of (Braea VOL.

march

in the ranks hard-prest,

and the road un

known

mask, a perpetual natural disguiser of herself Amid these days of order, ease, prosperity Among the men and women the multitude An ancient song, reciting, ending And now gentlemen And whence and why come you And who art thou ? said I to the soft-falling shower And yet not you alone, twilight and burying ebb A newer garden of creation, no primal solitude .

noiseless patient spider

An An

old

man bending

.... ....

come among new

old man's thought of school

faces

Apple orchards, the trees all cover'd with blossoms Approaching, nearing, curious A promise to California Are you the new person drawn toward me

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

.... ....

Arm'd year year of the struggle As Adam early in the morning As at thy portals also death As consequent from store of summer As down the stage again Ashes of Soldiers, South or North As I ebb'd with the ocean of life As if a phantom caress'd me

rains

.... ...

sight in

As As As As As As As As

A A

camp

lay with

ponder'd

sit in

in the

head

daybreak gray and dim your lap camerado

ii.

316

161

iii. i.

146

iii.

9 314

ii.

301

ii.

177

ii.

229

ii.

^13

ii.

298

ii.

296

156

149

ii.

136

ii.

280

11. ii.

27 308

ii.

273

ii.

227

ii.

in silence

twilight late alone

ii.

by the flickering oak flame

sit with others at a great feast, suddenly while the music is playing I sit writing here, sick and grown old I walk these broad majestic days of peace I watch'd the ploughman ploughing one by one withdraw the lofty actors

ii.

iii.

2^2

295 269

song, a

song

poem

itself

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the word

for occupations [70]

itself a

dirge

ii.

234 304 310

257

ii.

In&ey of

song of the

Xinee

jflvat

and of words according As the Greek's signal flame, by antique records told As the time draws nigh glooming a cloud rolling earth,

As they draw to a close As toilsome I wander'd Virginia's woods

""^ .

268

ii.

320

ii.

271

ii. .

thousand perfect men and women appear At the last, tenderly A vague mist hanging 'round half the pages A voice from Death, solemn and strange, in all his sweep and power A woman waits for me, she contains all, nothing is .

lacking

Aye, well

know

ghastly to descend that valley

—

Beat! beat! drums! blow! bugles! blow Be composed be at ease with me I am Walt Whitman, liberal and lusty as Nature Beginning my studies the first step pleas'd me so much Behold this swarthy face, these gray eyes . Brave, brave were the soldiers (high named to-day) who lived through the fight . By blue Ontario's shore By broad Potomac's shore, again old tongue By that long scan of waves, myself call'd back, resumed

—

fitful

by the gate

-^6

161

ii.

295 107

ii.

264

ii.

301

ii.

139

ii.

297

ii.

222 1

"-57 make

the continent indissoluble

142

279 276

here

a letter

from our

Pete

!!*

yet,

9 1

ii.

Come my tan-faced children Come said the Muse Come up from the fields father, Courage

124

ii.

City of ships will

iii.

out of the sides

City of orgies, walks and joys

Come,

iii.

Centre of equal daughters, equal sons Chanting the square deific, out of the One advancing, .

ii.

flame

the city dead-house

2'^'^

iii.

upon myself the bivouac's

ii.

By By

ii.

294 72 38

ii.

brother or

sister!

[71]

ii.

^^ 142

leavee of (Braea Darest thou

VOL.

now O

soul

ii.

Delicate cluster! flag of teeming

Did

count great,

life

mighty books Did you ask dulcet rhymes from me Down on the ancient wharf, the sand, .

new-comer

Soul, to penetrate the

sit,

Earth, my likeness Ever the undiscouraged, resolute, struggling soul of man

Far hence amid an

isle

First

Fast-anchor'd eternal

O woman

135

308

ii.

138

160

ii.

191

i»

iii.

ii.

128

ii.

230

for

.iii.

ii.

26^

the splendid silent sun with

all

beams

his

Gliding o'er

all,

old Revolutionary

through

Good-bye my Fancy Good-bye my Fancy Grand is the seen, the

162

iii.

ii.

77 58

ii. ii-

all

had a word to say me grand are the sky

—

light, to

stars [72]

iii.

37 27 8

iii.

—

and

full-

dazzling

me your hand

ii.

— of many a smutch'd deed remi-

niscent

Give

158

310

ii.

From all the rest I single out you, having a message you From east and west across the horizon's edge From far Dakota's canons From Paumanok starting I fly like a bird From pent-up aching rivers Full of life now, compact, visible

Give

3^7

*•

songs for a prelude

wickedness

295 89

Flood tide below me I see you face to face For him I sing For his o'erarching and last lesson the greybeard sufi Forms, qualities, lives, humanity, language, thoughts For the lands and for these passionate days and for myself

Full of

ii.

love

ii.

wondrous beauty

love!

with a

chatting

Facing west from California's shores Far back, related on my mother's side

ii.

themes of

PAGE

In&ey of fivBt Xlnea VOL.

Greater than

Had

memory

of Achilles or Ulysses

the choice to tally greatest bards

ii.

296

ii.

299 249 38

some wild trumpeter, some strange musician Hast never come to thee an hour Have no weapon-word for thee some message brief Hark,

ii.

—

and

fierce

Have you

iii.

learn'd lessons only of those

who

PAGB

admired

you, and were tender with you, and stood aside

you Heave the anchor short for

Here

first

crete

frailest

leaves of me, and yet

dare one say

— see

this

sends back (who

solemn as one by one sweet the silent backward tracings

AM he

celebrate myself,

amorous love and sing myself then more, far more I doubt it not I dream'd in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show 1 have not so much emulated the birds that musically that aches with

156

ii.

iii.

ii.

297

—

ii.

106

133

iii.

158

ii.

302

iii.

sing

hear America singing, the varied carols

hear

heard that you ask'd for something to prove this puzzle the

they are provided for upon the earth (appearing

Hush'd be the camps to-day

312

it?

at intervals

ii.

up sternly it you

How How How How

strongest

lasting

Hold

317

the duties of to-day, the lessons of the con-

Here, take this gift

Here the

ii. iii.

New World

heard you solemn-sweet

Sunday morn

•

pipes of the organ as last

pass'd the church [73]

i«

^34

Xeavee of (5ra60 I

hear

was charged

against

that

sought to de-

stroy institutions I

met a seer

region little

fix'd

house keep house

pictures suspended,

need no assurances, of his

own

man who

many

a face of anguish

bloom, and growth some unused lagoon, some nameless bay

In softness, languor,

I I

saw saw

ii.

i«

^37

iii.

ii.

in Louisiana a live-oak

growing

old General at bay

me now

army

halting

grandly as sing the

body

pours

in the great sea

its

ii.

mother,

ii.

38 36

113

see the sleeping babe nestling the breast of

a traveling

320

ii.

electric

and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame Is reform needed ? is it through you I stand as on some mighty eagle's beak sit

ii.

165

ii.

293

ii.

201

ii.

256

ii.

162

ii.

285

wander all night in my vision was asking for something specific and

my I

227 266

see before

176

ii.

see in you the estuary that enlarges and spreads itself

ii.

172

ii.

pre-occupied

soul

midnight sleep of In paths untrodden In

not a

it is

In cabin'd ships at sea I

^54

far-away northern county in the placid pastoral

In a

i«

perfect for

city

was looking

a long while for Intentions

Joy, shipmate, joy

Last of ebb, and daylight waning

Laws

for creations

Let the reformers descend from the stands are forever bawling

—

[74]

300 160

ii.

212

ii.

126

where they

let an idiot or insane person appear on each of the stands Let that which stood in front go behind . . . .

ii.

Unbey of Jlret ILinea Locations and times

— what

is it

all, whenever and wherever, Long, too long America

Look down fair moon and bathe Lo, the unbounded sea

me that meets them and makes me at home this

scene

Manhattan's

streets

eleve of

...

saunter'd pondering

things to absorb

teach to help you

imperturbe, standing at ease in Nature More experiences and sights, stranger, than you

ii.

146

i^q

and noble name resumed science-friend, my noblest woman-friend fit

think iii.

2-^

ii.

293

ii.

311

ii«

1 59 289

yours dear brother

Myself and mine gymnastic ever

86 89

for

spirit to

ii.

become

city's

ii.

mine

My My My

ii.

on the peaks Lover divine and perfect Comrade Lo, Victress

Many

''°'"

Nations ten thousand years before these States, and many times ten thousand years before these States Native moments when you come upon me ah you

ii.

144

—

are here

—

now

Nay, do not dream, designer dark

Nay

tell

i«

^33

iii.

-^^

ii,

2^1

not to-day the publish'd shame

Night on the

prairies

labor-saving machine Not alone those camps of white, old comrades of the wars Not from successful love alone Not heat flames up and consumes Not heaving from my ribb'd breast only Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost Not meagre, latent boughs alone, O songs (scaly and

ii.

283

ii.

298 50

144

ii.

309

ii«

3^9

ii.

iii.

bare, like eagles' talons

Not the

charged himself to bring his ship into port, though beaten back and many times baffled Not to exclude or demarcate, or pick out evils from their formidable masses (even to expose them pilot has

[75]

Xeave0 of (Braee VOL.

Not youth

Now Now

list

shore

finale to the

morning's romanza,

Answerer

the

Now

pertains to

precedent songs, farewell

tell

new

— by every name

Of Equality

—

Captain! our fearful trip

286

200

ii.

321

fare-

song, a free song

Captain!

ii.

the signs of

well

O O

PAGE

ii.

done

ii.

105

ii.

as if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself as if it were not in-

—

dispensable to the

my own

rights that others possess

same

heroes,

history,

grand events, premises,

poems Of him love day and I

dead

night

dream'd

myths, iii.

ii.

225

ii.

heard he was

—

as if Justice could be anything but the Of Justice same ample law, expounded by natural judges and

saviors

Of obedience, faith, adhesiveness as if one fit to own things could not Of ownership at pleasure enter upon all, and incorporate them .

—

into himself or herself

Of persons arrived at high scholarships,

positions, ceremonies, wealth,

and the

Of public opinion Of that blithe throat of thine from arctic bleak and blank Of these years sing Of the terrible doubt of appearances O hymen! O hymenee! why do you tantalize me thus I

Old farmers,

travelers,

workmen

(no matter

how

always dying magnet-South! O glistening perfumed South! South me, man of slack faith so long !

flat

life

of the questions of these recurring

road runs the well-train'd runner [76]

262

ii.

306

ii.

275 145

133

ii. ii.

312 230

ii.

254

ii.

257

ii.

}^ 36

crip-

living always,

O O me O

162

ii.

pled or bent

O O

ii.

my .

Xines

flnbey of firet

Once

pass'd through a populous city imprinting

brain for future use with

shows, architecture,

its

customs, traditions

One hour

furious!

U4 confine

not

One's-self

sing, a simple separate person

One thought

madness and joy!

129

ever at the fore

iii.

journeys through the States

start

Only themselves understand themselves and the

11.

170

of themselves

On my

Northwest coast in the midst of the night a fisherman's group stands watching On, on the same, ye jocund twain

On On

the beach at night

....

the beach at night alone

O sight of pity, shame and dole O star of France O take my hand Walt Whitman O tan-faced prairie boy

....

may

what they like most jubilant song Out from behind this bending rough-cut mask Out of the cradle endlessly rocking Out of the murk of heaviest clouds Out of the rolling ocean the crowd came a drop gently Others

O to

make

praise

the

ii.

150

ii.

170

163

ii.

iii.

168

213

ii.

6 264

131

iii.

ii.

are

longingly

heard the Mother of All

i6r

Poets to come! orators, singers, musicians to come Proudly the flood comes in, shouting, foaming, ad.

i«

153

"•

234 282

ii. i.

ii«

[77]

ii.

know how

vancing

look upon you Pensive and faltering I

ii.

Pensive on her dead gazing

ii.

Over and through the burial chant Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice Over the Western sea hither from Niphon come O you whom I often and silently come where you that I may be with you Passing stranger! you do not

iii.

301

ateavee of (Braae VOL.

Proud music of the storm

me know

Quicksand years that whirl

Race of veterans

not whither

Roaming

ii.

....

— race of victors

Recorders ages hence Rise O days from your fathomless deeps,

228 85 147

you

till

loftier,

sweep

fiercer

PACK

thought over the Universe, I saw the little that is Good steadily hastening towards immortality Roots and leaves themselves alone are these in

35 149

Sacred, blithesome, undenied

Sane, random, negligent hours

ill.

Sauntering the pavement or riding the country by-road, lo,

..... ....

such faces

Scented herbage of

breast

Sea-beauty stretch'd and basking Shot gold, maroon and violet, dazzling !

silver,

244 158

293

emerald,

fawn

317

Shut not your doors to me proud libraries Silent and amazed even when a little boy Simple and fresh and fair from winter's close emerging Singing my days Skirting the river road (my forenoon walk, my rest Small the theme of my Chant, yet the greatest namely,

3^ 296

One's-Self

— a simple, separate person.

the use of the

Somehow

cannot

New

That, for

sing

go yet, funeral though it is me where I thought I was safest I

love

fill

myself with rage

Spirit

form'd this scene

whose work

done

—

iii.

ii.

140

for

effuse unreturn'd love

160

Soon shall the winter's foil be here Sounds of the winter too Spirit that

—

let it

Something startles Sometimes with one fear

World,

186

315

....

spirit

of dreadful hours

Splendor of ended day floating and filling Spontaneous me. Nature Starting from fish-shape Paumanok where [78]

268

90 278 126

was born

In&ey of

Xinea

jfirat

VOL.

Steaming the northern rapids— (an old

St.

reminiscence

though the one I sing Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me Suddenly out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves Still

299

Tears! tears! tears in old age thanks ere I go That coursing on, whate'er men's speculations That music always round me, unceasing, unbeginning

—

Thanks

3^3

yet long untaught

That shadow

did not hear

ii.

likeness that goes to

and

fro

a livelihood, chattering, chaffering

The business man the acquirer vast The commonplace sing The devilish and the dark, the dying and diseas'd Thee for my recitative The last sunbeam The mystery of mysteries, the crude and hurried cease .

spontaneous, bearing on

itself

Then last of all, caught from these shores, this hill The noble sire fallen on evil days The prairie-grass dividing, its special odor breathing There was a child went forth every day These carols sung to cheer my passage through the world I see These I singing in Spring collect for lovers The sobbing of the bells, the sudden death-news every where

The soft voluptuous opiate shades The soothing sanity and blitheness of completion the loftiest The touch of flame the illuminating fire

161

ii.

258

ii.

297

ii.

281

iii.

ii.

2^3

ii.

m. ii.

37 302

ii.

155

135

ii.

286

142

ii.

284

ii.

319

iii.

11.

322

ii.

314 285

ii.

—

look at

228

seeking

That which eludes this verse and any verse The appointed winners in a long-stretch'd game

less flame,

PACK

Lawrence

last

The two old, simple problems ever intertwined The untold want by life and land ne'er granted The world below the brine

....

[79]

Xcavee of (Braee VOL.

They

shall arise in the States

Thick-sprinkled bunting

flag of stars

This dust was once the man This is thy hour O Soul,

ate

— these

262

ii.

267

ii.

106

11.

270

thy free flight into the

wordless This latent mine

unlaunch'd voices

— passion-

powers

295

This moment yearning and thoughtful sitting alone Thither as I look I see each result and glory retracing

154

itself

and nestling

close,

....

always obligated

Thou Mother with thy Equal brood Thou orb aloft full-dazzling! thou hot October noon Thou reader throbbest life and pride and love the .

same

Thou who

PAGB

ii.

hast slept

night

all

upon the storm

ii. ii.

23^ 243

ii.

Through the ample open door of the peaceful country barn

Through the

evening

soft

—

air

enwinding

all

To be at all what is better than that To conclude, announce what comes after me

ii.

175

a rude brief recitative To-day, from each and all, a breath of prayer a pulse of thought To-day, with bending head and eyes, thou, too, Columbia To get betimes in Boston town I rose this morning early

ii.

286 22

ii.

298

11.

320

ii.

To To To To To To

309

159

To-day

—

get the final

lilt

of songs

the East and to the

West

thee old cause the garden the world

anew ascending

the leaven'd soil they trod calling

sing for the last

ii.

the States or any one of them, or any city of the

much, obey

States, Resist

To To

ii.

think of time

those

— of

who 've

Trickle drops!

all

fail'd, in

little

that retrospection

aspiration vast

blue veins leaving

Turn

Two

boats with nets lying off the sea-beach, quite

Libertad, for the

war

over

[80]

still

ii.

213

ii.

294

151

11.

92 242

11.

flnbey of fflret XInea Unfolded out of the folds of the woman man comes unfolded, and is always to come unfolded Unseen buds, infinite, hidden well .

Upon

this scene, this

Vigil strange

ii.

iii.

show

kept on the

one night

field

Vocalism, measure, concentration, determination, and the divine power to speak words .

Wandering at morn Warble me now for joy of

in,

hardy

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

life

Welcome, Brazilian brother thy ample We two boys together clinging We two, how long we were fool'd

What am

are those of the

place

ready

22}

ii.

263

iii.

132

ii.

166

it over and over but to ascend and enter

repeating

known

hour for death had come I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv'd with plaudits in the capitol, still his

happy night

for

ii.

286

ii.

267

11.

307

11.

154

the

....

152

156

ii.

...

was not

157

What ship puzzled at sea, cons for the true reckoning What think you take my pen in hand to record What you give me cheerfully accept

ii.

When When

ii.

the Unknown What best see in thee What hurrying human tide, or day or night What may we chant, O thou within this tomb What place is besieged, and vainly tries to raise siege

305

but a child, pleas'd with the sound

my own name ?

What

after all

ii.

(returning in

wan

naked,

66 26

"'174 lilac-time

reminiscence

Weapon shapely, Weave in, weave

that follow'd

heard the learn'd astronomer

229

159

ui.

148

ii.

peruse the conquer'd fame of heroes and the victories of mighty generals, I do not envy the I

generals

When When

read the book, the biography famous

lilacs last in

VOL.

III.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the dooryard bloom'd

[81]

^55

ii.

9 94

leavee of (Braaa YOL.

When

came ceaseless crowd moves on the

the full-grown poet

PAGE

iii.

long day ii. While behind all firm and erect as ever .iii. While my wife at my side lies slumbering, and the wars are over long ii. While not the past forgetting ii. Whispers of heavenly death murmur'd I hear ii. Who are you dusky woman, so ancient hardly human ii. Whoever you are holding me now in hand i. Whoever you are, I fear you are walking the walks of dreams i. Who has gone farthest ? for I would go farther ii. Who includes diversity and is Nature ii.

164

Where

the city's

live-

Who learns my lesson complete Why reclining, interrogating? why

myself and

of a miracle

Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running With all thy gifts America With antecedents

all,

beautiful as the

World take good

sky

39 163

ii. ii.

2^ 1 76

292

ii.

303 64

ii.

^(i

ii.

87 86

boughs Youth,

large, lusty, loving

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; youth

full

291

ii.

271

ii.

226

ii.

160

ii.

319

of grace, force,

1-275

fascination

You

tides

168

ii.

Year of meteors brooding year Years of the modern! years of the unperform'd . Year that trembled and reel'd beneath me Yet, yet, ye downcast hours, 1 know ye also You felons on trial in courts You lingering sparse leaves of me on winter-nearing .

167

notice, silver stars fading !

284 260

ii.

Word

over

84 140

With husky-haughty lips, O sea With its cloud of skirmishers in advance Women sit or move to and fro, some old, some young .

82 31 221

all

drowsing

Why, who makes much

ii.

with ceaseless swell! you power that does

this work You who celebrate bygones [82]

ii.

299

iÂŤ

VARIORUM READINGS OF

"LEAVES OF GRASS" TOGETHER WITH

FIRST DRAFTS OF CERTAIN

POEMS; REJECTED PASSAGES; AND POEMS

DROPPED BY THE WAY

EDITED BY

OSCAR LOVELL TRIGGS,

Part I.— VARIORUM

READINGS

Part II.— REJECTED LINES

Part III.— REJECTED

Ph.D.

AND PASSAGES

POEMS

[83]

The

various readings are

texts of the

poems

editions of 1855,

The notes appended first

collating the original

to each title give the date of the

publication in the central volume, the various

to designate the in

made up by

of Leaves of Grass as they appeared in the 1856, i860, 1867, 187 1-2, 1876, and 1881.

the

body

poem's

names used

poem, and the date and nature of each revision

of the work.

[84]

part H TDatiorum IReabinas Come, Said

poem

prefatory

in 188 1 written

Inscriptions.

group

Soul.

[See

title

page.]

in 1876 edition, called "author's edition";

title

page and signed by the author.

[I., p. i.]

title for

poems

nine

in the

1871-2 edition: One's-

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. In 1 88 1 twenty-four poems were included in the group. The name was taken from a prefatory poem in the edition of 1867 Self I Sing,

called Inscription.

One's-Self I Sing.

[I.,

p. i.]

The original reprinted in was poem was called Inscription in 1867 and Sands at Seventy under the title Small the Theme of my Chant The present poem is a variation of the (see vol. II., page 311). 1871

in its present

form and with

this title.

1867 Inscription, other details being added in 1871.

Ponder'd in Silence.

[I., p. i.]

187 1-2, p. 7.

In Cabin'd Ships at Sea. 1 87 -2, page 8. Line 3, 1871-2: after

[I., p. 2.]

"waves"

in 1881. [85]

read

"In such"; discarded

Xeavea of (Braea To Foreign Lands.

[I., p. 4.]

To Other Lands, page 402

i860:

with present

1871

;

title;

transferred to Inscriptions in 1881.

Line

i860

to represent the

liear

you have been asking

new

race,

our self-poised Democracy."

for

something

Line 2: added in 1871.

To a

Historian.

[I., p. 4.

Chants Democratic, No, 10, page 181; 1867 with present title in second annex, page 31; 1871 transferred to Inscriptions, page 9. i860:

The '*

original

poem

who

Historian! you

You have explored life

read celebrate bygones!

the outward, the surface of the races

that has exhibited

You have

treated

rulers,

and

man

— the

itself.

as the creature of politics, aggregates,

priests;

But now I also, arriving, contribute something; an habitue of the Alleghanies, treat man as he

ences of Nature, in himself, in his

Advancing, to give the

and the

spirit

own

traits

in the influ-

inalienable rights.

new Democratic

ages, myself, personally,

(Let the future behold

tradictory

arrogant of I

do not

What

all in

so puzzling and con-

by records and documents, no further me, will furnish, by

(talking to every born American,) requires

silently

who

will hear

meditating alone;

press the pulse of the itself,

life

that has hitherto

illuminate feelings, faults, yearnings, hopes last,

seldom exhibited

but has generally sought concealment,

pride of man, in himself,) I

most loving and

men ;)

proof than he or she

me — Me,

a Manhattanese, the

the usual facts, proved

tell tell,

them

— Me,

no more ashamed nor

—

(the great

have come at

afraid

Chanter of Personality, outlining a history yet to be, I project the ideal man, the American of the future." Line 4

(line 5

above) 1867:

*' I,

[86]

habitue of the Alleghanies,

IDariorum TReaMnge man

treating

as he

in himself, in his

page

rights."

Present

To Thee Old Cause. 1871,

own

reading in 1871.

[I., p. 4.]

II.

Lines 8 and 9 added in 1881. Line 12, 1871 read ''Around the idea of thee the strange sad :

war

revolving."

for thrice a

1871: read **With yet unknown thousand years."

Eidolons.

[I.,

Line

14,

scriptions in

Him

For 1

Rivulets (vol. 2) page 17;

transferred to In-

88 1.

I Sing.

87 1, page

When

come,

p. 5.]

Two

1876, in

results to

[I., p. 9.]

10.

Read the Book.

[I., p. 9.]

1867, page 268; transferred to Inscriptions in 1871. For lines 5, 6, and 7, read in 1867 '' As if you, O cunning Soul, did not keep your secret well! " Written in 1871 as now. :

Beginning

Studies.

[I., p. 9.]

1867 in the Drum- Taps annex, page 18. Transferred to Inscriptions 1871, page 11.

{Drum- Taps,

1865.)

Line 3: "love" added 187 1.

Lines 5 and 6: read in

Drum-Taps

(1865)

*' I have never gone, and never wish'd to go, any farther, But stop and loiter all my life, to sing it in extatic songs."

Written as Beginners.

now

[I., p. 10.]

page 416;

i860,

in 187 1.

87 1, page ^62, in a group entitled Leaves of

Grass; transferred to Inscriptions

the States. i860:

ent

title

[I., p.

[Valt

in 1881.

10.]

Whitman

Caution, page 401

and under Inscriptions. [87]

;

1881 with pres-

Xeapee of (Braae On Journeys through

the States.

[I., p.

ii.]

i860: Chants Democratic, No. ly; dropped from 1867 edition, but reprinted in Passage to India; transferred to Inscriptions in 1881.

For lines i, 2, and 3 read in i860: ''Now we start hence, I with the rest, on our journeys through The States." Written in present form in 1871. Line

i860:

for

"we"

read "I."

" have said " read " I have said." After line 11, i860: read " Promulge real things Never forget the equality of humankind, and never forget immortality." This was dropped in 1871. Line

i860:

for

—

To a Certain

Cantatrice.

[I., p.

11.]

i860: To a Cantatrice, page 401; 1867 with present page 238; transferred to Inscriptions in 1881.

Line

i860: for

Line

"speaker" read "orator."

"One who

i860:

title,

should serve the good old cause,

the progress and freedom of the race, the cause of

Soul."

Imper-

Present reading in 1867.

Line 4 added in 1871.

Imperturbe.

12.]

[I., p.

i860: Chants Democratic, No. 18, page 91 1867 turbe, page 318; transferred to Inscriptions in 1881. ;

Line

i860: "

Me imperturbe, Me standing at ease in

Nature."

Present read-

ing in 1867.

"Me

private, or public, or menial, After line 4, i860, read: all these subordinate, (1 am eternally equal with the

or solitary

best

—

Savantism

This sentence dropped in 1881.

not subordinate.") [I., p.

12.]

page 417; transferred to Inscriptions

i860,

The Ship

Starting.

1867:

The Ship,

in 1881.

p. 13.]

[I.,

first

published in Drum-Taps, 1865; 1871:

The Ship Starting, page 27; transferred to Inscriptions Line

1867: "

its

breast a Ship, spreading [88]

all

in 1881.

her sails^-

IDarlorum IRea&lnfla an ample Ship, carrying even her moonsails."

Present reading

in 1881. I

Hear America Singing.

[I.,

p. 13.]

i860: Chants Democratic, No. 20, page 192; 1867 / Hear America Singing, page 308; transferred to Inscriptions in 1881.

Line

i860: read "American mouth-songs!"

Present read-

ing 1867.

Lines

10,

1 1

written as one line in i860:

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

The day what belongs to the day At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, clean-blooded, singing with **

melodious voices, melodious thoughts." Present reading 1867. line, i860: read **Come! some of you! still be The States with hundreds and thousands of mouth-songs, The States only."

After last

flooding fit

for

This line dropped in 1867.

What

Place

Besieged ?

[I.,

p. 14.]

i860: Calamus, No. 3/, section is

Besieged, page 158.

The

first

page}'] 2; 1867:

part of the i860

the piece entitled in 1867 Here Sailor

What Place

poem became

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Uter What Ship Fuelled

at Sea, Still 1

Though 87

the

0ne

I Sing.

[I., p. 14.]

page 363; transferred to Inscriptions

Shut not Your Doors.

[I., p.

in 1881.

14.]

to me Proud Libraries; first pubDrum-Taps, 1865; transferred to Inscriptions in 1881. The following was the original poem

1867

Shut not Your Doors

lished in

" Shut not your doors to me, proud libraries. For that which was lacking among you all, yet needed most, bring;

A book And

have made

for you,

for

your dear sake,

soldiers.

soul of man, and you, love of comrades [89]

Xeapea of (5ra60 The words of my book nothing, the life of it everything A book separate, not link'd with the rest, nor felt by the intellect; But you will feel every word, O Libertad! arm'd Libertad! It shall pass by the intellect to swim the sea, the air, With joy with you, O soul of man." volume (1871) four

In Passage to India

''Through Space and Time fused

lines

in a chant,

were added: and the flowing,

eternal Identity,

Nature, encompassing these, encompassing

God

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

^to

the joy-

ous, electric All,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and accepting, exulting

the sense of Death

same

turn, the

The entrance These

Man

as I

sing."

were dropped

lines

Poets to Come.

[I.,

in Death, in its

life.

in 1881.

p. 15.]

i860: Chants Democratic, No. 14, page 186; 1867: Poets to Come, page 317; transferred to Inscriptions in 1881.

Line Line

added

in 1871

i860:

"Not

and what

"orators, singers, musicians to come."

to-day

to justify

are for."

Line

i860:

"You must justify me."

Line

1871

"myself" added.

me, and Democracy,

Present reading 1871. Present reading 1871.

After line 4, i860: read

" Indeed,

What I

if it

the

for you, what would I be ? have done, except to arouse you

were not

little

depend on being

realized,

prairies spread,

long hence, where the broad

and thence

Oregon and

fat

California in-

clusive, I

expect that the Texan and the Arizonian, ages hence, will under-

stand me, expect that the future Carolinian and Georgian will understand

me and I

love me,

expect that Kanadians, a hundred, and perhaps many hundred years from now, in winter, in the splendor of the snow and woods, or on the icy lakes, will take me with them,

and permanently enjoy themselves with me. [90]

IDarlorum IReaMnsa Of to-day

know am momentary, untouched — am I

the bard

of the future, I

but write one or two indicative words for the future,"

These page 227.

To You.

[I., p.

Thou Reader.

Starting

1867.

Compare Thoughts,

II.,

15.]

page 403; transferred to Inscriptions

i860,

1881

dropped

lines

etc.

in 1881.

[I., p. 15.]

written for Inscriptions,

from Paumanok.

[I., p.

16.]

The introductory poem of i860 with the title of Proto-Leaf, pages 5-22; 1867: Starting from Paumanok, pages 7-22. In i860 the stanzas are numbered to 65. In 1867 the poem is divided i

into sections

to 20)

and stanzas

made

for the 1867 edition,

§1.

[p. 16.]

i860 the

first

to 65); the main revision

but some changes in 1881.

stanza reads:

**Free, fresh, savage. Fluent, luxuriant, self-content, fond of persons

and

places,

Fond of fish-shape Paumanok, where I was born. lusty-begotten and various. Fond of the sea Boy of the Mannahatta, the city of ships, my city. Or raised inland, or of the south savannas. Or full-breath'd on Californian air, or Texan or Cuban

—

Tallying, vocalizing

all

air.

— resounding Niagara — resounding Mis-

souri,

Or rude in my home in Kanuck woods. Or wandering and hunting, my drink water, my diet meat. Or withdrawn to muse and meditate in some deep recess. Far from the clank of crowds, an interval passing, rapt and happy. Stars, vapor, snow, the hills, rocks, the Fifth Month flowers, my

amaze,

Aware

love.

of the buffalo, the peace-herds, the

and

bull,

strong-breasted

hairy.

of the mocking-bird of the wilds at daybreak, Solitary, singing in the west, I strike up for a new world."

Aware

[91]

Xeaves of (Bra00 had its present form, except line 4, which Mannahatta, ''city of ships"; and line 11, which read "earths" for "earth." Present reading in 1871. In 1867 this stanza

read after

§2.

[p. 17.]

i, i860: after "time" read "the Soul, your-self, the and future lands"; present 1867: drop "Soul." Present reading

Line

1871.

Lines 8 and 9 printed i860:

"See, revolving,

—the

The globe

ancestor-continents, away, grouped together,'*

etc.

i860: line 21 begins with § 3.

"And."

[p. 18.]

Line

i860: for

"conquerors" read

"masters."

Present

reading 1867.

Stanza

i860: read

" Chants of the prairies, Chants of the long-running Chants of Ohio, Indiana,

Mississippi, Illinois,

Wisconsin, Iowa, and Min-

nesota,

Inland chants

Chants away

—chants of Kanzas, down

to Mexico,

and up north to Oregon

— Kana-

dian chants,

— —

Chants of teeming and turbulent cities chants of mechanics, Yankee chants Pennsylvanian chants chants of Kentucky and Tennessee, Chants of dim-lit mines chants of mountain-tops. Chants of sailors chants of the Eastern Sea and the Western

—

Sea,

Chants of the Mannahatta, the place of my dearest love, the place surrounded by hurried and sparkling currents. Health chants— joy chants

—

—robust chants of young men,

Chants inclusive wide reverberating chants. Chants of the Many In One." Present reading in 1867.

Following section

3, in

i860: read C93]

Dartorum IReaMnge " In the Year 80 of the States, My tongue, every atom of my blood, formed from this

soil, this

air,

Born here of parents born here. From parents the same, and their parents' parents the same, I,

now

thirty-six years old, in perfect health, begin.

Hoping

to cease not

till

death.

Creeds and schools in abeyance. Retiring back a while, sufficed

what they

are,

but never for-

gotten.

With accumulations, now coming forward in front, harbor, for good or bad permit to Arrived again,

—

speak,

Nature, without check, with original energy,"

and 8 and part of Song of Myself, section i, in 1881.

This section, except lines transferred to

§4.

line 9,

was

[p. 18.]

Line

i860: read

added

line

§5.

"Take my

leaves America!"; the rest of

in 1867.

[p. 19.]

Line

among

it)

Line

i860: read

added

"I"

before

i860: read "I think" for "think." i860: read "I regard "for "regarding"; "then dis-

missing it" added in 1867. Line 9, i860: read "Then take

own

''own"; "(moving awhile

in 1867.

day and race here." 15, i860: read "the mistress"

Line

§6.

place for

good with

Present reading in 1867. for

"my

mistress."

[p. 19.]

i860: after line 7 read " And I will ganic bargains of These States— And a

make shrill

a song of the orsong of curses on

him who would dissever the Union." Dropped 1867. Lines 10-13 added 1867. i860 a line added after line 17

"And

sexual organs and acts! do you concentrate in [93]

me— For

%cwoce of <5tae6 am

determined to tell you with courageous clear voice, to prove you illustrious."

was

This line

transferred in 1871 to section 12; see stanza 4,

line 5.

ยง7.

[p. 21.]

Line

i860: after "people" read *'en-masse"; dropped

1871.

Line 6: **and

Line

nation is" added in 1867.

earth" for 'Mand."

i860: read

**I

Present reading

1867.

Line

into the arena."

Line

wars"

for

*M descend

i860: read "thereof, the conqueror's" for "there,

the winner's pealing."

Present reading in 1867 and 1871.

"who knows"

Line 10:

Lines 13 and 14:

Line

too go to the

Present reading 187 1.

added

"yet" added

in 1867. in 1867.

i860: read "I specifically

16,

announce"

for

"I say."

Present reading 1867.

Lines 18 and 19 added 1867.

ยง8.

[p. 22.]

Line

i860: read "materials" for "politics."

Present read-

ing 1867. [p. 22.]

ยง 9.

Line

i860:

read

"comrade"

for

"camerado."

Present

for

"Dear son."

Present

reading 1867. Line

i860: read

"Moncher!"

reading 1867. Line

ยง10.

Present reading 1867.

[p. 23.]

Stanza

poems

i860: "Proceed, comrade."

i860: the stanza

read " O,

see the following

germs of a greater Religion." Present reading 1867, but "solely" added in 1871. Line 6: " own, the unseen and the seen," added in 1867. After line 8, i860: read "wondrous interplay between the seen and unseen." Dropped in 1867 (in part transferred to are indeed to drop in the earth the

line 26). [94]

IDatlorum IRcaMnge After line thrilling

Line

with

12,

i860:

read " Extasy everywhere touching and

Dropped

me."

i860:

1867.

"Not

read

he, adhesive, kissing

Present reading 1867. Line 14, i860: read ''to the spiritual world " for the spiritual world." Present reading 1881. After line 14, i860: read "

my unknown Line

ing

And

"and

all

to the identities of the Gods,

Dropped 1881. i860: read "such" after "suggesting." Present read-

15,

lovers."

in 1867.

Line

16,

"O such O

so long

his daily kiss."

i860:

themes! Equalities!

amazement of things!

divine average!'*

Present reading 1881. Lines 17 and

18,

i860: began

warbling" and

strain."

Present reading in 1881.

Line

i860: read "I

19,

add"

for

"add."

Present reading

1881.

§12.

[p. 24.]

Line

i860: read "the earth" for "earth."

Line 6: "outlaw'd" added in 1867. Line 8, i860: read "Namely to earn," etc.; for read

"whatever"

"what."

Line

11,

transferred from section 6.

i860: read "And 1 will show there is no imperfecmale or female, or in the earth, or in the present and can be none in the future." Present reading in 1867. Line 15, i860: read "no one thing in the universe is inferior Present to another thing" for "time and events are compact."

Line

12,

—

tion in

reading in 1867. Line 18, i860:

read "But I will make leaves, poems, poemets, songs, says, thoughts, with reference to ensemble." Present reading 1881. § 14.

[p. 27.]

After line

i860:

read

"Toward the President, new Judiciary,

gress, the diverse Governors, the

Live [95]

words

—words

the

Con-

to the lands."

Xeavee of (Svnee The its

first

of these lines dropped in 1867; the second given

present reading in 1881.

The

first lines

of third stanza, i860 read

''O the lands! Lands scorning invaders! Interlinked, food-yielding lands! Land of coal and iron! Land of gold! Lands of cotton, sugar, rice!

Odorous and sunny land Floridian land Land of the spinal river, the Mississippi! Land of the Allegha!

Ohio's land!

nies!

Land of wheat,

beef, pork!

Land of wool and hemp! Land

the potato, the apple, and the grape!

Land of the

Land

pastoral plains, the grass-fields of the world!

of those sweet-aired interminable plateaus! Land there of

Land

the herd, the garden, the healthy house of adobie!

there of rapt thought, and of the realization of the stars!

Land of simple,

holy,

untamed

lives! " etc.

Present reading in 1867. Line 12: "eastern" added in 1867.

Line

i860: read ''Land of

15,

Line

17,

**Land of

i860: read ''the passionate lovers" for

"the pas-

Present reading in 1867.

Present reading 1867.

sionate ones."

Line 22, i860: read for

any rate," etc. Line 2^ added in 1867. I

cannot be discharged from you"

Present reading in 1867.

Line 27,

many oceans"

for

the ocean shores."

"many towns"

i860: read

"every town."

for

Present reading in 1867.

Line 35, i860:

"Yet

a child of the North

—

^yet

Kanadian,"etc.

Present reading in 1867.

Line 39, § 15.

"and

equal " added in 1867.

[p. 29.]

i860: after line 2 read

"Of

all

can unloose you and toughen you." § 17.

the

men

of the earth,

Dropped

only

in 1881.

[p. 30.]

Line

i860: read "

expanding and swift! [96]

henceforth."

IDarlorum IReaMnae Present reading in 1881. Line

"with new contests" added

Line

i860: read ''These! These," etc.

in 1867.

Present reading in

1867.

§18.

[p. 31.]

Line

i860: read **Kanzas" for

"Kaw."

Present reading

in 1881.

Line

860

read

before "ceaseless." After line millions,

* *

old and

handsome,

f or

" cities

;

" and "

Present reading in 1867.

i860: read

new cities "

tall,

and dignified clothes

"See the populace,

— teaching,

erating, equally electing

millions

upon

muscular, both sexes, clothed in easy

and

commanding, marrying, genDropped in 1867.

elective."

added 1867: "stretching across the Continent, from Present reading in 1881. the Western Sea to Manhattan." 8 in Line added 1867. Line

[p. 32.]

§ 19.

Line

i860: read

After line

"O O

"O my

comrade!"

for

camerado

Present reading in 1867.

close."

power,

i860: read

liberty, eternity at last!

to be relieved of distinctions! to

make

much

of vices as

virtues

O to

to level occupations and the sexes!

ground! O adhesiveness! the pensive aching to be together— you

know Dropped Line

bring

know

all

common

not why, and

not why." in 1867.

i860:

read

[I., p.

33-]

haste" for

to haste" in both

places.

Song

of Myself.

The introductory poem of the 1855 edition, pages 14-56, without title; i8'56: A Poem of Wait Whitman, an American, pages 5-102; i860: Walt Whitman, pages 23-104, preceded by Proto-Leaf, stanzas numbered (i to 372); 1867: Walt Whitman, pages 23-94, with numbered sections (i to 52) and stanzas (i to vou.n.-6. ^^^3

Xeavee of (Svaee 1881

^66)]

Song of Myself, with numbered sections (i to 52). Whitman in workman's clothes was used

In 1855 the portrait of

1876 this portrait faced the

as a frontispiece; in

Whitman, and so remained I.

poem

IValt

in later editions.

[P' 33.1

Line

'*and sing myself" added in 1881.

Stanzas 3 and 4: transposed in 1881 from Starting from Pau-

manok.

Compare "I

early manuscript reading of lines in this section

your voice

—

was

tied in

celebrate myself to celebrate every

loosen the tongue that

begins to talk out of

was

tied in

—

In me it begins to talk. man and woman alive;

you

them,

mouth."

"I celebrate myself to celebrate you: say the same word for every man and woman alive. And I say that the soul is not greater than the body,

And

say that the body

not greater than the soul."

§ 2. [p. 33.]

Line

1855

*' :

ripples,

and buzzed whispers."

Present read-

ing 1856.

Line

12,

1855: After

"words"

voice"

repeated.

Dropped

1881.

Early manuscript reading of the thought of this section

" I

call

back blunderers;

give strong meat in place of panada

expose what ties loads on the soul. Are you so poor that you are always miserly, Priests ? Will you prize a round trifle like a saucer, done in red and yellow

paint ? I

offer

men no

painted saucer

the sun; I

have plenty more

—

make every one

have millions of suns

§ 3. [p. 35.]

Line 9: "always sex" added in 1856. Lines 23 and 24, 1855: read [98]

left."

a present of

IDarlorum IReabinge **AsGod comes

a loving bed-fellow

and sleeps

side

all

night and close on the peep of the day,

And

leaves for

baskets covered with white towels bulging

the house with their plenty." 1856:

" As the hugging and loving Bed-fellow sleeps at my side through the night, and withdraws at the peep of the day, And leaves for me baskets covered with white towels, swelling the house with their plenty." Present reading in 1867. Line 27, 1867: read "show me a cent" for "show me to a cent"; 1881: "show to me a cent"; the original 1855 reading in 1888.

Line 28, 1855: read ''contents" for "value" in both places. Present reading in 1881. Early manuscript reading of lines of this section:

ask nobody's faith

You doubt You doubt You doubt

Do I

but

very

little

concerned about

that.

not your desires or your fingernails, not metal or acid or steam.

not prove myself?

show

a scarlet tomato, or a sprig of parsley, or a paving

stone or All

...

not the east and the west,

some seaweed.

acknowledge and admire the

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Savans

and Synods as much

rest.

I meet not one heretic or unbeliever, Could do as well with the love of the pulpit? the whole or any I

part of

Whatever say of myself you shall apply to yourself, If you do not it were time lost listening to me. I

think there will never be any more heaven or hell than there

now, Nor any more youth nor age than there is now, Nor any more inception than there is now, Nor any more perfection than there is now." [99]

%cavcB of (5ra60 ยง 4. [p. 37.]

Line 2, 1855: read *'of the Present reading in i860.

ward" and

'*of the

nation."

**news" for "dates." "looks" read "business," 1856 changed "work." Dropped in 1867. Line 7 added in 1867. Line 8, 1855: read "They" for "These." Present reading Line

1855: read

Line

1855: after

in i860.

"or" added in i860. "Looks with

Line 12: Line

1855: read

13,

" Looking with side-curved head."

ยง5.

its

sidecurved head" for

Present reading in i860.

LP. 38.]

Line

1855: read "I

mind how once we Line 7:

mind how we

"How"

lay in

June"

for

Present reading in i860.

lay."

added

in i860.

Lines 10-12, 1855:

"Swiftly arose and spread around

knowledge

And And

know know

that pass

that the

the peace

and joy and

the art and argument of the earth;

all

hand of God

that the spirit of

God

the elderhand of is

my own, my

the eldest brother of

own." Present reading of line 10 in 1867; of lines 11 and 12 in 1856. Line 17, 1855: read "And mossy scabs of the wormfence,

and heaped stones, and elder and muUen

and pokeweed."

Present reading in 1881.

ยง6.

[p. 39.]

5, 1855: read "dropped" for "dropt"; the latter spelling in 1867. Simple changes in spelling are recorded here only

Line

occasionally.

Line

16,

1855: after

"people" read "and from women."

This clause dropped in 1881. Line 31, 1855: read

ยง7.

"and

nothing."

[p. 40.]

10, 1855: read "all that have" for "those that have.'* Present reading 1856.

Line

[100]

IDarlorum IReabine^ first line

1855:

merge?" Line

of stanza 5 read

Dropped

1855: read **can never

17,

Who

need be

afraid of the

1867.

be"

for ''cannot be."

Pres-

ent reading 1867.

§8.

[p. 41.]

Line

1855: read "

the pistol had fallen."

Compare an ' '

The

suicide

It is

—

witnessed the corpse

—there

Present reading 1867.

early manuscript reading of this line:

went

to a lonesome place with a pistol and killed

himself, I

came

that

Line

and

way and stumbled upon 1853: read

"The and

sluff of bootsoles

him."

blab of the pave talk of the

— the

tires of carts

promenaders."

Present

reading i860 and 1881. Line 9, 18^5: read "The carnival of sleighs, the clinking and shouted jokes and pelts of snowballs." Present reading 1856. After line 14, 1855: read " The souls moving along are they invisible while the least atom of the stones is visible?" 1856:

—

read "while the least of the stones

visible."

Dropped

1867.

Line

15,

1855

read "

who fall on

the flags."

Present reading

1856.

—

Line I

1855: read "I mind them or the resonance of them again and again"; 1856: read "Icome and I depart";

19,

come

"or the show" added § 10.

in i860.

[p. 43.]

Line

1855: read

"soundly" before

"falling."

Dropped

1867.

Line 6, 1855: read "under her three skysails" for "under her skysails." Present reading in 187 1. Line 12, 1855: read "sat near by" for "sat near." Present

reading in 1856. Line 13, 1855: read

new

line

after

"neck"— "One

hand

resting on his rifle—the other hand held firmly the wrist of the

red girl."

Present reading in 1867. [lOl]

Xeavea of (5ra00 § II.

[p. 44.]

Line

i6,

1855: read ''swell" for **bulge."

Present reading

in 1856.

§ 12.

[p. 45.]

Line

1855: read "roll" for **swing."

Present reading in

1867.

§13.

[p. 46.]

Line Line line

" long

Line

yoke or

etc.

added

for

"long."

" Huge

dropped

in 1881.

1853: the line ended with added in 188 1.

9 and

"huge"

1855: read

in 1867;

"bending"; the

rest

line 10

11,

1855: read

part of line

first

shade."

halt in the

"Oxen

that rattle the

Present reading in 1867.

Line

16,

1855: read "red yellow and white."

Line

17,

Line

19,

1855; read "the green." 1855: read "And the mockingbird in the

swamp,"

Present reading in 1867. Early manuscript readings of lines in this section

All tends to the soul,

As As

materials so the soul. procreation, so

the soul

—

procreation

impure,

all

impure.

As the shadow concurs with the body and comes not unless of the body, so the soul concurs with the body and comes not unless of the body.

As materials are so the soul, As experiences, childhood, maturity, suffering, so the soul. As craft, lies, thefts, adulteries, sarcasm, greed, denial, avarice, hatred, gluttony, so the soul,

As the types

set

up by the printers are faithfully returned by what they are for, so a man's life and a

their impression,

woman's

life is

returned in the soul before death and in-

terminably after death."

"And

each minute of the night and day

visible,

[102]

vital

and

IParlorum IReaMnga And And And And And

say the stars are not echoes,

perceive that the sedgy

weed

has refreshing odors

potatoes and milk afford a dinner of state,

guess the chipping bird sings as well as never learned the gamut;

to shake

friendly right hand, governors

shall stand all

And

day waiting

although she

and millionaires

their turns.

each acre of the land and sea exhibits marvellous

pictures;

They

And

the worm-fence and lie on the heaped hooked to the elder and poke weed;

fill

the

perfect

ยง 14.

cow

crunching with depressed head

and are a statue

and plumb."

[p. 47.]

Line

1855: read

**I listen

Line

closer" for ''listening close";

Present reading in 1881.

1856: "I listen close."

1855: read "I find" for "find";

"wintry."

Line

"November"

for

Present reading in i860.

Line 13, 1855: read "of the wielders" and Present reading in i860. 1855:

15,

nearest and easiest

ยง15.

stones,

read

"What

"of the

drivers."

commonest and cheapest and

Me."

[p. 48.]

Line

1855: read

First-day loafe."

"of

Sunday"

for

"as he walks on

Present reading in i860.

read " his eyes get blurred "for "while his reading in i860. Present eyes blur," etc. Present for "surgeons." "anatomists" read Line 14, 1855: Line

13,

1855:

reading in 1867.

"AucLine 16, 1855: read "stand" for "auction stand." tion" added in 1871. Line 21, 1855: read "and takes his position and levels." Present reading in 1856.

Line 23:

"as" added

in i860.

After line 26, 1855: read

"The

reformer ascends the platform, he spouts with his mouth

and nose, [103]

Xeavea of (Braaa The company

returns from

its

excursion, the darkey brings

the rear and bears the well-riddled target."

Dropped

in 1867.

Line 29:

"as" added

in 1867.

Line 30: "while " added in i860. Line 31, 1855: read "a week ago she bore her Present reading in i860.

first

child."

"The nine months' gone is in the chamber, her faintness and pains are advancing."

After line ^2, 1855: read parturition

Dropped

in 188 1.

Line 33, 1855: read

"red"

for

"blue."

Present reading in

1881.

Line 37: " the race is begun " added in 1867. Line 38, 1855: "watches his drove, he sings "for "watch-

ing his drove sings,"

etc.

Present reading in i860.

Line 39, 1855: read "The camera and plate are prepared, the lady must sit for her daguerreotype." Dropped in 188 1. Line 45, 1855: read "holds a cabinet council, he Present reading in i860.

is," etc.

Line 46, 1855: read "five friendly matrons" for "three matrons stately and friendly." Present reading in 1867. Line 49: "as " added in i860. Present Line 52, 1855: read "July " for "Seventh-month."

reading in i860. Line 56, 1855: read "the flatboatmen."

Line 57, 1855: read "The coon-seekers go now," Line 58, 1855: read "the torches." Line 60, 1835: read "abode," a misprint for

etc.

"adobe"

(1856).

Line 64, 1855: read

"And

these one and

all," etc.

"One

dropped in 1881. Line 66: added in 1881.

and

all"

ยง16.

[p. 52.]

Line

many

"one

1855: read

nations," etc.

of the great nation, the nation of

Present reading in 1881.

"down by

the Oconee I live" added in 1867. Line 8: " a Louisianian or Georgian " added in 1867.

Line 6:

[104]

IDarlorum IReabinga Line 9, 1855: read ent reading in 1856.

Hoosier, a Badger, a Buckeye."

Pres-

After line 9, 185^: read "A Louisianian or Georgian, a pokeeasy from sandhills and pines." Dropped in 1867. Line 16: '*yet" added in i860.

Line

1855: **of every hue and trade and rank, of every 1856: ''of every hue, trade, rank, of every religion "; i860: "of every hue, trade, rank, caste and religion." Present reading in 1867. 17,

and caste and caste

religion ";

After line 17, 1855: read *' Not merely of the New World but of Africa, Europe or Asia a wandering savage." Dropped in

—

1867.

Lines 18 and

1855: read

19,

''A farmer, mechanic, or

artist

— a gentleman,

sailor,

lover, or

quaker,

prisoner, fancy-man,

The

rowdy, lawyer, physician, or

priest."

1856 read:

first line in

**A farmer, mechanic,

artist,

gentleman,

sailor, lover,

Present reading of both lines in 1867. Line 21, 1855: read ''And breath" for "Breathe." Line 24, 1855: read "The suns I see and the suns see," etc. Present reading in 1881. § 17.

quaker."

cannot

[p. 54.]

Line

really "

added

in 1881.

After line 2, 1855: read "If they do not enclose everything they are next to nothing." Dropped in 1867.

§18.

[p. 54.]

Lines

and

"marches"

read

appearing as here printed

1867 (except for

"great marches") are reduced from three

stanzas of 1855 edition:

" This is the breath of laws and songs and behaviour, This is the tasteless water of souls, this is the true sustenance, It is

for the illiterate, is

for the judges of the

for the federal capitol

and the

[105]

supreme

state capitols,

court,

Xeavea of Ovaes It

the admirable

for

communes

of literary

men

(1856, '60

and composers and singers and lecturers and engineers and savans, It is for the endless races of working people (1856, '60: workpeople) and farmers and seamen. This is the trill of a thousand clear cornets and scream of the octave flute and strike of triangles. here marches) for victors only, I play not a march (i860: not I play great marches for conquered and slain persons." literats)

In i860 the first line read:

the breath for America, because

**This

This

for laws, songs, behavior."

it is

breath.

and 6, 1855: read "I sound triumphal drums for the dead I fling through my embouchures the loudest and gayest music to them"; 1856: read ''blow " for "fling"; "my"for "the"; i860: read "beat" for "sound." Present reading in Lines

—

1867.

Line

§19.

1855: read

"those"

for

"to

those."

[p. 55.]

Line

read

1855:

"This

the meal pleasantly set

the meat and drink for natural hunger."

—

this is

Present reading in

1871.

Line

1855

12,

read " and " between nouns.

Line

14,

"April rain has" for "Fourth-month

Present reading in i860.

1855:

read

"or

the early redstart" for "does the

Present reading in 1856.

early redstart."

§ 20.

read

1855:

showers have."

[p. 56.]

Line

1855: read

After line

1855:

nothing remains

Dropped Line

"and what" read " That

at the

for

"what."

a suck and a sell, and end but threadbare crape and tears." life is

in 1881.

1855:

read

"cock"

for

"wear."

Present reading in

1867.

Line

10,

1855: read "Shall

ceremonious?"

pray?

Present reading in i860. [106]

Shall

venerate and be

IDarlorum IRea&inge Lines

and

1855: read

12,

have pried through the strata and analyzed to a hair, counselled with doctors and calculated close and found no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones."

And

The *'ands" dropped Line

15,

Line

18,

read

1855: reading 1881.

dropped §21.

1855

read

in 1856.

And

Present reading in i860.

know" know "

for

"I know."

for

know."

Present **

And

in 1856.

[p. 58.]

Line pride."

1855: read '*! chant the Present reading in 1856.

new

chant of dilation or

After last stanza of this section, 1855: read

'^Thruster holding

tight

and that

hold tight!

hurt each other as the bridegroom and the bride hurt each other."

Dropped

in 1867.

Early manuscript reading of lines in this section *'

— —

Night of south winds night of the large few stars! slumberous night mad, naked summer night

Still

Smile,

voluptuous procreant earth!

Earth of the nodding and liquid trees! Earth of the mountains, misty-top't!

— Earth of shine and dark,

Earth of departed sunset

mottling the

tide of the river!

Earth of the vitreous

fall

of the

full

moon

just tinged

with blue!

Earth of the limpid gray of clouds purer and clearer for

Earth of

far

arms

—

sake!

rich, apple-blossomed earth

Smile, for your lover comes!

Spread round

Take me Till

many

Spread with your curtained hours;

earth!

you

a time

springing up in

've taken;

Prodigal, you have given me love; Sustenance, happiness, health have given; [X07]

Xeave0 of ©raas Therefore,

you give love

O, unspeakable, passionate love!" § 22.

[p. 59.] ''

Sea of the brine of life! Sea of unshovelled and alvv^ays ready graves!

Line

1855: read

Present reading in 1881.

Line 12:

"I" added

in 1867.

1855: before line 16 read:

*M am the poet of and of immortality."

common

Dropped

in 1867.

Line

1855: read "

16,

sense and of the demonstrable

And am not"

*M am not."

for

After line 16, 1855: read

Washes and

razors for foofoos

— for

freckles

and a

bris-

tling beard."

Dropped

in 188

Lines 17 and 18 in an early manuscript read:

What

tell

babble

you

love

about virtue

this

all

—

love

what you

call

vice just the

same

love virtue."

Line 2^, 1855: read

step up to say that is

right

Witnesses of

what we do

—and some

one side a balance,"

us,

right

and what

affirm

only the ore of right. etc.

Present reading in 1867. § 23.

[p. 60.]

2, 1855: read "a word" for ''the word." Present reading in 1867. Line 4, 1855 ^^^^

Line

'*One time as good as another, here or henceforward same to me."

it is all

the

Present reading in 1867.

Lines

and 6 added

1867;

" wonder." [108]

read ''wonder

love" for

IParlorum IRea&inge '* A word of reality." 7, 1855: read Present reading in 1867.

Line

11, 1855 read " or chemist " for "this the chemist." Present reading in 1856.

Line

Line 13, 1855: read "and" after "geologist." Lines 14 and following, 1855: read

"Gentlemen

receive you,

and attach and clasp hands with

you.

The

facts are useful

by them

and

real

—they are not my dwelling—

enter

to an area of the dwelling,

reminder of property or qualities, and more the reminder of life. And go on the square for my own sake and for others' sakes, I

less the

And make

short account," etc.

Present reading in 1867. Early manuscript reading of lines in this passage:

" I am the poet of Reality, And say the stars are not echoes. And say that space is no apparition 1

But all the things seen or demonstrated are so Witnesses and albic dawns of things equally great, yet not seen. I announce myself the Poet of Materials and exact demonstration Say that Materials are just as eternal as growth, the semen of God

that

swims

the entire creation.

Hurrah for Positive Science! Bring honey-clover and branches of

lilac!

These are the Philosophers of Nature, Every one admirable and serene. Traveling, sailing, measuring space, Botanizing, dissecting, or § 24.

making machines."

[p. 62.]

Line

roughs, a

1855: read "

kosmos

;

Manhattan the son."

Walt Whitman, an American, one of the read " Walt Whitman am 1, of mighty

1867 In

1871:

added "a kosmos"

Present reading in 1881. [109]

after

"L"

Xeavee of (Braaa After line 8, 1855

Dropped

turn."

Line 13:

read "

And whatever do I

or say

also re-

in 1867.

prisoners

After line 13,

and" added

1855: read

in 1881.

Voices of prostitutes and of de-

formed persons." Dropped in 1881. Lines 18 and 19, 1855: read

" Of the

Of fog

and flat and foolish and despised, and beetles rolling balls of dung."

trivial

in the air

Present reading in 1856, except

"deformed" added

in 1881.

Line 29, 1855: read 'Ms aroma"; "is" dropped in i860. Line 30, 1855: read "This head is more than churches or Present reading in i860. bibles or creeds." Line 31, 1855 read " If I worship any particular thing it shall :

be some of the spread of my body." Present reading in 1867. Lines }^ and 34, 1855: read "Shaded ledges and rests, firm masculine coulter, it shall be you." Present reading in i860. Present Line 40, 1853: read "head and beard and brawn." reading in 1856. Line 52, 1855: read

" To walk up it

That

my stoop

unaccountable

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

pause to consider

really be.

eat

and drink

spectacle

enough

for the great authors

and

schools."

Present reading of

i860; second line dropped in

first line in

1867.

Â§25.

[p. 65.]

Line 4: "

Line

added

in i860.

1855: read "understand" for "contain."

reading in 1867. Line 11, 1835 read " Do you not know are folded ?" Present reading in 1867. :

Line 15: "all " added in 1881. Line 17, 1835: read " The best Present reading in 1867. Line

19,

ward you";

am"

Present

how the buds beneath

for

"what

really

am."

1855 read " I crowd your noisiest talk by looking toi860: read "sleekest talk," "simply looking." Pres:

ent reading in 1867.

[no]

IDariorum IReablnge Line 22, 1835

With the hush of my Present reading in 1867.

read

topmost skeptic." §26. "

lips

confound the

[p. 66.]

Stanza

think

will

And

accrue

1855: read

do nothing

what

for a long time but listen, hear into myself and let sounds contribute

—

toward me." Present reading in 188 1. Lines 4 and **

1855: read

hear the sound of the

hear

Present reading of

Line

voice

first line in

and

them"

Dropped

fruit pedlars."

"shaky"

1855: read

— a sound

love.

their uses," etc.

1836; of second in i860.

1855: read after "like

fish-pedlars

Line

human

sounds as they are tuned to

all

— "the

recitative of

in 1867.

for "pallid."

Present reading

in 1867.

Line 13, 1855: read "The slow-march played at night at Present reading in i860. the head of the association." Lines 15-17, 1855: read *'

hear the violincello or man's heart's complaint,

And hear

the keyed cornet or else the echo of sunset."

Present reading of

Line

19,

first line in

1867; of second in 1856. is music! " Present reading

1855: read "this indeed

in i860.

Lines 22 and following, 1855: read

hear the trained soprano of

— she convulses me

like the

climax

love-grip;

orchestra whirls me wider than Uranus flies. wrenches unnamable ardors from my breast.

throbs

sails

The

me to gulps of the farthest down horror. me — dab mine bare feet — they are licked by I

the indo-

waves, cut by bitter and poisoned hail. I am exposed my windpipe squeezed Steeped amid honeyed morphine lent

—

fakes of death, [III]

in the

leaves of (Braas Let up again to

And

that

feel

call

the puzzle of puzzles,

Being."

"The

1856: line 2 read

me,

did not

know

orchestra wrenches such ardors from

possessed them."

i860: *'at length " added to line 1867: line

with hers 1881

read "

hear the trained soprano

— (what work, my

this ?); to line 4 was added " 1 lose breath." exposed " dropped from line 6; and present reading.

Early manuscript readings of lines in this section ** A soprano heard at intervals over the immense waves, Audible these from the underlying chorus.

Occupants and joyous vibraters of space. **

Never

fails

the combination.

A A

underlying chorus, occupant and joyous vibrater of space. clear transparent base that lusciously shudders the universe, tenor strong and ascending, with glad notes of morning

—

with power and health."

§28.

[p. 68.]

Early manuscript reading of lines in this section

" It

hand will not hurt what it holds and yet will devour it. must remain perfect before me though I enclose and divide

it.

Only one minute, only two or three sheathed touches. Yet they gather all of me and my spirit into a knot, They hold us long enough there to show us what we can be. And that our flesh, and even a part of our flesh, seems more than senses and life.

become of my senses ? jolted down all of them but feeling; He pleases the rest so every one would swap off and go with him. Or else she will abdicate and nibble at the edges of me."

What

has

Touch has

§29.

[p. 69.]

The following

are early manuscript readings of this section [112]

Darlorum IReabinga *' You villain touch What are you doing ? Unloose me, the breath is leaving my throat; Open your floodgates You are too much for me. !

do you keep the heaviest with your teeth at parting ?

Grip'd wrestler

Must you

bite

Will you struggle worst

Does

make you ache

pull for the last ?

plunge you from the threshold.

so to leave me!

Take what you like, I can resist you; Take the tears of my soul if that is what you

some one

Pass to Little as

else;

your mouth,

no miracle

**It is

Touch

the miracle!

now

What

has drained

that

dry of

strength."

are to live always.

change our dresses, or sleep long,

to be lost, or

when

are after.

minute, a touch and a drop of us can launch immortality; henceforth are proof and argument needful,

Little

Eternity has no time for death, each inch of existence

And

that to pass existence

thought death

Â§30.

but

life

supreme over

all,

and what

brought to a firmer parturition."

[p. 70.]

15, 1855: read "every one" for "one and reading in 1881.

Line

all."

Present

Early manuscript reading of lines in this section:

"There can be nothing small or useless The insignificant is as big as the noble;

What

less

All truths

than a touch

wait

in the universe;

in all places,

They wait with inclined heads and arms folded over their They neither urge their own birth nor resist it; VOL. 111.â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 8.

["3]

breasts;

Xeavee of (Braea They do not need the obstetric forceps of the surgeon; They enclose to those who ever fetches the warmth of the and the moisture of

light

rain.

Logic and sermons never convince of the night drives deeper into the soul.

The dew

test of

anything!

the experience and senses of men and women! and you will see whether they doubt; They do not doubt contact or hunger or love; They do not doubt iron or steam We do not doubt the mystery of life We do not doubt the east and the west; We do not doubt sight." It

proves

itself to

Bring

Â§31.

[p. 70.]

to folk

1855: read after line 7 *' And I could come every afternoon of life to look at the farmer's girl boiling her iron tea-kettle and

baking shortcake." Line

Dropped

in 1881.

1855: the nouns connected

by *'and"

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; dropped

1856.

Line

11,

1855

read

close " for

back."

Present reading in

1881.

Early manuscript reading of lines in this section

*'The crowds naked in the bath, Can your sight behold them as with oyster's eyes ? Do you take the attraction of gravity for nothing ?

Does the negress bear no children ? Are they never handsome ? Do they not thrive

Will cabinet officers become blue or yellow from excessive gin ? Shall I receive the great things of the spirit on easier terms than I

do a note of hand ?

Who

examines the philosophies in the market less than a basket of peaches or barrels of salt fish ? Who accepts chemistry on tradition ? The light picks out a bishop or pope no more than the rest A mouse is miracle enough to stagger billions of infidels." [114]

Darlorum IReablnee ยง 32. [p. 71.]

Line i, 1855: read *Mive awhile with the animals." reading in 1856. Line

**I stand and look at them sometimes i860: " I stand and look at them sometimes

1855: read

day long."

half the

Present

an hour

at a stretch." Present reading in 1867. Line 8: read " industrious " for '' unhappy."

Present reading

in 1881.

Compare an "

early manuscript reading of lines in this stanza:

stand and look at them sometimes half the day long.

They do not sweat and whine about their condition, They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins, They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God; Not one is dissatisfied. Not one takes medicine demented with the mania of owning things." .

Lines 11 and 12, 1855: read

" I

do not know where they got those tokens, must have passed that way untold times ago,"

1856: "I

may have

etc.

passed."

i860, line i: read *'get" for **got."

Present reading in 1867. Lines 16 and

17,

1855: read

Picking out here one that shall be my amie. Choosing to go with him on brotherly terms." *'

1856: read " Picking out here one that

i860: read

love."

Picking out here one that

love, to

go with on

brotherly terms."

Present reading in 1867.

Line

19,

1855: read ''forehead and wide";

"and" dropped

in 1856.

Line 21, 1855: read

dropped

in 1856.

"Eyes well

Present reading

apart and

full," etc;

"and"

in 1871.

Line 22: " as " added in i860. Line 23, 1855: read "we speed" for "as we speed." Present reading in 1871.

"as

["5]

race."

i860:

Xeavc6 of (Braee Lines 24-26, 1855: read

but use you a moment and then I resign you stallion do not need your paces, and outgallop them. And myself as I stand or sit pass faster than you." **I

— and

1856: the connective "and" dropped and line 2 read "pass" ing " for " pass." Present reading in i860, except for " minute

read

"moment"; "minute"

§ 33.

[p. 73.]

Line

know etc.;

in 1881.

Space! My Soul! Now I guessed at"; i860: "O swift wind," swift wind! O space and time," etc. Present

1855: read "Swift wind!

true

1867:

what

reading in 1881.

Line Line

me"

"leave

1855: after

Dropped

read

"1 travel

—

sail"

in 1881.

1855: read

"The

sierras."

10, 1855: read "Hoeing my onion-patch, and Present reading in 1856. carrots," etc.

Line

Line 16:

"shaped" added

rows

in 1867.

Line 17: " yellow-flower'd " added in 1867. Line 25, 1855: read "July" for "Seventh-month."

Present

reading in i860.

"Where

flails

keep time on the

Line 30, 1835: read "out of" for "under."

Present reading

After line 25, 1855: read

the

barn floor." in 1871.

"them"

for "it."

the ground-shark's fin."

Present

Line 33, 1853: read "calves" for "calf"; Present reading in i860. Line 35, 1855 reading in i860.

read "

Line 38, 1853: read Present reading in 1867. Line 43,

1833:

Where

"Where

the striped and starred flag."

nouns connected by

"and"

— dropped

1856.

Line 44, 1833: read

"sqush"

for

"mash."

Present reading

in 1867.

Lines 46 and 47,

dropped

1833:

phrases connected by

in 1836.

[116]

"and"

—

IPariorum IReablnge Lines 48 and following,

1855:

read

**and"

for

where."

Present reading in 1856. Line 54, 1855: read ** slappy shore and laughs" for "shore Present reading in 1856.

where she laughs."

1835: read ** Pleased most Present reading in 1881.

Line 66, etc.

women,

the homely,"

Line 68, 1855: read ''primitive tunes" for "tune." reading in 1856.

Present

—

"preacher" read "or any preacher i860: "impressed" for "looking"; "or any preacher" dropped in 1881. Line 70, 1855 read "pressing " for " flatting." Present readLine 69,

1855:

after

looking seriously,"

etc.

ing in i860. Line 71 Line 73, :

"or down

a lane or along the beach " added in 1881.

1855: read

dark-cheeked bush-boy

"Coming home with

the bearded and behind him at the drape of the "bearded." Present reading in

— riding

day"; i860: read "silent"

for

1867.

Line 76, 1855: read "

the coffined corpse."

Present read-

ing in 1867. Line 89, 1855: read " I visit the orchards of God and look at the spheric product." Present reading in 1856. Line 94, 1855: read "no law can prevent me." Present

reading in 1867. Line 100, 1855

read "

We sail through," etc.

Present reading

in i860.

Line

103,

1855:

read

"point up"

for

"show."

Present

reading in 1856.

"one"

"an."

Present reading in

Line 118 added in i860. Line 124, 1871: read "olden martyrs."

Present reading in

Line 116, 1855: read

for

1881.

Line 125: " of old " added in 1881. Line 126, 1855: the clauses connected by " and

"— dropped

in 1856.

Line 135, 1855: read "they taunt" for "they beat." reading in 1856. [117]

Present

Xeave0 of (Braea Line 138, 1855: read " hurt turns " for "hurts turn." ent reading in 1871. Line 151, 1855: reading in 1867.

Line

"Again

read

1855:

152,

"reveille" for "long

read

mortars and howitzers."

roll."

Pres-

Present

attacking cannon

the

and

Present reading in 1867.

Line 153, 1855: read "Again the attacked send their cannon responsive"; 1856: dropped " their"; i867:read "Again the cannon responsive." Present reading in 1871.

Line 155, 1855: read "cries and curses and roar."

reading in 1856. Line 157, 1855: read " and to ent reading

make

" for

"making."

Present Pres-

in 1856.

Early manuscript reading of lines in this section

" Where the little musk ox carries his perfumed bag Where the life car is drawn on its slip noose,

at his navel.

At dinner on a dish of huckleberries, or rye bread and a round white pot cheese."

ยง34.

[p. 82.]

Line

added

in 1867.

After line 4, 1855

Dropped

rise."

read " Hear

now the

tale

of a jetblack sun-

in i860.

Line 5, 1855: read'"Hearof the murder in cold blood of," etc. " Hear now the tale of the murder in cold blood of," etc.

i860:

Present reading in 1867.

Line

11,

courtship."

1855: read

horse, a

rifle,

a song, a supper, or a

Present reading in 1856.

Line 12, 1855: read "Large, turbulent, brave, handsome, generous, proud and affectionate"; i860: the same with rear-

rangement; "brave" dropped in 1871. Line 15, 1855: read " Sunday " for "First-day."

Present

reading in i860. After line 26, 1855: read "

Dropped ยง35.

And

that

was

a jetblack sunrise."

in i860.

[p. 84.]

Line

i, 1855: read fashioned frigate-fight

"Did you ? "

read in the seabooks of the old-

Present reading in 1867. [118]

IDarlorum IRea&inse Line

1855: read ''Did

you

learn," etc.

Present reading in

1867.

Line 3 added in 1867, but read ''story" for "yarn." ent reading in 1881.

Pres-

Line 4: " said he " added in 1867.

Line 5: "surly" added in 1867. Line 11 added in 1867. Line 12, 1855: read "shining" for

"well up"; "and the

leaks " for " our leaks."

Line

14,

Line

15,

Present reading in 1867. 1855: read "was" for "is." 1855: read "saw" for "see."

1867 the verbs in this section and in section 36 were changed from the past tense to the present tense. In

Line 20, 1867: at end of line read "says

grandmother's

father."

Line 32, 1855: read "twelve at night,"

etc.

Present reading

in 1881.

§36.

[p. 85.]

This section began in 1867 with the

" I

O now feel

it is

Line

14,

blood

grandmother's father there

in the fight;

myself."

Dropped Line

not

lines:

in 1871.

added

— the

1855: short

in 1881.

"The wheeze,

the cluck, the swash of falling

wild scream, the long dull tapering groan."

Present reading in 1856.

§37.

[p. 86.]

Lines

Christ!

What What

and

1855: read

fit is

mastering me!

the rebel, said gaily adjusting his throat to the rope-noose,

the savage at the stump, his eye-sockets empty, his spirting

What What

whoops and defiance, traveler come to the vault

mouth

at Mount Vernon. the sobers the Brooklyn boy as he looks down the shores of the Wallabout and remembers the prison ships,

stills

[119]

Xeavee of (SvnBB What

burnt the gums of the redcoat at Saratoga dered his brigades,

These become mine and 1

become

much more

when he

every one, and they are but

like."

surren-

little,

i860: read

'*0 Christ! This is mastering me! Through the conquered doors they crowd.

two

In 1867 these

lines only are given.

possessed,"

etc.

Present reading in

1881.

Line

become any presence

1855: read "I

manity here." body." After last

or truth of hu*'

Present reading in 1867, except read

em-

1855: read

line,

through

**Irise extatic

and sweep with the true gravitation, is elemental within me."

all

The whirling and whirling i860: read *'

Enough

—

bring such to a close.

Rise extatic through

Dropped

all," etc.

in 1867.

Early manuscript reading of lines in this section:

" The

fester of defeat sharper

What choked

than the bayonet holes in his side;

the throat of the brigadier

when

he gave up his

brigade

These become mine and me, every one;

And §38.

become much more when

like."

[p. 87.]

Line

added

in 1867.

1855: nouns connected

by "and"

— these

dropped

in 1856.

Line

1855

mistake." Line 8: Line

11,

read

discover myself on a verge of the usual

Present reading in 1856.

"now" 1855

added

read "

in i860. roll

away "

ent reading in i860. [120]

for

roll

from me."

Pres-

IDarlorum IReaMnga After line 12, 1855: read

walk the roads of Ohio and Massachusetts and Virginia and Wisconsin and New York and New Orleans and Texas and Montreal and San Francisco and Charleston and Savannah and Mexico."

i860: " the roads of the six North Eastern States," etc. Whole sentence dropped in 1867. Line 13, 1855: read "Inland and by the seacoast and boundary lines

—and we pass the boundary

Line years."

lines. " Present reading in 1 867. read "two thousand 1855: 15, years " for "thousands of Present reading in 1867.

Lines 16 and 17, 1855: read *'

Eleves,

see the approach of your numberless gangs,

And And And

salute you,

t see you understand yourselves and me. know that they who have eyes are divine, and the blind and lame are equally divine,

that

are

aware that

go before them. with you no more than I am with

steps drag behind yours yet

everybody." Present reading in 1867.

§39.

[p. 88.]

Lines 4 and 5, 1855 read ** Is he from the Mississippi country ? or from Iowa, Oregon, or California ? or from the mountains ? or :

prairie

life

or bush-life ? or from the sea

1856 except "sailor" prefixed to

Line

last

? "

Present reading in

phrase in 1881.

by "and."

Present

the phrases connected by "and."

Present

1855: the clauses connected

reading in 1856. Line 9, 1855: reading in 1856.

§40.

[p. 89.]

Line

read 9, 1835 ent reading in 1871.

Line

17,

"What

1855: read

tier," etc., for

"To

" To a cotton

give

give out of myself."

Pres-

drudge of the cornfields or empdrudge or cleaner," etc. Pres-

field

ent reading in 1867. [121]

Xeavea of Gvaee Â§ 41.

[p. 90.]

After line

1855: read

*'The most they offer for mankind and eternity of my own seminal wet."

Dropped

in 1867.

Line

1855:

Dropped

away." Line for

Line

laying

them

in 1856.

Present reading in 1856.

1855: read "all idols and images" for "every idol

12,

and image." Line

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; '*and

than a spirt

names connected by **and"; read '*Adonai"

1853:

10,

"Buddha."

"Jehovah"

read after

less

Present reading in 1856. 1855: read "honestly taking" for "taking."

13,

Pres-

ent reading in 1856.

Line

14,

Line

15,

"day"

1855: read

for

"days

"admitting they,"

1855:

Present reading in

etc.

1867.

Line 20, 1855: read "those" for "lads"; Present reading in 1867.

"more"

"no

for

less."

After line 31, 1855: read

"Guessing when

will not tickle

me much

to receive puffs

out of pulpit or print."

Dropped

in 1867.

Early manuscript readings of lines in this section

"I 1

know

as well as

you

live in

no such

Would you 1

beard

Have you no more

infinitesimal

meanness as

bribe the Lord with

some

faith

than that

that.

stray

change

outbid you shallow hucksters!

All

you

pile

my I

my breast and

also a revelation just as divine.

But do you stop there I

that Bibles are divine revelations,

say that each leaf of grass and each hair of

say that

not august enough to dent the partition in

nose; all

the churches

now

standing were well employed in

orisons to a sprig of parsley [122]

IDarlorum IReablnge

tell

you

that

Jehovah I

your caste have said about Belus, Osirus, and

all is

a shallow description.

way framing a house, there with rolled-up sleeves and sweat on his

claim for one of those framers over the

The young man superb

face.

More than your

craft three

thousand years ago, Kronos, or Zeus grandson."

his son, or Hercules his

*'foot to fee lawyers for his brother and sit by him while he was tried for forgery. Fables, traditions and formulas are not animate things; .

Brick and mortar do not procreate like In

all

them and

of as

think

grow

existing creeds

all

men

grows not so much of God

my moustache my time to be

a God much good and be as pure and

myself waiting I

shall

prodigious as

any, I am do you suppose from pulpit or print ?

And when

empty consent

Doctrine gets It

The I

wriggles through mankind, throat

mocking

to receive puffs

politeness,

never loved or believed,

it is

not safe that speaks

will take a sprig of parsley

will please

aloud.

and a budding rose and go through

the whole earth.

You

shall see

Can you say Â§42.

will not find

much

all

one heretic against them. the lore of the priesthood

" ?

[p. 92.]

Line

1855: read ''their" for ''your."

Present reading in

1867.

Line

1855: read "evolves" for "slues round."

Present

reading in 1856. Line 14: compare an early manuscript reading:

"And

their

voices, clearer than the valved cornet

hoot! hoot! to us

and bring the

all

our

lives till "

sly ones forth

[123]

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; they

cry

seek where they hide

!ILeave0 of

Qvaee

Line 19, 1855: read ''buying or taking or selling." reading in 1856.

Present

Line 20, 1855 read ''sweating and ploughing and thrashing." Present reading in 1856. :

Line 23, 1855: read "churches" for "wars, markets." Line 24, 1855: read "Benevolent societies, improvements," etc. Present reading in 1881; after "factories" read '^ markets, stocks and stores and real estate and personal estate."

Present

reading in 1856. Line 25, 1855: read

"the

little

plentiful

"They who

manikins."

piddle and patter here" for

Present reading in 1867.

Line 26, 1867: "actually" added; 1871: read "positively" for "actually."

Line 27, 1855: read after "myself"

— "under

lipped and pipe-legged concealments."

Dropped

Line 31, 1855: read "cannot say" for

all

the scrape-

in 1856.

"must not write"; "must

1867: "cannot write"; 1871: "will not write"; 1881:

not write." Lines 33 and 34, 1855

and to motive power." added in 1881. tioning,

indicate

read "

My words

reality";

are words of a quesadd to above "and 1867, except "this song"

i860,

Present reading in

After line 35, 1855: read

"The

marriage estate and settlement, but the body and mind of the bridegroom

The panorama of the

Dropped

also those of the bride ?

sea,

but the sea itself?"

in i860.

Line 37, 1855: read

modern improvements

"The

fleet

— but the

of ships of the line and

craft

all

the

and pluck of the admiral ?"

Present reading in 1867. Line 38: "In the houses" added in 1867.

—

Line 41, 1855: read "Sermons and creeds and theology but the human brain, and what is called reason, and what is Present reading in 1867. called love, and what is called life ?"

§43.

[p. 95.]

Line Line

"all time, the world over" added in 1881.

1855: read "all worship." [124]

Dariorum IReaMnge Lines 12 and 13: ''or" used as connective in i860. Line 19, 1855: read

know

*'I

every one of you, and

know

the unspoken interroga-

tories,

By experience

know

them."

Present reading in 1867. After line 24, 1855

and me and

all."

read ''And the day and night are for you

Dropped

in 1867.

Line 25 " precisely the same " added in 1856. Line 27, 1855: read "But I know it is sure and alive and sufficient." Present reading in 1867. Line 28, 1855: the clauses connected by " and "—dropped in :

1856.

Line 37,

myriads."

§44.

1855: read "nor one of the myriads" for "the Present reading in 188 1.

[p. 97.]

After line 4, 1855: read

"Eternity

lies in bottomless reservoirs, ever and ever,

its

buckets are rising for-

They pour and they pour and they exhale away." Dropped

in i860.

Line 20, 1855: read after "Nothing" nostrils of death." Dropped in 1856.

— "the vapor from the

Line 21, 1855: read "andslept while God carried the lethargic mist." Present reading in 1856. Line 36, 1855: read "Now Present reading in 1867.

me through

stand on this spot with

soul."

Early manuscript reading of lines in this section

"My

spirit

sped back to the times when the earth was burning

mist,

And

peered

aft

and could see Concord beyond the

aft,

forming

the mist,

And And And

brings a

word

that Dilation or Pride

they are

Amours

a father of Causes,

—

Goodness or Love the Parents yet, and witness and

mother of Causes

eternally; [125]

Xeavee of 6ra00 And devise themselves to These States this hour. And my spirit travelled ahead and pierced the stern hem and went fearlessly through, And came back from the grave with serene

And

said. It is well,

satisfied,

yet.

beheld Dilation just the same afterwards.

beheld Love and Concord also in the darkness afterwards."

§ 45.

life

face,

behold the causes

[p. 99.]

Lines

Line

**0" added in i860. 1855: nouns connected by "or."

and

Present reading in

1856.

After line

1855: read

"Or

while

swim

in the bath, or

drink from the

pump

the opera, or

glimpse at a woman's face in the railroad car."

Dropped

down

welcome

added

in i860.

Line 22, 1855: read "I and you"; after "surfaces" the palpable life," etc. Present reading in 1867. Lines 29 and 30,

pointed,

in 1867.

Line 11: "

all

or the curtain

at the corner,

God

will

1855: read

"Our rendezvous

be there and wait

till

come."

— "and

is fitly

"It

apcer-

tain" added in 1867. Line 31 added in 1867. § 46.

[p. lOI.]

Line

" come

listen all! "

1855: read

added

"and good

in 1867.

shoes."

Present reading in

1856.

Line 4, 1855: read reading in 1856.

Line

"nor church nor philosophy."

1855: nouns connected 1855: read

"hooks"

Present

—

dropped in 1856. by "or" "hooking." Present read-

for

ing in i860. Line 8, 1855: read "and points" for "pointing." Present reading in i860. 1855: read "a plain public road" for "the public road." Present reading in 1881. Line 15: "dear son " added in 1867.

Line 22\

"but" added

in 1867.

Line 25, 1855: read "wayfarer" for "dear son." reading in 1867. [126]

Present

IDarlorum IReabinsa Line 27, 1855: read

" for

you";

'*l will certainly kiss

"my

good-

"a good-by."

Present readings in 1867. Line 33, 1853: the clauses connected by ** and "

— dropped

1856. [p. 103.]

§ 47.

wound

7, 1855: read "a Present reading in 1867.

Line

Lines 9 and **

steel cuts."

1855: read

10,

Preferring scars

cuts" for ''sharp

and

faces pitted

with small-pox over

all

lath-

erers

And

those that keep out of the sun."

Line

16,

1855: read "It

was

in i860.

Present reading in

tied," etc.

i860.

Line

17,

''again" added

Line

18,

1855

read "

never will " for "I will never."

Pres-

ent reading in i860. Line 24, 1855: read reading in 1867.

"pretty well"

for

"well."

Line 27, 1855: read "my words must sail" for Present reading in 1856.

"my

Present

words

sail."

Lines 28-30 added in 1867.

Line ^^, 1855: read "shall Present reading in 1 856. § 48.

comprehend"

for

"comprehend."

[p. 105.]

1855 read " And any man or woman shall stand cool and supercilious before a million universes." Present reading in

Line

1867.

Line

10,

1855: read "call" for "say."

Present reading in

1867.

Line § 49.

19,

" Wheresoe'er

added

in 1867.

[p. 106.]

Line

19,

1855: read

"And

perceive of the ghastly glitter the

sunbeams reflected." 1856: "And perceive of the ghastly glimmer the sunbeams reflected." i860: "I perceive of the ghastly glimmer the sunbeams reflected." Present reading in 1867. Early manuscript readings of lines in this section: [127]

%eaveB of (3ra60 " There

No To

array,

his infatuation

tell

Who

no word in my tongue, no form of symbol.

would define the scope and purpose of God.

Mostly this we have of Lo, the Sun; Its

God we have man. :

glory floods the moon.

Which

of a night shines in

some

turbid pool,

Shaken by soughing winds;

And And

there are sparkles

mad and

their archetype

the sun.

tossed and broken.

I know not But this I know; I can comprehend no being more wonderful than man; Man, before the rage of whose passions the storms of Heaven are but a breath

Of God

whose caprices the lightning is slow and less fatal Man, microcosm of all Creation's wildness, terror, beauty and power. And whose folly and wickedness are in nothing else existent." Before

you corpse, do not smell

dirt,

reckon you are good manure

smell your beautiful white roses

kiss

§ 50.

—

your leafy lips your breasts."

slide

hands

for the

—but that

brown melons

[p. 107.]

Line

1855: nouns connected

10,

"or"— dropped

in 1856.

1855: read **form and union and plan."

Present

reading in 1856.

§51.

[p. 108.]

Line

1835: read

you" dropped Line

"Hear you— what have you,"

etc.

" Hear

in 1881.

1855: read "for no one," etc.;

"for" dropped

1856.

§ 52.

[p. 108.]

Compare an

early manuscript reading of lines in this section: [128]

IPariorum TRea&lnfle "The spotted hawk salutes the approaching night; He sweeps by me and rebukes me hoarsely with his He complains with sarcastic voice of my lagging.

invitation;

it and go; tamed yet."

feel

apt to clip

not half

Adam.

p. no.] group title for i6 poems. In i860 called Enfans d'Adam, with 15 poems, pages 287-314. Present title in 1867, with 14 poems, and following Walt Whitman {The Song of Myself )y

Children of

[I.,

pages 95-1

17.

To the Garden the World. i860: Enfans

[I.,

d'Adam, No.

no.]

i; 1867: present

title.

From Pent-up Aching Rivers. [I., p. no.] i860: Enfans d' Adam, No. 2; 1867: present title. Line i: "From pent-up aching rivers" added in modification of line 10 in i860:

myself," which

Line year."

13,

**From the pent up

1867,

rivers of

was then dropped.

i860: read **ten thousand years" for "

many

a long

Present reading in 1867.

After line 14, i860: read

" Singing what, to the

Soul, entirely

one, the prostitute,

who

redeemed

detained

her, the faithful

me when went I

to the

city;

Singing the song of prostitutes."

Dropped

in 1881.

After line 23, i860: read

The

body for sale Dropped in 1871.

slave's

with harsh voice, auctioneering."

—

sternly

Line 29, i860: read **

wish that you and I escape from the O free and lawless."

—

Present reading in 188 1. After line 40, i860: read VOL. in.—o.

[X29]

rest,

and go

utterly off

Xeavee of 6vaee *'To talk to the perfect

The

girl

who

understands

States,

waft to her these from own body."

Dropped

my own

lips

—

^to

me—the

effuse

girl

them from

in 1881.

Line 56, i860: read "enfans" for '*act divine and you chilPresent reading in 1867. dren." I Sing the

Body

Electric.

[L, p. 113.]

1855, without title, pages, 77-82; 1856: Poem of the Body, pages 167-179; i860: Enfans d' Adam, No. 3; 1867: with pres-

ent

and

title

§1.

position.

[p. 113.]

Line i: 'M sing the body electric" added in 1867; read " O my children O mates! "

i860:

Line of

all

bodies of men and women engirth i860: read *'0 the bodies of you, and

engirth them."

men and women

Line I

"The

1855: read

me, and

engirth me," etc.

"They

1855: read

go with them and respond

Present reading in 1867.

will not let

off nor

them

them and love them."

till

Present

reading in 1867. Line 4 added in i860: read ''And respond to the contact of them, and discorrupt them, and charge them with the charge of the Soul." Present reading in 1867. Lines 5 and

**Was

1855: read

dreamed whether those

who

bodies could conceal themselves

And whether

who

those

who

defiled the

corrupted their

defiled the living "

dead

own

live

were as bad as they

1856:

"Was

doubted

those

conceal themselves

And

those

who

the dead

who

corrupt their

own

live

bodies

defile the living are as

" ?

Present reading in 1867. Lines 7 and 8 added in 1856. [130]

bad as they

who

defile

IDartorum TReaMitQe

ยง 2.

[p. 114.]

Lines

and

1855: read

" The expression of the body of man or woman balks account, The male is perfect and that of the female is perfect." Present reading in i860.

Line 3 added in i860. Line 4: ''but" added in i860. Line

1855: read " supple " after

for "broadcloth."

Line

"sweet"; read "flannel"

Present reading in 1881.

1855: "the

transparent greenshine, or lies on with the heave of the water." Present reading in 1856, except "to and fro" added in i860. After line 11, 1855: read "Framers bare-armed framing a house, hoisting the beams in their places or using the mallet and

his

11,

back and

mortising-chisel."

Line all

13,

salt

rolls silently

Dropped

their exquisite offices."

Present reading in 1856.

After line 15, 1855: read his axe in the

dropped

"The woodman

woods, the young fellow,"

etc.

rapidly swinging

The

first

clause

in 1856.

Line 18, 1855: read Present reading in 1856. Line 24, 1855: read wrestle with wrestlers,

and pause and

ยง3.

in 1856.

1855: read "Girls and mothers and housekeepers in

listen

"The

coats,

"And swim and march

and count."

vests

and caps,"

etc.

with the swimmer, and line with the firemen,

Present reading in 1856.

[p. 116.]

Line

1855

read "

knew a man, he was a common

farmer,

he was the father of

Present reading in 1867. five sons." Line 2, 1855: after "them " read " were." Present reading in

1881.

Line

1855: read "vigor and calmness and beauty," etc.

Present reading in 1856. Line

read "the richness and breadth in 1871. arrangement Present

1855: after

of his manners."

"head"

[131]

%cavce of (Braea [p. 117.]

ยง 5.

Line

1855: after "earth" read "the atmosphere and the

fringed clouds."

Dropped

in 1881.

Line 22: "sanity " added in 188 1. After line 2^, 1855: read "I see the bearer of the great fruit

which is immortality, the good thereof and never can be.'' Dropped in i860. ยง6.

not tasted by roues,

[p. 118.]

Line

1855: read "fiercest" for "wildest."

Present read-

ing in i860. Line

who it

11,

meanest one Line

1855: read "it is no matter who" for "no matter it is sacred " added in 1 860 read slave " for the

;

1855:

16,

' *

;

the laborers' gang ?"

Present reading in 1881.

"read "beautiful"

for

"perfect."

Present

reading in 1881. Line 17, 1855: read "Do you know so much that you call " Yourself" added in i860. the slave or the dullface ignorant ?" Present reading in 1881.

Line 20, 1855: "only" added in i860. [p. 120.]

ยง 7.

Line

1855: read

Present reading in

slave at auction."

1836.

Line 2 added in 1881. Line 4, 1855: read "curious creature" for ent reading in 1856. Lines

5, 6,

and

1855: read

"him"

"wonder."

for "it."

Pres-

Present read-

ing in 1856. 9, 1855: read "the making of the attributes of heroes "makings of heroes." Present reading in 1867. Line 10, 1835: read "very cunning"; 1836: "so cunning";

Line for

"so" dropped Line

in 188

1833: read Present reading in 1836.

Line of

line,

13,

17,

19,

his

blood"

read "his heart" for

1833: "there

aspirations."

Line

1833:

"runs

all

for

"runs blood."

heart."

passions and desires,

all

The

rest

reachings and

Present readings in 1836. 1833: read

"he

the father" for "this the father."

Present reading in 1881. [132]

IParlorum IReaMnga §8.

[p. 121.]

Line

1855:

read

A woman

at auction."

Present reading

in 1856.

After line

1855: read

**Her daughters or their daughters' daughters— who shall mate with them ?

knows who

Who knows In

through the centuries what heroes may come from them ? them and of them natal love in them the divine mystery the same old beautiful mystery."

—

Dropped Line

in 1867.

1855: read

Have you ever loved a woman ? Your mother is she living? have you been much with her? and has she been much with you ?" *'

—

1856: read

" Have you ever loved the body of a

woman ?

Have you ever loved the body of a man Your father, where is your father ? Your mother," etc.

Lines 3 and 4 of this passage dropped in 1881. Line 7, 1855: read "If life and the soul are sacred" for

anything Line

sacred."

1855: read

*'If

Present reading in 1856. *'

beautiful as the

most

**more beautiful than the most beautiful face."

beautiful face" for

Present reading

in 1881.

After line 11, 1855: read

Who degrades or defiles the living human body is cursed. Who degrades or defiles the body of the dead is not more cursed." **

Dropped § 9.

in 1856; the entire ninth section added.

[p. 122.]

Line 2: **and that they are the soul "added in i860. Line 30, 1856: read ''his own body or another person's

body"

Present reading in 1867. for "the body." Lines 35 and 36, 1856: read "think" for "say." [133]

Xeavee of (BraeÂŠ After line 36, 1856: read "If these are not the soul,

Dropped

the soul?"

A Woman

Waits for Me.

Poem of

1836:

124.]

[I., p.

A Woman

Enfans Waits for Me,

1856: read ''Semitic" for ''seminal."

Present read-

Procreation, pages 240-243;

d' Adam, No. 4, pages 302-304; 1867: pages 108-109.

Line

what

in i860.

i860:

ing in 1871. After line 10, 1856: reaid

will fetch bully breeds of children yet!

They cannot be

terms than mine. Electric growth from the male, and rich ripe fibre from the fetched,

say,

less

female, are the terms."

The

dropped

first line

in 1867;

the second and third dropped

in i860.

Line

"Now"

1 1 :

added

in 1867.

Line 34, 1856: read "are drops of" for "shall grow." ent reading in i860.

Spontaneous Me. No.

[I., p.

126.]

i860: Enfans d' Adam,

Bunch Poem, pages 309-312.

1856:

Pres-

1867: Spontaneous Me, pages 110-112. 5, pages 304-307. added in i860. Line i

Line 2: "the loving

sun " added Line

1856: read

day" added

in i860;

"the mounting

in 1867.

"gorgeous" before "hues."

Dropped

1867.

Line }}: "the mystic amorous night" added in 1867. Line 41 "My Adamic and fresh daughters " added in i860. :

One Hour

Madness and Joy.

i860: Enfans

present

Line

d'Adam, No.

p. 129.]

pages 307-309;

pages 11 2- 113. " One hour to madness and joy!

1867 with

title, i

After line

" (Know,

added

in 1867.

i860: read a

man,

attracting, at

or touch with the tips of

[I.,

that touches

any time, her I but look upon,

fingers.

face, or leans against

[134]

me.)

Darlorum IReaMnge Line 8: *'0 bashful and feminine" added in 1867. After line 9, i860: read *'0 rich and feminine! O to show you to realize the blood of life for yourself, whoever you are and no matter when and where you live." Dropped in 1867.

—

Line

i860: read "follies and degradations" for "ties and Present reading in 1867. This and following

12,

conventions." After line

in i860.

read '*0 madness amorous!

i860:

16,

Dropped

bling."

Out

"0"

began with

lines

of the Rolling

trem-

in 1881.

Ocean the Crowd.

131.]

[I., p.

published in Drum-Taps, 1865. In annex to 1867 edition, page 67. Transferred to present group in 1871, First

Ages and Ages Returning at page

title,

Intervals.

Enfans d'Adam, No.

i860:

116.

How

Two,

p. 131.]

[I.,

page 313; 1867 with present

12,

Long

were FooPd.

Enfans d'Adam, No. present title, page 14. i860:

[I.,

p. 132.]

pages 309-310;

1867 with

Before line

Dropped

are."

Line

i860: read

''Now

Line

— we

in Virginia."

are

delicious, transmuted, swiftly

"We

are

two peaks

Dropped

i860: read "

18,

Present reading in 1867.

After line 10, i860: read

rising

— what the earth

is,

You and

in 1867.

escape, as Nature escapes."

the Tennessee

what

the flowing

wet of

of the Blue Mountains,

in 1867.

we two have "

for

two."

Present

reading in 1881.

Hymen!

Hymenee!

[I.,

p. 133.]

i860: Enfans d' Adam, No. 13, page 313; 1867 with present title,

page

1 1

Am He that Aches with Love. i860:

title,

Enfans d'Adam, No.

p. 133J page 314; 1867 with present

[I.,

14,

p. 117.

Line

"amorous" added

in 1867.

[135]

Xeavee of (Braaa Native Moments. present

title,

Line

page

pages 310-31

love

some

in 188 1.

Pass'd through a Populous City.

page

1867 with

Dropped

i860: Enfans title,

i860: after ''calls" read "I take for

prostitute."

Once

p. 133.]

[I.,

Enfans d' Adam, No.

i860:

d'Adam, No.

[I.,

p. 134.]

g, page 311; 1867 with present

115.

Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes

annex to 1867

page

edition,

of the Organ.

Drum-Taps

First published in Sequel to

[I.,

p. 134.]

(1865-6).

second

17.

Facing West from California's Shores.

[I.,

p. 135.]

i860: Enfans d' Adam, No. 10, page 312; 1867 with present title,

page

Line Line

116.

added

Line

am." Line

i860: after

Dropped

over to

yet un-

i860: read

"sea" read "having

arrived at last

"coming"

for "starting."

i860: read "

Now

face the old

home

again

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; looking

joyous, as after long travel, growth, and sleep."

it,

where

in 1867.

Line 8 added in 1867.

Line

Present reading in 1867.

found."

in 1867.

i860: read "that yet unfound " for ''what

Pres-

ent reading in 1867.

As Adam Early in the Morning. i860: Enfans d' Adam, No. title,

page

Line

Calamus.

[I.,

75,

p. 136.]

page 314; 1867 with present

117. :

"as [I.,

Adam"

added

in 1867.

p. 137.]

group title for 45 poems in i860, pages 341-378; 1867 with 42 poems, in present position following Children of Adam, pages 19-144.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

In Paths Untrodden.

[I., p.

i860: Calamus, No. title,

page

137.]

pages 341-342;

119. [136]

1867 with present

IDarlorum TReaMnge Line

1871: read

eruditions" after

Dropped

profits."

in 1881.

Line

i860:

read

1871:

1867.

after

rejoices"

read

most."

''rejoices

**onIy"— dropped

Present reading in 1881

(the reading of 1867).

Compare an

And now

early manuscript draft of lines of this

care not to

walk the

poem

earth unless a friend

walk by

side,

And now dare sing no other songs For now know the life which does I

contains

And going

all

the

only those of lovers, not exhibit

itself

but which

rest,

forth regardless of

all

the rest

see substantial

life

that contains the whole, I

proceed America to leave you types of athletic love for the

young men, I

proceed to celebrate the need of comrades."

My Breast.

Scented Herbage of

[I., p.

138.]

i860: Calamus, No. 2, pages 342-344; title, pages 120-122.

Line

i860: read ''yield" for "glean."

1867 with present Present reading in

1881.

—

surely 7, i860: read "O burning and throbbing one day be accomplished." Dropped in 1881. Line 11: " finally " added in 1871. Line 23, i860: read " Away !" before "1 will say." Dropped

After line

all

will

in 1881.

Line 29: "inseparably" added in 1867; all" after

"together"

Whoever You

are Holding

Calamus, No.

i860: title,

—dropped

Me Now

"above

Hand.

pages 344-34^

[I.,

p. 140.]

1867 with present

pages 122-123.

Line

Dropped Line

i860:

after

"affections"

read

"Are you he?"

in 1867. 7,

structive."

i860: read

"the

result slow, uncertain,

maybe de-

Present reading in 1867.

" for "your 8, i860: read " your God, sole and exclusive and exclusive standard." Present reading in 1881.

Line sole

i860: read

in 1867.

[137]

Xeavca of (Braee Line

i860: read "only by stealth"; ''only" dropped in

13,

1867.

For You

Democracy.

[I., p.

142.]

Calamus, No. 5, stanzas 13, 14, and Present title in 1881. 1867: A Song, page 125. '' Line Come " added in 1867. The chorus repetend added in 1867. i860:

These

15,

page 351;

Singing in Spring.

[I., p.

142.]

i860: Calamus, No. 4, pages 347-348.

Present

title

in 1867,

page 124. Line I

i860: read

Far, far in the forest, before

Not Heaving from

my RibbM

Breast Only.

i860: Calamus, No. 6, pages 351-352.

page

think where

[I.,

p. 144.]

Present

title in

1867,

title in

1867,

126.

Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances.

[I., p.

i860: Calamus, No. y, pages 3^2-}^}.

page

Present reading in 1867.

get."

145.]

Present

127.

Line

i860: read ''Of the doubts, the uncertainties after

Present reading in 1867. Line 9, i860: read "May-be they only Present reading in 1867.

aU."

The Base 1

of All Metaphysics.

[I., p.

me,"

etc.

146.]

87 1, page 129.

Recorders Ages Hence.

[I., p.

147.]

i860: Calamus, No. 10, pages 356-357; title,

seem

page

Line

1867 with present

128.

i860: read

" You bards of ages hence! when you refer to me, mind not so much my poems, Nor speak of me that I prophesied of The States, and led them the

way But come,

of their glories; I

Dropped

will take you," etc. in 1867.

[138]

IPariorum 1?eabing0

When

Heard at the Close of the Day. [I., p. Calamus, No. n, pages 357-358. i860: I

148.]

Present

title

1867, pages 128-129.

Are You the New Person Drawn toward Me. i860: Calamus, No. 12, pages 358-339. in 1867,

Line

pages 129-130. i,

from

nificant

Line

—

i860: read " probably " for

149.]

With present

title

*'me" *'and asking something Dropped in 1867.

i860: read after

[I., p.

surely."

sig-

Present read-

ing in 1867. After line 9, i860: read **

O the

next step

may

precipitate you!

how many

have

on the same as you are pressing now, many have fondly supposed what you are supposing only to be disappointed."

now

some

let

past deceived one hiss in your ears,

prest

How

—

Dropped

in 1867.

Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone.

[I., p.

page

1867,

Line

''Calamus (For

149.]

With present

i860: Calamus, No. i), pages 359-360.

title in

130.

i860: read taste,

must change the

strain

— these are not to be pensive

leaves,

but leaves of joy,)

Root and leaves unlike any but themselves." Present reading in 1867.

Line

i860: read "breezes" before

"set."

Dropped

1881.

After line 10, i860: read

"They

are comprised in

perhaps more than

They

are not

comprised

you in

just as

much

as in themselves

—

themselves.

one season or succession, but many

successions.

They have come slowly up out of the come slowly up out of you." Dropped in 1867. C«39)

earth

and me, and are

Xeavee of (Bra^e Up and Consumes.

Not Heat Flames

[I., p.

i860: Calamus, No. 14, page 360.

150.]

Present

title in

1867,

page

131.

Trickle Drops.

pages

[I., p.

75,

page 361.

Present

page ^6}.

Present

title

1867,

title

1867,

31-132.

Line

added

City of Orgies.

in 1867.

p. 151.]

[I.,

Calamus, No.

i860:

page

151.]

Calamus, No.

i860:

18,

133.

Line

i860: read **City of

walks and joys."

Present

reading in 1867. Line 2: "in your midst" added in 1867.

Behold

this

Swarthy Face.

i860: Calamus, No. 19,

Stanza

152.]

[I., p.

page 364.

Present

title

in 1867,

page

in i860: read

" Mind you the timid models of the rest, the majority? for have adopted Long I minded them, but hence I will not models for myself, and now offer them to The Lands."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Dropped Line

in 1867.

i860: read

these gray eyes." face

Dropped I

Behold this swarthy and unrefined face ** Behold this swarthy, this unrefined

1867:

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; these gray eyes."

Line

Saw

Present reading in 1871.

i860: read '*And

in the public

in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing.

etc.

[I., p.

152.]

Present

title in

1867,

134.

Compare an **

room, or,"

in 1871.

i860: Calamus, No. 20, pages 364-365.

page

saw

early draft of this

poem

manuscript:

growing. and the moss hung down from the branches,

in Louisiana a live-oak

All alone stood

[140]

IDarlorum IReaMnga Without any companion

it grew there, glistening out with joyous leaves of dark green, And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself; But I wondered how it could utter joyous leaves, standing alone there without its friend, its lover. For I knew 1 could

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

not;

And

plucked a twig with a certain number of leaves upon twined around it a little moss, and brought it away. I have placed it in sight in my room."

it,

and

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; And

To a

Stranger.

[I., p.

153.]

i860: Calamus, No. 22, page 366.

This

Moment Yearning and

Present

Thoughtful.

i860: Calamus, No. 2^, page 367.

title in

[I., p.

Present

1867,

page

1867,

page

154.]

title in

136.

Line

i860: read *'This

thoughtful." Line

moment as

sit

alone, yearning

and

Present reading in 1867. i860:

read "better"

after

"men."

Dropped

1867.

After line

"It seems to in

Hear

my own

Dropped I

i860: read

they are as wise, beautiful, benevolent, as any lands," etc.

in 1867.

was Charged against Me.

[I., p.

i860: Calamus, No. 24, page 367.

154.]

Present

title in

1867,

page

136.

Line

i860: read "is" for

"was."

Present reading in

1867.

The Prairie-Grass Dividing.

[I., p.

155.]

i860: Calamus, No. 25, page 368.

Present

title in

1867,

page

137.

Line

i860: read

"own"

for "special."

in 1867.

[141]

Present reading

leavea of ©raes Line

When

i860:

Dropped

power."

end add

choice and chary of

love-

its

in 1867.

Peruse the Conquered Fame.

p. 155.]

[I.,

i860: Calamus, No. 28, page 370.

Present

title in

page

1867,

138.

Line

i860: read "I read" for "I hear." Present reading in

1871.

Line

the book, and

We Two

read after "pensive"

i860:

walk away,"

—

'*!

hastily

Boys Together Clinging.

Present

title in

137.

After line

read

i860:

—With

down

p. 156.]

[I.,

i860: Calamus, No. 26, page 369.

swimming

put

Present reading in 1871.

etc.

"With

birds singing

and

trees branching

page

1867,

—With

fishes

Dropped

leafing."

1867.

Promise to California. [I., p, 156.] i860: Calamus, No. jo, page 371. Present

title in

1867,

page

139.

Line

i860: read

promise and

gift," etc.

Present read-

ing in 1856.

Here the Frailest Leaves of Me. [I., i860: Calamus, No. 44, page 377.

p. 156.]

Present

title in

1867,

page

140.

Before line

Line

i860: read

Dropped

baffling." 2,

i860:

"Here

last

words, and the most

in 1867.

"Here

read

Present reading in 1871

down and

shade

"myself" added

;

No Labor-Saving Machine.

[I.,

hide," etc.

in 1871.

p. 157.]

i860: Calamus, No. j^, page 372.

Present

title in

1867,

page

140.

Line

i860: read "

Only these"

for

" But a few."

Present

reading in 188 1.

Glimpse.

[I., p.

157.]

i860: Calamus, No. 29, page 371. 138.

[142]

Present

title in

1867,

page

Darlorum IRea&luae Line

interstice."

Leaf for

"One

i860: read

glimpse, caught through an

flitting

Present reading in 1867.

Hand

Hand.

[I., p.

157.]

i860: Calamus, No. jy, page 375.

Present

title in

1867,

page

142.

Line

"young"

i860: after

and you on the Western Earth,

Likeness.

read

Dropped

"You on

the Eastern Sea

in 1867.

158.]

[I., p.

i860: Calamus, No, j6, page 376.

Present

title in

1867, page

Present

title in

1867,

141.

Dream'd in a Dream.

158.]

[I., p.

i860: Calamus, No. 3^, page 373.

page

141.

What Think You

Take

My Pen

Hand?

i860: Calamus, No. 32, page 372.

[I., p.

Present

159.]

title in

1867,

page

140.

Line

i860: read " But

record " for " But merely."

Present

reading in 1881.

the East and to the West.

159.]

[I., p.

i860: Calamus, No.j^, page 374.

Present

title in

1867,

page

141.

Line

i860:

read

"To you

New

England."

Present

reading in 1867.

Sometimes with One

Love.

[I., p.

i860: Calamus, No. 39, page 375.

160.]

Present

title in

1867,

page

142.

For

lines 3

and

i860: read

" Doubtless I could not have perceived the universe, or written one of the poems, if I had not freely given myself to comrades, to love." Present reading in 1867. [143]

Xeavce of Graea To a Western Boy.

[I., p.

i6o.]

i860: Calamus, No. 42, page 377.

Present

title in

1867,

page

143.

Before line

1867: read **0

boy of the West!

Dropped

1881.

Line

sorb, to engraft, to develop,

mine." Line

young man, many things to abteach, to help him become eleve of

i860: read **To the I

Present reading in 1881. 2,

i860: read ''But" for "Yet."

Present reading in

i860:

read ''he" for "you."

Present reading in

1867.

Line 1867.

Line

"he "

i860: read

Fast-Anchor*d Eternal

for

"you."

Love.

[I., p.

i860: Calamus, No. ^8, page 375.

Present reading in 1867. 160.]

Present

title in

1867,

page

142.

Line

i860: read " Primeval

my love

for the

woman

love."

Present reading in 1867. Line

i860:

read

"more enduring"

after

"resistless."

Present reading in 1867.

Line

i860: read "the purest born " for " or another born."

Present reading in 1867.

Among

the Multitude.

[I., p.

161.]

i860: Calamus, No. 41, page 376.

Present

title in

1867,

page

143-

Line 5:

"Ah"

Line

i860: read

added

in 1867.

"by my

faint" for

"by

faint."

Present

reading in 1881.

O You Whom

I Often

and

Silently

Come.

i860: Calamus, No. 43, page 377.

[I., p.

Present

161.]

title in

1867, page

title in

1867,

144.

That Shadow

My Likeness.

[I.,

p. 161.]

i860: Calamus, No. 40, page 376. 143.

[144]

Present

page

Darlorum IReaMng^ Line

i860: read " But in these, and

carolling

Full of Life

songs."

Now.

among my

lovers,

and

Present reading in 1881.

[I., p.

162.]

i860: Calamus, No, 4^, page 378.

Present

title in

1867,

page

144.

Line

i860: read

"sweet-blooded "for **now."

Present

reading in 1867. Line

i860: read 'Mover " for

ing comrade."

Monde!

Salut au

[I., p.

Poem of

1856:

comrade

1867: read "lov-

Present reading in 187 1. 163.]

Salutation,

Monde! pages 243-258;

pages 103-120;

1867: with the

same

i860: title

Salut au

and

in the

present position, following Calamus,

§1.

[p. 163.]

Line

1856: read " lands " for " cities."

Present reading in

1881.

Line

10,

1856: read "

Who are the

three old

men,"

etc.

Pres-

1867:

read

ent reading in 187 1. § 2.

[p. 163.]

Line

" plants" Line

"plains"

for

"forests";

Present reading in 1881.

1856: read "Oceanica, Australasia" for "Malaysia,"

Present reading in

§3.

read

1856:

for "plains."

867.

[p. 164.]

After line 3, 1856: read

" I hear the inimitable music of the voices of mothers, I

hear the persuasions of lovers.

hear quick rifle-cracks from the riflemen of East Tennessee and

Kentucky, hunting on Lines

and 2 dropped

hills."

in i860;

the third dropped in 1881.

After line 8, 1856: read

hear the Virginia plantation chorus of negroes, of a harvest night, in the glare of pine-knots, VOL. III.— 10.

[145]

leaver of (5xnee I

hear the strong baritone of the 'long-shore-men of Mannahatta

—

hear the stevedores unlading the cargoes, and

singing, I

hear the screams of the water-fowl of solitary northwest lakes,

hear the rustling pattering of locusts, as they strike the grain

and grass with the showers of

The first

their terrible clouds."

four lines dropped in 1881, the

fifth

changed to

its

present reading. After line

1856: read

10,

on the streams of Canada."

"I hear the bugles of Dropped in 1881.

raft-tenders

After line 13, 1856: read *M hear the wail of utter despair of

the white-haired Irish grandparents, of their grandson."

Dropped

when

they learn the death

in 1881.

After line 15, 1856: read

the sibilant I

women tied up for punishment, whisk of thongs through the air,

hear the entreaties of

hear

hear the appeal of the greatest orator, he that turns states by the tip of his

The §4.

first line

tongue."

dropped

in 1881

;

the second in i860.

[p. 165.]

Line

1856: read "the air "for

1856: read

1856: after "

Present reading

space."

in 1881.

Line

silent" for "rapid."

Present reading in

1881.

Line

Andes

" read

" and Alleghanies. "

Pres-

ent reading in 1881.

Line

added

in 1871.

"I see the Rocky Mountains, and Dropped in 1881.

After line 11, 1856: read

the Peak of Winds."

Line 14 and

after,

1856: read

" I see Vesuvius and Etna

—

see the Mountains of the

see the

see

see the Anahuacs,

Moon, and the Snow Mountains, and

Red Mountains of Madagascar, Vermont hills, and the long string of Cordilleras, the vast deserts of Western America." the

Dropped

in 188 1. [146]

IDarlorum IReaMnaa Lines i8 and 19, 1856: read "The Japan waters, those of Hindostan, the China Sea, and the Gulf of Guinea." Present

reading in 1881. After line 21,

North America."

1856:

read '*The inland fresh-tasted seas of

Dropped

Line 26, 1856: read "

in 1881.

behold the steam-ships of the world.''

Present reading in 1867. **

Line 29:

sail "

added

in 1867.

"Others add to the exits and enSandy Hook." Dropped in 1881. Line ^2, 1856: read "Others to the comers," etc. "others the Hoangho Line 35, 1856: read after "Congo" and Amoor." After line 31, 1856: read

trances at

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Line

1856: read

^(i,

" Others wait

at the

wharves of Manahatta, steamed up, ready

start.

Wait

swift and swarthy in the ports of Australia."

Present reading in 1881. After line 38, 1836: read

"Wait

at their

New

Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston,

Dropped

Francisco."

Â§5.

moorings

at Boston,

Orleans, Galveston, San

in 188 1.

[p. 167.]

them welding state to state, through North America." Dropped

After line 2, 1856: read "I see

county to county, city to

city,

in 1881.

Line

1856: read

"I see the long thick I

see

where the

river-stripes of the earth,

Mississippi flows,

see

where the Columbia

flows, I

see the St. Lawrence and the

"Thick "dropped from the dropped

falls

of Niagara."

first line in

in 1881.

Line 8 added in i860. Line

" the Danube

added

in 1871.

[1473

i860; the other lines

Xcave0 of (Svaeo §6.

[p. i68.]

Line

1856: read ''great old empire."

Present reading in

i860.

Compare

early manuscript reading of the first part of this

section

"Asia, steppes, the grass, the winter appearances,

The Tartar life, Nomadic pasturage, the herds, The tabounshic or horse-herd (taboun, a herd of The oxen, cows, women preparing milk.

a Russ, an arctic sailor,

A Kamskatkan

The

traverse the sea of Kara,

slight-built sledge,

The ancient Hindostanee with

horses),

drawn by dogs.

his deities.

great old Empire of India; that of Persia

and

its

expeditions

and conquests;

The The

Sanskrit idea

— the ancient poems and laws; Gods

incarnated

their

avatars in

man and

woman; The

waters of the Ganges over the high rim of Saukara The poems descended safely to this day from poets of three thousand years ago." falling of the

[p. 169.]

§ 7.

Line

19,

1836: read

"Guacho"for "Wacho."

After section 7 read the following sections in 1856: ''I

see the

little

habited I

see

two

and large sea-dots, some inhabited, some unin-

;

boats with nets, lying off the shore of Paumanok, quite

still I

— they discover now a thick school — they drop the joined seine-ends the

see ten fishermen waiting

of mossbonkers

water.

The boats The

separate, they diverge

and row

off,

each on

its

round-

ing course to the beach, enclosing the mossbonkers. net is drawn in by a windlass by those who stop ashore.

Some

of the fishermen lounge in their boats, others stand negligently ankle-deep in the water, poised [148]

on strong

legs,

\Dariorum IReaMnga The boats

are partly drawn up, the water slaps against them, the sand, in heaps and winrows, well out from the water, the green-back'd spotted mossbonkers."

lie

man in the west, lingering about the banks of Moingo, and about Lake Pepin, He has beheld the quail and honey-bee, and sadly prepared to *'

see the despondent red

depart."

Both of these sections were dropped

in 1881.

[p. 170.]

ยง 9.

Line

"at random

1836: read "

added

in i860.

am a real Londoner,

Parisian, Viennese.'*

Present reading in i860.

Line 3: " Vienna" added in i860. Line 5:

"London" added

Line 7:

" or

ยง 10.

in i860.

added

in Siberian Irkutsk"

in i860.

[p. 171.]

Line 5

" Yedo " added

" For " Yedo " read " Tokio

in i860.

in 1881.

Line 11, 1856: read "songs, philosophies" conquering kings, dynasties." Present reading ยง II.

"records of

[p. 172.]

Line

1856: read

"You, where you

"You,

inevitable

"You

Tasmania! you of Papua!

You

Dropped

i860:

of Australia!

you of

where you

are

Present reading in 1871.

are."

1856: read

After line

man

free free

woman

of the same!"

in i860.

Line 8:

added

for

in 1881.

"You

stock

whence

myself have descended"

in 1881.

Line

1856: read "

13,

You

citizen of

Prague! "

etc.

Dropped

1881.

Line 31 "each and " added in i860. Line ^2, 1856: read "I salute you for myself and for Present reading in i860; also a line added: " For ica." :

ac-

and each." This was dropped in 1867. Present 1856: read "purport" for "purports."

knowledge you Line 35,

Amer-

all

reading in 1867. [149]

leaver of (Braea § 12.

[p. 174.]

Line

Dropped

owners of slaves." After line

— **you

white or black

in 1867.

''You

read

1856:

Dropped

idiots!"

"hordes"

1856: read after

deformed persons,

felons,

in i860.

—

After line 3, 1867: read "\ dare not refuse

of the world, and of time and space, are

the scope you upon me." Dropped in

1881.

hills

1856: read

After line 4,

You low

of Utah, Oregon, California! "

After line 9, 1856: read

Dropped

You

expiring aborigines of the

Dropped

in 1881.

bather bathing in the Ganges!

in 1881.

After line 10: read

You peon

of Mexico! you Russian serf!

you quadroon of Carolina, Texas, Tennessee Lines 11, 12, and 13, 1856: read

Dropped

88 1

'M do not refuse you my hand, or prefer others before you, do not say one word against you."

Present reading in i860. § 13.

[p. 175.]

Line

1856: read "brothers, sisters" for "equals and."

Line 3 added in i860. Line 4, 1856: read "I think Lines

have risen with you, you

Present reading in i860.

vapors," etc. 7,

and

1836: preceded

by "I think."

Dropped

in i860.

Line

i860: "the highest

"to Line 9 added in

etc., in 1871

After line

;

cry thence "

embedded rocks"; read "high," added

in i860.

i860.

1856: read "

find

my home

wherever there are

any homes of men." Dropped in i860. Lines 12-15 added in i860, but first line read "Toward all" "You" and "in America's name" added in 1881.

Song

Open Road. [I., p. 177.5 Poem of the Road, pages 22^-2^%

of the

1836:

Open Road, pages 225-237. Salut au Monde, in 1881.

Given

[ISO]

its

Song of the 1871 present position, after :

tDariorum IReaMng^ §1.

[p. 177.]

Line 4: "myself" added in 1867. Line 6 added in 1881.

§2.

[p. 178.]

Line

"You

1856: read

road

travel

and look around,"

etc.

Present reading in 1867. Line

1836: read **are" for ''shall be."

Present reading in

1881.

§ 3. [p. 178.] After line 3, 1856: read *' You animals moving serenely over the earth! You birds that wing yourselves through the air! you insects! You sprouting growths from the farmers' fields! you stalks and

weeds by the Dropped Line

fences!

in 1871.

"curious"

''think" for "believe";

1856: read

" in 1881

" unseen."

" Believe

Line

1856: read

13,

" unseen

;

"been near"

for

" in 1867.

"touch'd."

Present

reading in 1881. Line

14,

1856:

"dead"

after

read "I think."

Dropped

1881.

§4.

[p. 179.]

Line

1 1 :

"and

all

After line 12, 1871 forth try

by the open

§5.

180J

[p.

Before line

Dropped Line

free

poems also " added in 1871. "(My judgments, thoughts, the road:)" Dropped in 1881.

read

air,

1856:

read

"From

hour,

this

hence-

freedom!"

in 1881. 6,

1856:

read "air" for "space."

Present reading in

1871.

Line 8: "better" added in 1871. § 6.

[p. 181.]

Line

1856:

read

"Here

space

— here

great,"

etc.

Present reading in 1871. Line

1856: read

"a great"

for

in 1881.

[151]

"such

a."

Present reading

Xeape0 of 6ra60 Line 19, 1856: read *'The animals, the past, the future, light, if they," etc. Present reading in 1871.

space, majesty, love,

ยง7.

[p. 182.]

Line

1856: read

"The

comes through

efflux of the soul

beautiful gates of laws, provoking questions."

Present reading

in 1867.

ยง 8.

[p. 183.]

Line 2: **open" added in 1881. ยง ID.

[p. 184.]

Line

1856: read

great to

you"

for

greater."

Present

reading in 1871.

ยง12.

[p. 186.]

After line 2, 1856: read

''Over that which hindered them, over that which retarded, passing impediments large or small, Committers of crimes, committers of many beautiful virtues."

Dropped ยง 13.

in 1881.

[p. 187.]

After stanza

"The

read the following stanza, 1856:

soul travels;

The body does not travel as much as the soul; The body has just as great a work as the soul, and last for

Dropped

Line 25

away

in 1881.

Line 24, 1856: read "Allons!" etc.; come forth" added in 1881. Line 26,

parts

the journeys of the soul."

"or man

woman

"sleeping or dallying there," added in i860. 1856: read "Allons!" etc.; "out from behind the

screen," added in 1881.

Line 32, 1856: read

"No

husband, no wife, no friend, no Present reading in

lover, so trusted as to hear the confession."

1867.

Line 33, 1856: after

goes."

Dropped

Line 36, 1856: after

Dropped

"goes"

read

"open and above-board

1867.

"women"

in 1867. [152]

read

"among

their families."

IDarlorum IReabinge §14.

[p. 189.3

Lines, 1856: read reading in i860. § 15.

[p.

Line

contentions" for "desertions."

Present

190.]

1856:

with "AllonsI"

The

last

made another

clause

beginning

line

Present reading in 1881.

Line 7, 1856: read *'Mon enfant" for "Camerado." reading in 1881.

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.

[I.,

Present

p. 191.]

Sun- Down Poem, pages 211-222;

1856:

i860: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, pages 379-388; 1871: given the same relative position as it now occupies, but not placed finally till 1881, following Song of the Open Road. § I.

[p. 191.]

Line

you,

face

''watch"

1856: read ''Flood-tide of the river, flow on! to

face."

for

"see."

reading in

Present

Read "see"

i860,

watch

except read

in 188 1.

Line 2: "there" added in i860.

Line 4: "returning § 3.

home" added

in i860.

192.]

[p.

After line 2, 1856: read "1 project myself, also I

with you, and

Line

know how

Dropped

is."

return

—

in 1881.

1856: read "the sun half an hour high " for

"of old."

Present reading in 1881. Line

1856:

"Twelfth-month"

for

read

"December."

Present reading in i860. Lines

10, 11,

and

12,

began

1856 with

"L"

Dropped

in 1881.

§ 4.

[p. 194.]

After line

you — also §5.

1856: read "I project myself a

return."

Dropped

moment

tell

in 1881.

[p. 194.]

Line 4: "Brooklyn of ample hills was mine" added in 1867. But read, i860: "1 was of old Brooklyn." [153]

Xeavee of (Braes §6.

[p. 195.1

Line

laugh at Line

me?" 5,

''meagre"

read after

1856:

Dropped

1856: read "

not " for

It is

1856: read after "sly"

10,

coward, a malignant person."

friendly,

"But Dropped in

§7.

and proud!"

After section It is

Not

— "a

it."

Present read-

solitary committer,

was

a Manhattanese, free,

1881.

[p. 196.]

Line 6: "for

"Nor is

Present reading in i860.

Line 14 added in 1881. read

After line 14, 1856:

not people

in 1881.

ing in 1881. Line

— ''Would

all

the distance" added in 1881.

1836: read

not you alone, nor

alone,

few generations, not a few centuries, It is that each came, or comes, or shall come, from its due emission, without fail, either now, or then, or henceforth. Everything indicates the smallest does, and the largest does, A necessary film envelops all, and envelops the soul for a proper a

few

races, not a

—

time."

Dropped §8.

in 188 1.

[p. 196.]

Line

"Now am

1856: read

curious

what

sight can ever,"

Present reading in 1881.

etc.

Lines 4 and

Dropped

read

1856:

"What

After last line, 1856: read

not

start, is started

§ 9.

"Curious"

"what."

before

in 1881.

personally,

the push of reading could is it

not

[p. 197.]

After line free

After line

any one

1856: read " Bully for you!

Manhattanese." 7,

Dropped

1856: read "Blab, blush,

after us! "

Dropped

you proud,

friendly,

in 1871. lie, steal,

you or

in 1871.

After line 25, 1836: read

" We descend upon you and all things, we arrest you We realize the soul only by you, you faithful solids and

all.

[154]

fluids,

IDartorum IReaMngs Through you color, form, location, sublimity, ideality, Through you every proof, comparison, and all the suggestions and determinations of ourselves. Dropped

in 1881.

Line 26, 1856: read after

ministers" "novices."

Dropped

in 1881.

Song

of the Answerer.

Two poems

[I.,

p. 200.]

were brought together

in 1881

under the

title

given above. ยง I.

[p. 200.]

1835, without title, pages 85-87; 1856; Poem of the Poet pages 244-248; i860: Leaves of Grass, No. ^, pages 204-208; 1867: Now List to My Morning's Romania, pages 294-297 87 1 with the 1867 title, but under the general group title of The Answerer, ;

Given

its

present

Stanza

added

title

added

and place

in 1867;

in 1881.

**I tell

the signs of the

Answerer"

in 1871.

Line

1855: read

with "for

bearing."

Present reading

in 1867.

Lines 6 and 7, 1855: the verbs in this stanza in the past tense. Present reading in 1871. Line

1855: read *'the poet "for '*him that answers for

alL"

Line 12: " (so

tell

morning's romanza) " added

Line 20, 1855: read ''city " after ''own." Line 40, 1855: read "captain "for "soldier."

in 1867.

Present read-

ing in 1867. Line 49, 1855: read "or Delaware" for Present reading in i860.

"or Paumanok

sound."

After last stanza, 1855:

read

"You think it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses, it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses But what are verses beyond the flowing character you could have ? or beyond beautiful manners and behavior ? Or beyond one manly or affectionate deed of an apprenticeboy ? or old woman ? or man that has been in prison, or

Well,

is likely

to be in prison ?

[1551

OUavee of (Braee Â§2.

[p. 204.]

Poem of the Singers, and of the Words of Poems, pages 262-264; i860: Leaves of Grass, No. 6, pages 215-217; 1867: The Indications, pages 313-314; 1871, The Indications, under the general title of The Answerer; 1881 given present position of 1856:

section 2 of Song of the Answerer,

Line

added

in 1867.

1856: read " flaw " for ''break."

1856: read

Present reading in

1881.

Line

complete"

Present read-

for ''general."

ing in 1881. Line 10: "the

Answerer" added

in 1871.

Line 13, 1856: read "The name of each is, a heart-singer, eye-singer, hymn-singer, law-singer, ear-singer, head-singer,

sweet

singer, wise-singer, droll-singer, thrift-singer, sea-singer,

echo-singer,

wit-singer,

love-singer,

parlor-singer,

passion-

singer, mystic-singer, weeping-singer, fable-singer, item-singer,

Present reading in 1867. Line 14: " true " added in 1871.

or something else."

Lines 15 and 16 added in 1871.

Line 21

"the Answerer" added

in 1870.

Line 22, 1856: read "The builder, geometer, mathematician, astronomer, melodist, philosoph, chemist, anatomist, spiritualist, language-searcher, geologist, phrenologist, artist

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

all

these un-

maker of poems." Present reading in 1867: but "the Answerer" added in 1871. Present Line 24, 1856: read "romances" for "daily life."

derlie the

reading in 1881. Line 28, 1856: read

Our Old

"They

are not the finish, but rather the

Present reading in i860.

outset."

Feuillage.

[I.,

p. 206.]

i860: Chants Democratic, No. American Feuillage, pages 251-256.

pages

Present

159-166; title

1881.

Line

i860:

read

" America always! Always me joined with you, whoever you [156]

are!

1867:

and place

Dariorum IReabinge

Line i, i860: read "own"for *'old." Present reading in 1881. Line 34, i860: read "turpentine and tar dropping," etc.; There is the turpentine distillery " for ** There are the turpen-

tine

works."

Present reading in 1867.

Line 54, i860: read at end of present line ''you also

Dropped

also."

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; me

in 1881.

Line 64, i860: '*the individuality and sovereignty of Present reading in 1867.

States."

Line 69, i860: read after pelicans breeding."

Florida "

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

The

or in Louisiana, with

Line 77, i860: "out of a thousand diverse contributions"

added

in 1881.

Line 79: *'war" added in 1871. Line 80, i860: read "endless" for "the old." ing in 1 88 1.

Song

of Joys.

[I.,

Poem of

i860:

p. 213.]

jubilant

1867: Poems of Joy, India annex, pages 43-52,

Joys, p'dges 2^^-26S.

pages 271-279. in Passage 1871 under original title. With present Line

Present read-

i860: read

"a most

title

and place

jubilant

song"; 1867: "the most

poem"

jubilant

in 1881.

"the most poems." Present for

reading in 1881. After line i, 1871: read "Even to set off these, and merge with these, the carols of Death." Dropped in 1881. Lines 2 and 3, i860: begin with "O." Dropped in 1881. Lines 5 and 6, i860: read "poem" for "song." Present

reading in 1881. After line 6, i860: read

"O to be on the sea! the wind, the wide O to sail in a ship under full sail at sea." Dropped

waters around;

in 1871.

Stanza 5: transferred to this place in 1871 from near the end of the

poem.

After line 31, i860: read

"O male and female! O the presence of women to

(I swear, nothing is more exquisite than the mere presence of women;) !

C157]

%cwocB of (5ra66

O O

for the girl,

the

mate!

young man him who,

for

happiness with

O am I

mate!

sick after the friendship of

me.

the streets of cities

The

flitting faces

cannot

pass!

fear, is indifferent to

men

— the

— of

costumes!

feet,

only one look

The

expressions, eyes,

how welcome they are to me women toward me as pass — The memory

tell

last line

— the boy lingering and

dropped

in 1871

;

waiting."

the whole stanza dropped in

1881.

Lines 33 and 34, i860: read **0 to," After line 35, i860: read ** O it is 1."

etc.,

and

Dropped

Line 43, i860: sentence begins with "Or"; Present reading in 1881.

the," etc.

in 1881.

so the

first

line

of next stanza.

Line 55, i860: read ''the Niagara (the

Niagara" dropped Line 65, i860:

St.

Lawrence)"; ''the

in 1881.

read

the joys of the soldier!"

Present

reading in 1871. Line 66, i860: read "general" for "

commanding

officer."

Line 69: "crash of" added in 1867.

Line 89, i860: read " perfect happiness

" perfect

;

dropped

in 1881.

Lines 94-97

transferred from near the

end of the poem

1871.

Line 99, i860: read "O" before "my"; after "from" read Present read"facts"; after "touch" read " my phrenology." ing in 1881.

Line 100, i860: read Line loi, i860: read "

my,"

etc.

O what is

proved,"

etc.

Present read-

ing in 1871. After line 109, i860: read

"O the

pleasure with trees!

—

^the oak, cedar, pine, pekan-tree. the forest The orchard The honey-locust, black-walnut, cottonwood, and magnolia."

Dropped Line

1881.

15-120:

transferred from near the

1867. [158]

end of the poem

IDarlorum IReaMnga Line in 188

16,

i860: read " Personality" before "to be."

Dropped

21-133 added

Lines

After

line

in 1871.

i860:

136,

read

"O me

repellant

and ugly."

Dropped in 1881. Compare an early manuscript: *'

Perfect serenity of

mind

To take with entire self-possession whatever comes. What is this small thing in the great continuous volumes where This

—

— not to

but a temporary portion not to be dwelt upon not to have prominence

distress

—

Superior nonchalance

—

every-

—

No fumes no ennui no To find how easily one can

complaints or scornful criticisms. abstract his identity from temporary

affairs."

Lines 139-143: transposed from an earlier position in the

poem

in 1881.

"O Death!

Line 139, i860: Death." 1871: of Death." Present reading in 1881.

the voyage

Line 140, i860: read the beautiful," etc. Line 141, i860: read **0 that of myself," etc. Present reading of 140 and 141 in 1881. Before line 147, i860: read *' O the joy of suffering! " in 188

Dropped

Line 147: "O" added in 1881. Line 148, i860: read "I" for "one."

Present reading in

1867.

Line 149, i860: read "death" after "odium."

Dropped

1881.

Lines 152-156 added in 1871.

Line 157, i860: read " O to have of joys! " Present reading in 1871. After line 158, i860: read full

of joys."

This

line

"An

my life henceforth my poem

athlete

ended the poem

—

full

of rich

words

i860 and 1867.

Lines 159, 160, 161 added in 1871. In the original poem of i860 there were 41 stanzas. [159]

—

These

Xeavee of ©raea have been transposed in part and a few combined. The following stanza was dropped in 1871 (stanza 38 of i860):

**0 love-branches! love-root! love-apples! chaste and electric torrents! O mad-sweet drops."

Song

of the

Broad-Axe.

[I.,

p. 223].

1856: Broad- Axe Poem, pages 140-160; i860: Chants cratic,

No.

The present

169-182.

1867: with present

pages 126-142;

position, following

Demo-

pages Song of Joys, given title,

in 1881.

Among Whitman's notes

made

for this

'^Broadaxe

—

manuscripts were found the following

poem

First as

coming

in the

rough ore out of the

— Then as being smelted and made into usable shape working — then into some of the weapons of the axe kind — battleaxe — headsman's axe — carpenter's broadaxe — (process earth

for

earlier

of making, tempering and finishing the axe,) inquire **USES OF

fully.

THE BROADAXE.

*Mn cutting away masts when the ship is on her beam-ends. *Mn hewing the great timbers for the old-fashioned houses and barns. ''Passage describing the

putting up of a good styled log

— the whole — — logs the company the fun — the axe.

cabin in the western

woods

process

— joining the

**The sylvan woodman or woodboy. **The cutting down of an unusually large and majestic tree for some kelson to a frigate or first-class live oak or other steamship (what wood is the kelson generally ?) ** the Procession of portraits of the different users of the axe raftsman, the lumberman, the antique warrior, the headsman,

—

— the butcher, the framer of houses, the squatter of the west — the pioneer. * '

Founding of cities.

Make

the American

emblem

preferent

to the eagle. *'

In ship building.

"The

In cutting a

passage through the

butcher in his slaughter house. [160]

ice.

'"%

^ 'h;

"A '

ir^ 9If '^^^^l

> ^^

IParlorum IReablnge *' Full Picture. The antique warrior always with his great the brawny swinging arm the clatter and crash on the axe the death howl and the quick tumbling body helmeted head

—

— and rush of friend and foe thither — the summons to surrender — —

the battering of castle-gates and city-gates.

"Building wharves and piers. "Picture full of the pioneer. "The Roman lictors preceding the consuls. " The sacrificial priest, Grecian, Roman and Jewish. "What in Scandinavia "All through the framing of a house all through the hewing of timbers the knocking of beams in their places laying them regular. The framers wielding the axe their attitudes standing, bending astride the beams driving in pins as the frame is being raised they on the posts or braces their limbs holding on the [one arm] hooked around the plate, the other arm wielding the axe. " Episodic in the cutting down of the tree about what the

—

wood

for

—

— — — —

— —

—

for a saloon, for a ceiling, or floor, for a coffm, for

a workbox, a sailor's chest, a musical instrument,

fo**

firewood

for rich casings or frames.

" In a

terrible fire the use of the

axe to cut

down

connecting

— the excitement — the firemen — the woodwork glare — the hoarse shouts — the flames — the red faces and dense to stop the

fire

shadows." § I.

[p. 223.]

Line

1856: read

Compare an

"Broad-Axe"

for

"Weapon."

early manuscript:

" The irregular tapping of rain off my house-eaves the storm has lulled. Gray-blue sprout so hardened grown Head from the mother's bowels drawn Body shapely naked and wan Fibre produced from a little seed sown." § 3.

[p. 224.]

Line 9: " the outset anywhere " added in i860. VOL. III.— 11.

[161]

at night after

%cavc6 of (5ra00 After line 9, 1856: read ''The Year i of These States, the that year began with, scythe, pitch-fork, club, horse-

weapons

Dropped

pistol."

Line

in i860.

read *'and" for ''striking the."

1856:

34,

Present

reading in i860. Line 45, 1856: read "the echoed

ยง4.

rise

and

fall," etc.

[p. 228.]

Line

"And"

1856: read

"For."

for

Present reading in

1881.

Line

for

great";

1867:

1856: read "the greatest" for

great";

1867:

1856: read "the greatest"

" the great." Line

15,

Present reading in 1861.

" the great."

ยง5.

Present reading in 1881.

[p. 229.]

Line

1856: read "the greatest" for

After line

every day

"Where

Dropped

Line

16,

they are,"

same

in 1881.

Where

behavior

the finest of the

"taught" read "from the jump

Dropped

Line 20, 1856: after the orators the

added

may be

in 1867.

1856: after

etc.

these

in 1867.

After line 9, 1856: read " fine arts."

great"; 1867, "the "

seen going with their arms familiar to the shoulders

1856: read

in the streets,

of their friends."

" merely

Present reading in 1881.

great."

that

in 1867.

"men"

as the

read

men."

"and

Dropped

are appealed to

in 1867.

Line 25, 1856: read "greatest" for "great."

Present read-

ing in 1867. ยง 6.

[p. 230.]

Line

1856: read "

How beggarly appear poems,

orations, before an electric deed."

arguments,

Present reading in 1867.

After section 6 read in 1856: '*

Was

that

your best

Were

those your vast and solid

Riches, opinions, politics, institutions, to part obediently from

the path of one

man

woman [162]

IDarlorum IReaMnga The

centuries,

of one

Dropped

and

man

all

authority, to be trod under the foot-soles "

woman!

in 1871.

[p. 231.]

ยง 7.

1856: after *' druids " read **and the bloody body hollow of the great stone." Dropped in 1867. Line 14, 1856: for *Mong" read "incalculably"; 1867: ''long,

Line

10,

laid in the

Present reading in 1881.

long."

ยง8.

232.]

[p.

Line

1856: read ''princes" for "lords."

Present reading

in i860.

ยง9.

[p. 233.]

Line

Dropped

19,

1856: after

"Penobscot" read "or

St.

John's."

in i860.

Line 20: " or on the Columbia " added in i860.

Line 22, 1856: read "Dwellers up north in Minnesota and

by the Yellowstone Line 28:

"and

After line 28, arise!

river," etc.

canal" added

new

1856: a

Present reading in 1881. in 1871.

stanza beginning

"The

shapes

Line 29, 1856: read " Atlantic and Pacific " for "Eastern and seas." Present reading in i860.

Western ยง 10.

[p. 235.]

After line 11, 1856: read

"The shape

of the pill-box, the dis-

graceful ointment-box, the nauseous application, and

applying

it."

After line

Dropped

1856: read

15,

him or her

in 1867.

"The

shape of the

slats

of the bed

of a corrupted body, the bed of the corruption of gluttony or alcoholic drinks."

Line

17,

Dropped

in 1867.

1856: read "the sickening dangling," etc.; "sick-

ening" dropped

in 1871.

After line 23, 1856: read [163]

leaver of (Braea "Their shapes

Men

arise, the

shapes of full-sized men!

taciturn yet loving, used to the

of the open

open

air,

and the manners

air.

Saying their ardor in native forms, saying the old response, Take what I have then, (saying fain,) take the pay you approached for. Take the white tears of my blood, if that is what you are after."

Dropped

in 1867.

After section 11, 1856: read

*'His shape arises!

Arrogant, masculine, naive, rowdyish,

Laugher, weeper, worker,

idler, citizen,

Saunterer of woods, stander upon

hills^

countryman,

summer swimmer in

rivers

or by the sea,

Of pure American from

taint

breed, of reckless health, his

body

perfect, free

from top to toe, free forever from headache and

dyspepsia, clean-breathed.

Ample-limbed, a good feeder, weight a hundred and eighty pounds, full-blooded, six feet high, forty inches round the breast and back. Countenance sun-burnt, bearded, calm, unrefined, Reminder of animals, meeter of savage and gentleman on equal

terms. Attitudes lithe and erect, costume free, neck open, of slow

ment on

move-

foot.

Passer of his right

arm round the shoulders of

his friends,

com-

panion of the street. Persuader always of people to give him their sweetest touches, and never their meanest Manhattanese bred, fond of Brooklyn, fond of Broadway, fond of the life of the wharves and the great ferries, Enterer everywhere, welcomed everywhere, easily understood

after

all.

Never offering

others,

always offering himself, corroborating his

phrenology, Voluptuous, inhabitive,

combative,

conscientious,

alimentive,

intuitive, of copious friendship, sublimity, firmness, self-

[164]

IDariorum IReablnea esteem, comparison, individuality, form, locality, eventuality.

Avowing by

life,

results of

manners, works, to contribute

The

illustrations of

States,

Teacher of the unquenchable creed, namely, egotism, of others continually henceforth to

Inviter

try

their

strength

against his.

The shapes

arise

Shapes of America, shapes of centuries. Shapes of those that do not joke with life, but are

in earnest

with

life,

Shapes ever projecting other shapes, Shapes of a hundred Free States, begetting smother hundred north and south, Shapes of turbulent manly cities. Shapes of an untamed breed of young men, and natural persons, Shapes of the women fit for These States, Shapes of the composition of all the varieties of the earth. Shapes of the friends and home-givers of the whole earth. Shapes bracing the whole earth, and braced with the whole earth."

These stanzas were dropped (12)

in 1867

was substituted. The original

**The main shapes arise! Shapes of Democracy, total

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and the present section

(1867) reading

the following:

result of centuries

Shapes, ever projecting other shapes

Shapes Shapes Shapes Shapes Shapes

of a hundred Free States, begetting another hundred; of turbulent manly cities; of the

women

fit

for

These

States,

of the friends and home-givers of the whole earth.

bracing the earth, and braced with the whole earth."

Present reading in 1871.

Song

of the Exposition.

[I.,

p. 238.]

After All, Not To Create Only, the last appendix, pages 1-14; named Song of the Exposition in 1876 and applied to the 1871

Xeavee of (Braea Centennial Exposition under general

title

of Centennial Songs, in

Two Rivulets volume. The poem was by Whitman at the opening of the Fortieth An-

the third section of the originally recited

nual Exhibition of the American Institute, 7,

In 1876,

was accompanied by

"Struggling steadily to the

Government, and the

ion, also,

ery,

Inventions,

front,

like, but,

York, September

this preface:

not only in the in

due time,

spirit of

Opin-

in the Artistic

see actual operative labor and laborers, with Machin-

Farms, Products, &c.,

over the whole civilized world.

time,

New

pressing to place our Holding these by the

hand, we see, or hope we see, the muse (radiating, representing, under its various expressions, as in every age and land, the healthiest, most heroic Humanity, common to all, fusing all) entering the demesnes of the New World, as twin and sister of our Democracy at any rate we will so invite Her, here and now to permanently infuse in daily toils, and be infused by them. ** Perhaps no clearer or more illustrative sign exists of the current adjustment and tendency than those superb International Expositions of the World's Products, Inventions and Industries, that, commencing in London under Prince Albert, have since signalized all the principal Nations of our age, and have been rife in the culminating in this great Exposition at PhiladelUnited States phia, around which the American Centennial, and its thoughts and associations, cluster with vaster ones still in the future. still ''Ostensibly to inaugurate an Exposition of this kind more to outline the establishment of a great permanent ClusterPalace of Industry from an imaginative and Democratic point of view was the design of the following poem from such impulses

—

was

§1.

;

first orally

[p.

238.]

Stanza 2.

deliver'd."

added

in 1881.

[p. 238.]

read "The same on the walls of your Gothic 6, 1871 European Cathedrals, French and German Castles "; 1876: " The same on the walls of the great Italian Cathedrals, and German, French and Spanish Castles." Present reading in 1881. Line

[166]

Darlorum IReaMng^ [p. 239.]

§ 3.

After line

1871

*'She comes! pected

read

famous Female

this

— as

was indeed

to be ex-

;

(For who, so ever-youthful, 'cute and handsome,

would wish

stay in mansions such as those,

When With

offer'd quarters

all

the fun that

Dropped Line

with all the modern improvements. going and all the best society ?)

—

in 1881.

1871

15,

''submerged"

read

for

Present

''ended."

reading in 1881. Line

read "Silent through time,"

1871:

18,

etc.

Present

reading in 1881. Line 19

"ended the

Line 20,

call of the muses" added in 1876. "Thalia closed and dead." Present

primitive

read

1871:

reading in 1876. Line 21, 1871

read "Seal'd" for "Ended."

Present reading

in 1876.

Line 25: "from its waters" added in 1881. Line 28: "foreign" added in 1876.

Line 30,

Dropped

1871:

read after " vault "

say

laid

on the

shelf."

in 1881.

Lines 33-38 in 1871

—"

see,

read

you do

friends, if

not, the

Animus

all

that

World, Escaped, bequeath'd,

— And

remains, and I

vital,

now

can hear what

fugacious as ever, leaving those dead

this spot approaching, filling;

maybe you do

not

—a

terrible aesthetical

commotion.

With howling desperate gulp of 'flower' and 'bower,' With Sonnet to Matilda's Eyebrow quite, quite frantic; With gushing, sentimental reading circles turn'd to ice or stone; With many a squeak, (in metre choice,) from Boston, New York, '

Philadelphia,

London;

she, the illustrious Emigre, (having,

true, in her day, al-

though the same, changed, journey'd considerable,)"

These

lines,

except the

last,

dropped

[167]

in 1881.

etc.

Xeapea of (Braaa §4.

[p. 241.]

Line

1871: read *'what else indeed have

come for?"

Present reading in 1881.

§5.

241.]

[p.

Line

"really " added in 188 1.

Line 2}, 187

''Somewhere within the walls of

read

all."

Present reading in 1881. Lines 25 and 26 added in 1881. Line 38, 1871: after "infinite" read reading in 1881.

§7.

Present

[p. 244.]

After line 14, 1871

"To

"solemn."

read

this resplendent day, the present scene,

These eyes and ears that around, before me."

Dropped

some broad

parterre

bloom up

in 1876.

After line 18, 1871: read "Boldly to thee, America, to-day! and thee, Immortal Muse! " Dropped in 1881.

Line

1871: read "practical" before "manual."

19,

Dropped

in 1881.

Line 30,

"general"

read

1871:

for

"practical."

Present

reading in 1881. Line 37,

"With

1871: read

inter-transportation of the

Line 40:

"Hoosac

1876; "Gothard

works"; "the

in 1876.

the Brooklyn bridge " added in

in 1881.

read "Science advanced, in grandeur and

Dropped

analyzing everything."

reality,

§8.

tunnels,

added

After line 40, 1871

latest materials,

world" added

in 1876.

[p. 246.]

Line

1871:

read

"And

thou, high-towering

One

—Amer-

Present reading in 1876. Line 2, 1871 read "Thy swarm of offspring towering high,"

ica."

etc.

Present reading in 1881..

Line

9, 1871

read

"and Union

" for

in 1881.

[168]

for All."

Present reading

IDariorum 1Rea&inQ0 "Behold"

Line 25, 1871: read

before *'how."

Dropped

1881.

After line 29, 1871: read

"Behold!

the procession moves,)

(for still

Behold, Mother of

The myriads Dropped

All,

of thy

thy countless

young and

boatmen, coasters

sailors,

old mechanics!

in 1881.

Line 36: "oil " added in 1881.

§9.

[p. 249.]

After line

187 1: read

16,

"The

poets,

diers, farmers, miners, students thine! "

Song of the Redwood Tree. 1876,

the

[I.,

its

sailors,

sol-

in 1876.

p. 251.]

Rivulets volume,

Given

tennial Songs. §

Two

women,

Dropped

the second of the Cen-

present place in 1881.

[p. 251.]

Line 26, 1876: read "and" tor "with." Line 42, 1876: read " valleys grand " "far" added in 1881. Line 76, 1876: read " wood-spirits' " before "voices." ;

A Song

for Occupations.

1855,

Work of

without the

title,

[I., p.

257.]

pages 57-64.

1856,

Workmen and Workwomen of

Poem of the Daily These States, pages

i860, Chants Democratic No. 3, pages 143-158. 1867, To Workingmen, pages 239-248. 1871, Carol of Occupations, pages 209-218. Given present title and place in 1881. In 1855, the poem began with the following stanzas (dropped

121-139.

in 1881):

" Come closer to me, Push close my lovers and take the best I possess. Yield closer and closer and give me the best you possess. This I

was

—

me how is it with you ? with the cold types and cylinder and wet paper

unfinished business with chilled

between

us.

[X69]

Xeavea of (5ra00 Male and Female * pass so poorly with paper and types I contact of bodies and souls. !

American masses f I do not thank you for liking

—

must pass with the

me I.

[p.

—

know

that

good

it is

for

am, and liking the touch you to do so."

257.]

Stanza

added

of occupations

*' ;

in 1867: the first line read

*'poem" became

"This

carol" in

poem

the

present

1871;

reading in 1881. Line 4: *' Workmen and Workwomen " added in i860. Line 10, 1855: read "am 1" for "I." Line 13, 1855: read "If you are a workman or workwoman, I

stand as nigh as the nighest that works in the same shop."

Present reading in i860.

Line

dropped

15,

Line

then

1855: read "lover or husband or wife."

Connectives

in 1856.

1855: read

16,

become so

will

"If you have become degraded or ill, Present reading in for your sake."

1856.

Line

17,

1856: after "deeds "read "plenty of them."

Dropped

in 1867.

Line 18, 1855: "I say Present reading in 1856. Line

meet."

19,

1855: read

"do

not often

me,

meet"

for

"I carouse."

"why

often

Present reading in 1867.

After line 19, 1855: read "If in

carouse" for

will

see just as

you see a good deal remarkable in you." Dropped in

much remarkable

1867.

Line 24, 1855: read "that you reading in 1881.

was"

for

"were."

Present

Line 25, 1855: read "or diseased, or rheumatic, or a prostior are so now." Present reading in 1881.

tute

§2.

—

[p. 258.]

After line

1855: read

* " Male and Female " added

in i860.

[170]

" American masses " added

in i860.

IDarlorum IReaMnge "

you and what you give and take, you cannot give and take ? see not merely that you are polite or white-faced, married or I

see and hear

What I

there

single, citizens of old states or citizens of

nent

some

or dressed in the

Not only the

new

emi-

states,

profession, a lady or gentleman in a parlor, jail

uniform, or pulpit uniform.

Utahan, Kansian, or Arkansian, not only the free Cuban, not merely the slave, not Mexican native, or Flatfoot, or negro from Africa, free

Iroquois eating warflesh, fish-tearer in his

Esquimaux

transverse eyes,

bounshick

at the

see

who you

are

much

see not so

of rocks and sand,

Bedowee, or wandering nomad, or head of his droves."

Dropped in 1867. Compare an early manuscript '*

lair

the dark cold snow-house, Chinese with his

that

ta-

reading:

nobody else sees nor you either, you are polite or white-faced

I see less a citizen of an old State or a citizen of a new State, Alabamian, Canadian, British, French, or Malay or from Africa, or savage off there in the woods, or fisheater in his lair of

rocks and sand, or Chinese with his transverse eyes, a wandering nomad, or tabounshick at the head of his drove,

Man and woman and

child indoors and outdoors I see behind them or through them, see the wife and she is not one jot less than the husband, see the mother and she is every bit as much as the father, all

see

and

else

you engineer, laboring person,

minister,

editor,

immi-

grant, I

you sailors, man-of- wars-man, and merchantman and man, see you and stand before you driver of horses, see

Son, progenitor

coast-

Line 4: *'one just as much as the other" added in i860. Line 9, 1855: read " of those not rich " for '*of ignorant and poor." Present reading in 1867. [171]

!lLeave6 of (Braae

After line lo, 1855: read

"The

naive, the simple vote, he

who

and hardy, he going to the

has a good time and he

who

polls to

has a bad

time;

Mechanics, southerners,

new

arrivals, sailors,

man-o'-wars-men,

merchant-men, coasters."

These

was

lines

were discarded

in 1867

and what

now

line 11

substituted.

Line 15 1855: read " 1 bring not money or amours or dress Present reading in 1856, but or eating but I bring as good."

—

erudition" added in 1881. After

readiest "

provoked by them

read "

— What

it is

not them, though

it is

there ready and near

endlessly

you now ?"

Present reading in 1867. [p. 260.]

§ 3.

9, 1853: after "forever" read "and each acre of surface and space forever." Dropped in 1867. Line 10 added in 1867. Line 11, 1855: read "as mainly for a trade" for "for your

Line

trade."

Present reading in 1856.

Line 13: "that" added in 1881. Line 20, 1855 read " prudence " for " cash." :

Present reading

1836.

Line 21, 1855: read "but "for "then."

Present reading in

1856.

Line 25, 1855: read " But 1 am eternally in love " for am in love." Present reading in i860.

§ 4.

"Then

[p. 262.]

1, 1855: read "value and respect" Present reading in 1856.

Line

Line 4, 1855: read Present reading in i860.

"December"

for

"reverence."

"Twelfth-month."

Line 6 added in 1867. Line

1855: read "All doctrines,

Line

1855: read "All sculpture," [172]

all

politics," etc.

etc.

IDarlorum T?eaMnQ0 Line

1855: read

15,

notes"

for

"score."

Present reading

in 1856.

Â§5.

[p. 263.]

Line

1855: read

"and

here with

me"

for

"with

the

mys-

unseen soul."

Present reading in 1867. Section 5 was given its present reading in 1867. The following is the reading in i860 which differs only in minor details from tic

and 1856:

that of 1855

"The

old,

forever-new things

simplest things, this

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you

foolish child! the closest,

moment with

you,

Your person, and every particle that relates to your person, The pulses of your brain, waiting their chance and encouragement at every deed or sight. Anything you do in public by day, and anything you do in secret between-days. called right and what

What

or touch, or

The ankle-chain

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

is called wrong what you behold what causes your anger or wonder.

of the slave, the bed of the bed-house, the cards

of the gambler, the plates of the forger.

What What

is is

seen or learnt in the

street, or intuitively learnt.

learnt in the public school, spelling, reading, writing,

ciphering, the black-board, the teacher's diagrams,

The panes

of the windows,

going forth

in the

all that appears through them, the morning, the aimless spending of the

day,

(What

is it that you made money what you wanted ?)

What

that

you got

The

usual routine, the work^shop, factory, yard, office, store,

The

jaunt of hunting or fishing, and the

desk. life

of hunting or

fishing, Pasture-life, foddering,

milking, herding, and

all

the personnel

and usages.

The plum-orchard, apple-orchard, gardening,

seedlings, cuttings,

flowers, vines,

Grains, manures, marl, clay, loam, the subsoil plough, the shovel, pick, rake, hoe, irrigation, draining, [173]

Xeavee of ©ra^a The curry-comb,

the horse-cloth, the halter, bridle, bits, the very

wisps of straw, The barn and barn-yard, the bins, mangers, mows, racks, Manufactures, commerce, engineering, the building of cities, every trade carried on there, and the implements of every trade. The anvil, tongs, hammer, the axe and wedge, the square, mitre, jointer, smoothing-plane. The plumbob, trowel, level, the wall-scaffold, the work of walls and ceilings, or any mason-work,

The steam-engine,

lever,

beam,

boiler,

governors, up and

The

crank, axle, piston, shaft, air-pump,

pulley,

hinge, flange, band, bolt, throttle,

down

rods.

ship's compass, the sailor's tarpaulin, the stays

and lanyards,

the ground tackle for anchoring or mooring, the life-boat for wrecks,

The

sloop's

tiller,

smack

the pilot's wheel and bell, the yacht or fish-

— the

great gay - pennanted three -hundred -foot

steamboat, under

and her

The

trail,

full

headway, with her proud

fat breasts,

delicate swift-flashing paddles.

line,

hooks, sinkers, and the seine, and hauling the

seine.

The

gunpowder, shot, caps, wadding, ordnance for war, and carriages Every-day objects, house-chairs, carpet, bed, counterpane of the bed, him or her sleeping at night, wind blowing, indefinite arsenal, small-arms, rifles,

noises.

The snow-storm in the

or rain-storm, the tow-trowsers, the lodge-hut

woods, the

still-hunt.

City and country, fire-place, candle, gas-light, heater, aqueduct.

The message of

the

Governor, Mayor, Chief of Police

— the

dishes of breakfast, dinner, supper.

The bunk-room, the

fire-engine, the string-team, the car or truck

behind.

The paper I write on cross

what we

The

you write

on, every

word we

write, every

and twirl of the pen, and the curious way

write

think, yet very faintly,

directory, the detector, the ledger, the

books

book-shelves, the clock attached to the wall, [174]

ranks on the

IDarlorum IReaMnge The

ring on your finger, the lady's wristlet, the scent-powder, the druggist's vials and jars, the draught of lager-beer,

The

etui of surgical instruments, the etui of oculist's or aurist's

instruments, or dentist's instruments.

The permutating lock that can be turned and locked ferent ways as there are minutes in a year.

many

dif-

Glass-blowing, nail-making, salt-making, tin-roofmg, shingledressing, candle-making, lock-making and hanging. Ship-carpentering,

dock-building,

fish-curing,

breaking, flagging of side-walks

The pump,

ferrying,

stone-

flaggers.

the pile-driver, the great derrick, the coal-kiln and

brick-kiln.

Coal-mines,

all

that

down

there, the

lamps

in the darkness,

echoes, songs, what meditations, what vast native thoughts

looking through smutch'd faces. Iron-works, forge-fires in the mountains, or by river-banks,

— —

men

around feeling the melt with huge crowbars lumps of the blastore, the due combining of ore, limestone, coal furnace and the puddling-furnace, the loup-lump at the the rolling-mill, the stumpy bottom of the melt at last

—

bars of pig-iron, the strong clean-shaped

rail

for rail-

roads,

Oil -works, silk -works, white -lead -works, the sugar -house,

steam-saws, the great mills and Lead-mines, and

all

that

done

factories.

in lead-mines, or

with the lead

afterward.

Copper-mines, the sheets of copper, and what is formed out of the sheets, and all the work in forming it. Stone-cutting, shapely trimmings for facades, or window or door lintels

— the

mallet, the tooth-chisel, the jib to protect the

thumb.

—

Oakum, The

the kettle of boilthe oakum-chisel, the caulking-iron ing vault-cement, and the fire under the kettle, cotton-bale, the stevedore's hook, the saw and buck of the

sawyer, the screen of the coal-screener, the mould of the moulder, the working-knife of the butcher, the ice-saw, and all the work with ice,

The four-double

cylinder press, the hand-press, the frisket and [175]

Xeavea of ©raaa tympan, the compositor's stick and

type-setting,

rule,

making up the forms, all the work of newspaper folders, carriers, news-men,

The implements

for

daguerreotyping

— the

counters,

tools of the rigger,

grappler, sail-maker, block-maker,

Goods of gutta-percha, papier-mache, ing, glazier's

The veneer and

colors, brushes,

brush-mak-

implements.

glue-pot, the confectioner's ornaments, the decan-

and glasses, the shears and flat-iron. The awl and knee-strap, the pint measure and quart measure, the counter and stool, the writing-pen of quill or metal the making of all sorts of edged tools, The ladders and hanging-ropes of the gymnasium, manly exerter

—

game

the

cises,

of base-ball, running, leaping, pitching

quoits.

The designs

oil-cloths, carpets, the fancies for

for wall-papers,

goods

for

women,

The brewery, brewing,

the book-binder's stamps.

the malt, the vats, every thing that

done by brewers,

also

by wine-makers,

also

vinegar-

makers.

coach-making, boiler-making, rope-twisting,

Leather-dressing,

distilling, sign-painting,

picking

—

Stave-machines,

lime-burning, coopering, cotton-

electro plating, electrotyping, stereotyping.

planing-machines, reaping-machines,

plough-

ing-machines, thrashing-machines, steam-wagons.

The cart of the carman, the omnibus, the ponderous dray. The wires of the electric telegraph stretched on land, or laid

the bottom of the sea, and then the message in an instant

from

thousand miles

off,

The snow-plough, and two engines pushing

— the

ride in the

go through a howlthat is done about a

express-train of only one car, the swift

ing storm

— the

locomotive, and

locomotive,

The bear-hunt or coon-hunt lot in

— the bonfire of shavings

the city, and the

The blows of

all

in the

open

crowd of children watching,

the fighting-man, the upper-cut, and one-two-

three,

Pyrotechny, letting off colored fire-works at night, fancy figures

and

jets,

[176]

\Darlorum IRcabinge Shop-windows,

ware-room,

coffins in the sexton's

fruit-stand

— beef

the butcher's

fruit

on the

the slaughter-

stall,

house of the butcher, the butcher in his killing-clothes, The area of pens of live pork, the killing-hammer, the hog-hook, the scalder's tub, gutting, the cutter's cleaver, the packer's

maul, and the plenteous winter-work of pork-packing, the barrels Flour-works, grinding of wheat, rye, maize, rice and the half and quarter barrels, the loaded barges, the

—

high piles on wharves and levees.

Bread and cakes in the bakery, the milliner's ribbons, the dressmaker's patterns, the tea-table, the home-made sweetmeats Cheap literature, maps, charts, lithographs, daily and weekly ;

newspapers,

The column of wants

one-cent paper, the

in the

news by

tele-

graph, amusements, operas, shows,

The business

parts of a city, the trottoirs of a city

when

thou-

sands of well-dressed people walk up and down. The cotton, woollen, linen you wear, the money you make and spend.

Your room and bed-room, your

piano-forte, the stove

and cook-

pans,

The house you

live in, the rent,

the other tenants, the deposit in

the savings-bank, the trade at the grocery.

The pay on Seventh Day

going home, and the pur-

night, the

chases; In

them the

— me—

heft of the heaviest

them

far

more than you

estimated, and far less also, In

them

me. them, not yourself

realities for

you and

them poems

for

you and

—you and your Soul enclose things, provokers — the whole earth has no all

re-

gardless of estimation. In

them themes,

hints,

not,

themes, hints, provokers, and never had.

do not

affirm

what you

see

beyond

is futile

—

do not advise you

to stop, I

do not say leadings you thought great are not VOL. 111.— 13.

[177]

great,

Xeape6 of (Braae But

say that none lead to greater, sadder, happier, than those lead to."

§6.

[p. 266.]

Line 4: ''knowledge" added in i860. Line 5, 1855: read after ** touch" ''always in your friend or brother or nighest neighbor Woman in your mother or lover

—

or wife."

Present reading in

1867;

"sister" for "lover" in

1881.

Lines 6 and 7 added in 1856. In i860 this part read as follows:

"Will you seek In things best

afar off ?

known

You

surely

come back

at last.

to you, finding the best, or as

good

as the

best,

folks nearest to

you finding

also the sweetest,

strongest,

lovingest,

—

Happiness, knowledge, not in another place, but this place not for another hour, but this hour, Man in the first you see or touch always in your friend, brother,

The popular

tastes

— —Woman

in your mother, lover, wife. and occupations taking precedence in poems

nighest neighbor or any where.

You workwomen and workmen of These divine and strong

States having your

own

life.

Looking the President always sternly

in the face,

unbending,

nonchalant,

Understanding that he is to be kept by you to short and sharp account of himself. And all else thus far giving place to men and women like you.

you 1

robust, sacred

you how love America for,

cannot

All

tell

love you; is

contained in

men and women

you."

1855: for this line, added in 1856, read the following: "When the sacred vessels or the bits of the eucharist, or the lath and plast, procreate as effectually as the young silver-

Line

12,

smiths or bakers, or the masons in their overalls." [178]

IDariorum IReaMnge Compare " Priests!

also an early manuscript:

you can explain a paving stone do not try to exGod; Until your creeds can do as much as apples and hen's eggs let down your eyebrows a little Until your Bibles and Prayer-books are able to walk like me, And until your brick and mortar can procreate as can, 1 beg you, sirs, do not presume to put them above me." until

plain

In 1867

what

A Song

and 1871

now

this stanza

of the Rolling Earth.

1856:

was

section 4; then given

Poem

placed at the beginning of original place in 1881.

its

[I., p.

268.]

of the Sayers of the

Words of

the Earth, pages

}22-^}\\ i860: To the Sayers of Words, pages 329-336; 1871: Carol of Words, pages 231-238. Present title and place in 1881. §

[p. 268.]

1856: for line

"Earth, round,

read the following stanza:

rolling,

— suns, moons, animals — advances — beings, premonitions,

compact

these are words.

Watery, vegetable, sauroid

all

lispings of the future these are vast

words."

Present reading in 1881.

Line

16,

1856: read

"The

great masters, the sayers."

Pres-

ent reading in 1867. After line 16, 1856: read

" Syllables are not the earth's words. Beauty,

reality,

manhood, time,

life

— the

realities

of such as

these are the earth's words."

Dropped

in i860.

Line 25, 1856: read "invitation of the earth," etc. earth" dropped in 188 1.

"Of

the

Line 51, 1856: read "her eyes glancing back from it" for " her eyes glance back from it." Present reading in i860. Line 52, 1856: read " Glancing there as she sits "for "Glance as she sits."

Present reading in i860. [179]

leaver of (Braaa Line 68, 1856: read " liquid " for " fluid."

Present reading in

i860.

§2.

[p. 272.]

Line 7: ''true" added in 1881; 1867: "such etc;

''such" dropped

Line

"not"

read

1856:

the word,"

in 1881.

"no."

for

Present reading in

i860.

§3.

[p. 273.]

2, 1856: read "I swear the earth remains broken and jagged only to him who remains broken and jagged"; "i swear" dropped in 1881 "broken and jagged" transposed in

Line

;

1867.

Line

1856: read "art" for "song."

Present reading in

1881.

Line

1856:

10,

read

"I swear

think

all

merges,"

etc.

Present reading in 1881.

Line § 4.

"of the words,"

1856: read

12,

etc.

[p. 274.]

Before line the earth

of words"; 1871:

Line

"This

1856: read

poem

— these are hints of meanings";

carol of

1856: read

for the sayers of

i860: "for the sayers

words." The line dropped in 188 1. Present are they that echo," etc.

"These

reading in 1871. Line

1856: read

"Say

Line

on, sayers of the earth!"

"Sing

added 1856: read "substantial" before "words."

earth" dropped in i860.

on, singers! "

"Of

the

in 1881.

Dropped

in i860.

After line

not breaths"). Line

10,

i860: read "

This line

1856:

Work

—

was dropped

"and ready" added

In the last stanza,

(it is

materials

you

bring,

in 1881.

1856: each line began with "I swear."

Present reading in 1881.

Line

11,

them!"

1856: after "fail" read "I announce

Dropped

in 1881.

Youth, Day, Old Age and Night. 1881

with present

title

and

[I.,

place.

[180]

p. 275.]

them and

lead

Dariorum IReablnge Birds of Passage.

group

[I., p.

title for

276.]

poems

Song of the Universal.

[I.,

in 1881.

p. 276.]

A Commencement Poem

delivered at Tuft's College, Mass.,

June 17, 1874. First published in 1876 among the Centennial Songs of the Two Rivulets volume, pages 15-17. § 2.

[p. 276.]

husk"

Line

1876: read *'a

Line

1876: read "roads" for "routes."

§4.

for **husks."

[P.278J Line

18, 1876: sentence ended with "ensemble." ever " began a new sentence.

Pioneers I

First published in

[I., p.

"What-

279.]

Drum-Taps

1865; 1867: in the annex

to Leaves of Grass, pages 25-30.

Stanza

1867: read

7, line 3,

"and

the virgin" for

"we

the

Present reading in 187 1.

virgin."

Stanza 22, line

1867: read "sleep" for "rest"

Present

reading in 1881.

To You.

[L, p. 284.]

1856: Poem of You, Whoever You Are, pages 206-210; i860: To You, Whoever You Are, under general title of Messenger Leaves, pages 391-394; 1867 Leaves of Grass, No. 4, pages 165167; To You in 1871, but its present place in 1881. :

Line

added

1856:

read

"those"

for

"these."

"Supposed"

in 1867.

Line

1856: read "shops" — "law, science"; — "medicine, print"; "suffering" — "begetting." after

"house"

after

Present reading in 1881. After line

"They

1856: read

receive these in their places, they find these or the like

of these, eternal, for reasons.

They

do not find that the water tend to endure forever, and they not endure."

find themselves eternal, they

and

soil

Dropped

in i860.

[181]

Xeavee of (Braea Line 24,

much"

1856: read *'as

for

"the same."

Present

reading in i860. After line }2,

and turnings, never

read

1856:

track through your windings

'*I

come upon you where you thought eye should

come upon you."

Dropped in 1867. you are to hold " for " claim."

Line 39, 1856: read reading in i860.

Line 44, 1856: read "Old, young, male, female,"

France, The i8th Year of these States. i860: with present

Line

Present

etc.

[I.hP* 287.]

pages 406-407. i860: read "rising" for "out-sounding." title,

Present

reading in 1867. Line

13,

i860: read " Here too keeps the blaze, the bullet and

1867: " Here too the blaze, the bullet," etc. read " grape-shot " for "bullet."

the axe,"

Line

etc.

;

i860:

14,

read "

still is

not destroyed. "

;

1871

Present read-

ing in 1867. Line

"would demand"

i860: read

16,

for

"demanding."

Present reading in 1867.

Myself and Mine.

289.]

[I., p.

i860: Leaves of Grass, No. 10, pages 224-226; 1867: Leaves of Grass, No. 2, pages 161-163; 1871: in the Passage to

India annex, pages

It is

ended

These

00-101.

poem begins

i860: the

After to-day

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; I

dally

no more.

inure myself to run, leap,

dropped

lines

1867, the

swim, wrestle,

fight."

poem beginning with

its

present reading.

Line

i860: read

reading in 1867. Line 14, i860: after "

Dropped

in 188

"my own" Who are

for

"our own."

you " read " you mean

Present devil

After line 25, i860: read

" Let others deny the evil their enemies charge against them but how can the like ? 1

[182]

" !

IDadorum IReaMnga Nothing ever has been, or ever can be, charged against me, as bad as the evil I really am."

Dropped

half

in 1867.

Line 32, i860: read **a gymnast " after "riser."

Dropped

1867.

Year of Meteors.

{18^9-60.)

published in

First

[I., p.

Drum- Taps

291.] 1867, in first

(1865).

annex to

Leaves of Grass, pages 51-52. Among Whitman's manuscripts was found a note upon a shower of meteors, with a few trial lines:

—

''The shower of meteors this occurred in the night of I2th-i3th Nov., 1853 toward morning myriads in all directions, some with long shining white trains, some falling over each other like falling water leaping, silent, white apparitions around up there in the sky over my head.

—

And

there

wondrous and dazzling, the The States, between

the meteor-shower,

I2th-i3th eleventh month, year '58 of

midnight and morning; See you the spectacle of the meteors overhead, See you myriads in all directions, some with long shining trains. Some rolling over each other like water poured out and falling leaping, silent, white apparitions of the sky.

Such have I in the round house hanging and they are but little." Line

1867: read " sweet

11,

boy

—such pictures name

" for

"young

prince."

Pres-

ent reading in 1881. After line

know

867

not why, but

little

read I

loved you

Far over sea speed like an arrow, carrying

And

(and so go forth

song.

find in his palace the

youth

love,

love

all

folded,

and drop these

lines at

his feet)."

Dropped

in 1881.

Line 22, 1867: after "forebodings" read "year of the youth

love!"

Dropped

in 1881.

[183]

%cnvce of (Braea With Antecedents.

292.]

[I., p.

Chants Democratic, No. present title, pages 182-184. i860,

§ 2.

pages 174-176; 1867 with

[p. 293.]

Line 8 ("torn, stormy, amid these vehement days,") added in

but read after

1867,

dropped

stormy" ''even

I";

this

clause

in 1881.

Line 11: " anything in the past " added in 1881. Line

16,

i860: for

"must"

read "should."

18,

i860: for

"must"

read "should."

Present reading

in 1881.

Line

Broadway Pageant.

[II., p. i.]

Drum-Taps

published in

First

§1.

with

(1865)

"Reception Japanese Embassy, June annex Leaves of Grass, pages 61-65.

16,

i860"

;

the sub-title 1867: in

first

[p. I.]

Stanza

" Over

1867: read

sea, hither

from Niphon,

Courteous, the Princes of Asia, swart-cheek'd princes. First-comers, guests,

two-sworded

princes.

Lesson-giving princes, leaning back

in their

open barouches,

bare-headed, impassive.

This day they ride through Manhattan." Present reading in 1871.

Line 1871

867 read

Princes of Asia " for

" nobles of Asia."

Line

1867:

"its" for "her."

read

' *

nobles of Niphon"

Present reading in 1881.

Present reading in

1871.

§ 2.

[p. 2.]

After line 6, 1867: read

Caucasus Line

14,

1867: read

tann'd Japanee only." Line

"The

—the nest of birth."

15,

"Not

land of Paradise

Dropped

— land of the

in 1871.

the errand-bearing princes, nor the

Present reading in 1871.

1867: read " the whole Asiatic," etc.

Line 18: "Eastern" added in 1871. [184]

IDartorum IReaMnge

—

person" for "persons" followed by "the divine Buddha." Present reading in 1881, but "the divine Buddha" dropped in 1870. Stanza 7, lines 41, 42, and 43, 1867: began with "I chant." 26, 1867: read

Lirife

Dropped

in 1881.

"resumed"

Line 44, 1867: read reading in 1871.

for

"renew'd."

Present

§ 3. [p. 4.]

Line 2:

"and thousands" added

Line

1867: read "Princes " for " nobles."

in 1881.

Present reading

in 1871.

Sea-Drift.

A 1

[II., p. 6.]

group

title for

certain sea

poems

first

employed

in 188 1.

87 1, the same group was called Sea-Shore Memories.

Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking. i860: y4 title in

Word Out of the

[II., p. 6.]

Sea, pages 26^-2^*].

Given present

1871.

Line

i860: read

"Out

of the rocked cradle."

Present

reading in 1871. After line 2, i860: read

"Out of the boy's mother's womb, and from the nipples of her breasts." Dropped in 1867. Line 11, i860: read " From those beginning notes of sickness and love, there in the transparent mist." Present reading in 1881.

After the

poem was

first

stanza, in i860, a sub-title to this part of the

given as Reminiscence;

did not reappear.

Line 24, i860: read "When the snows had melted, and the Fifth Month grass was growing " read "When the snows 1871

had melted

Month

— when the

grass

;

lilac-scent

was growing."

was

in the air,

and the

Fifth

Present reading in 1881.

Line 26: " feather'd " added in 188 1. Line }2'. the third "shine" added in 1867. Line 40, i860: read " If we two but keep together. "

Present

reading in 1871. Line 52: the third "blow" added in 1867. Line 63, i860: read " For once, and more than once." ent reading in 1881. [185]

Pres-

Xeat>e0 of Grasa

Line 71

the third " soothe " added in 1867.

Line 74: the second '* not me" added in 1867. Line 76: the second ''with love" added in 1867. Line 81

the third " loud " added in 1867.

Line 88: "the shape" repeated in 1867. Line 90: " loud " repeated in 1867. ** only " added in 1867. Line 91 Line 95: '* O trembling throat " added in 1867. Lines 105 and 106, i860: read :

*' But soft! Sink low soft

—

Soft!

Let

murmur."

just

Present reading in 1867. "

Line 109: *'be

still

Line 114: ''for

you" added

repeated in 1867. in 1867.

Line 117: " the fluttering " repeated in 1867. After line 124, i860: read '

Murmur Murmur on murmurs you yourselves make me !

not

—

continue to sing,

Dropped

know

in 1881.

Line 125, i860: read " O past! O joy " 1867, except "happy," added in 1881. !

Line 128, Present

why."

i860:

reading in

— but

"Loved

except "love

1881.

Present reading in

no more with me."

"became "mate "in

—

Line 132, i860: read "The winds blowing the notes of the wondrous bird echoing." Present reading in 1867. Line 133, i860: after

"mother"

read "yet, as ever."

Pres-

ent reading in 1867.

Line 143, i860: read "to the outsetting bard of love." Line 144, i860: read "Bird! (then said the boy's Soul.)" Present reading in 1867. Line 145, i860: read " mostly " for "really." ing in 1 88 1 .

Line 150, i860: read [186]

Present read-

IDariorum IReaMnge *'0 throes!

O you

demon, singing by yourself

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; projecting me."

Present reading in 1867.

Line

151:

after

"cease" read "imitating."

Dropped

1867.

"dusky demon"

Line 156, i860: read

"messenger

for

there."

Present reading in 1867. Lines 158 and following, 1867:

O O

give

word

the clew!

to have so !

what

(it

lurks in the night here

much, is

read

let

somewhere;)

have more!

destination

fear

henceforth

chaos;)

O how

joys, dreads, convolutions,

human

shapes, and

all

shapes,

spring as from graves around me!

O O

phantoms! you cover all the land and all the sea! I cannot see in the dimness whether you smile or frown upon

O O

vapor, a look, a word!

me;

well-beloved!

you dear women's and men's phantoms! Present reading in 188 1. Line 165, i860: read "Answering, the sea."

Present reading

in 1867.

"me."

Line 168, i860: read "constantly" after 1867.

Dropped

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Line 169, i860: read "And again Death ever Death," etc. Line 172: " and laving me softly all over" added in 1867. Line 175, i860: read "two together" for Present reading in 1867.

"my

dusky demon

and brother."

Line 176, i860: read

"That was sung"

for

"That he sang."

Present reading in 1867.

Line 182 added in 1881.

Ebb'd with the Ocean of

Life.

[II., p. 14.]

i860: Leaves of Grass, No. i, pages 195-199; 1867: Elemental Drifts, pages 331-334; 1871: in the group of SeaShore Memories; 1881 with present title and place. :

[187]

Xeave0 of (Braaa ยง1.

[p. 14.]

The poem opened

i860 with this stanza (dropped in

1881): '*

Elemental

drifts!

wish I could impress others as you and the waves have been impressing me."

Line

i860: read '*As

just

ebbed with an ebb of the ocean of

Present reading in 1881.

life."

Line

i860: read

sea-ripples" for

''continu-

ripples";

ally" added in 1871.

Line

by the

read "Alone, held

i860:

that threatens to get the better of me,

and

eternal self of stifle

me;"

1867:

"Alone, held by this eternal self of me, out of the pride of which have utter'd my poems." Present reading in 188 1.

Line

read "In the rim,"

i860:

17,

i860: read "eternal self of

Present reading in

etc.

1881.

Line

me"

for "electric self."

Present reading in 1881.

ยง 2.

[p. 14.]

After line

i860: read

belongs to me, or that

"At once

see or touch,

find, the least thing that

know

not."

Dropped

1867.

Line

lows." Line

i860: after "earth" read "here preceding

Dropped 11,

what

fol-

in 1867.

i860:

read "insolent" for "arrogant."

Present

reading in 1881. Line

Dropped Line less

13,

i860:

after

"written"

read

"or

shall

write."

in 1867. 14,

i860: read "Striking

upon the sand."

with

insults

till I fall

help-

Present line in 1867.

Line

15,

i860: read

Line

16,

i860: read "I perceive Nature," etc.

perceive," etc.

Present read-

ing in 1881. After line 16, i860: read " Because

Dropped

in 1867.

[188]

was assuming so much."

IDarlorum IRea&inge

§3.

[p. 15.]

Stanza

"You

i860: read

oceans both!

You

Nature!

tangible land!

—

Be not too rough with me I submit These little shreds shall, indeed, stand

close with you.

for all."

1867: read

"You

oceans both

Those

little

shreds

close with you;

indeed, stand for all."

shall,

Present reading in 1871.

Line

16,

read **the

i860:

wondrous murmuring."

Present

reading in 1871. After line 16, i860: read another line

**For

fear

utter

shall

become

Sea-raff! Crook-tongued

will yet sing,

Dropped

crazed,

myself as well as

some

and a stanza: cannot emulate

it,

and

it.

waves!

day,

what you have

me."

said to

in 1867.

[p. i6.]

§4.

Line 5: ''and all" added in 1871. Line 7: after *'mine" read "we."

Line 20: Tears.

in 1881.

Leaves of Grass, No. 2, pages 249-250; in the group of SeaShore Memories.

1871

with

title,

To the Man-of- War-Bird. with present

[11., p. 18.]

and London Athenceum in 1876, and the volumes of the 1876 edition.

will

Aboard at a Ship's Helm.

p. 19.]

1881

Dropped

to line in 1867.

[11., p. 17.]

1867: present

"You" added

title

[II.,

place.

Appeared

originally in

be found pasted

some

1867: Leaves of Grass, No. j, page 250; 1871 with present the group of Sea-Shore Memories.

title, in

[189]

%cwoce of (5ra00 i,

1867: read **the ship" for

1867: read

Line Line

bell

ship."

through fog,"

etc.

Present read-

ing in 1881.

Beach

the 1871

at Night.

with

[II., p.

this title, in the

19.]

group of Sea-Shore Memories.

1871: read

brothers" for "sisters."

Line }2, 1871: read

brothers" for "sisters."

Line

10,

The World Below the Brine.

p. 21.]

[II.,

i860: Leaves of Grass, No. 16, page 235; Grass, No. 4, page 288; 1871 with present

Leaves of Sea-Shore

1867: title,

Memories. Line

"Sea- water, and

read

i860:

all

living

below

it."

Present line in 1867.

the Beach at Night Alone.

[II., p. 21.]

1836: C/^/Po^w, pages 249-251

i860: Leaves of Grass, No. pages 229-231; 1867: Leaves of Grass, No. /, p. 315; 1871 with present title, in Sea-Shore Memories. In 1856 the poem ;

12,

began

"This night

watch,"

Line

am happy etc.

adopted

in 1867.

Line 2 added in i860, but read,

sways

the old mother

and

fro,

"As I walk the beach where singing her savage and husky

song."

Present reading in 1871. Line 3: "bright " added in 1867. After line 3, 1856: read

"What can the future bring me more than have Do you suppose wish to enjoy life in other spheres ? I

say distinctly

comprehend no

comprehend no better

life

better sphere than this earth,

than the

life

body.

do not know what follows the death of my body. know well that whatever it is, it is best for me. And I know well that what is really Me shall live just as much

But

as before. [190]

Darlorum TRcablnge I

Here I

have good housing to myself, I like the rest any better ? and rafters are grown parts of me. the studs

not uneasy but

But this

first

grew up

—

shall

— how can

I am to be beloved by young and old men, and to love them the same, suppose the pink nipples of the breasts of women with whom I

not uneasy but

shall sleep will taste the

same

lips,*

But this is the nipple of a breast of my mother, always near and always divine to me, her true child and son, whatever comes, t I

be eligible to visit the stars, in my time, myriads of new experiences and that the have I experience of this earth will prove only one out of myriads believe my body and my soul already indicate those ex-

suppose suppose

But

—

shall

periences.

And

believe

nothing in the stars more majestic and have already found on the earth. have this night a clue through the universes, have this night thought a thought of the clef of

shall find

beautiful than

And And

believe

I I

eternity."

Dropped Line

Dropped

in 1867.

1856:

after

''planets"

read

comets,

asteroids."

in 1881.

All the substances of the same, and upon the same." Dropped in 1881. Line 8: "ever so different" added in i860. After line 9, 1856: read "All men and women me also." Dropped in 188 1. "and Line 14: "and compactly hold them " added in i860 enclose" added in 1871.

After line

all

that

1856: read

spiritual

—

;

Song

for All Seas, All Ships.

[II., p.

Two

volume,

1876:

Rivulets

22.] in

group of

Centennial

Songs. * i860 reads " f r

'•

will touch the side of my face the same." whatever comes " added in i860.

[191]

%cavee of (5ra06 Patroling Bamegat. 1881

After the Sea-Ship.

Two

1876: in

group

A Boston

title.

[II., p. 24.]

Rivulets volume, the

the Roadside.

[II., p. 23.]

with present

first part,

page

32.

[II., p. 25.]

title in

Ballad.

1881 for 29 poems. (1854).

[II., p. 25.]

pages 89-90; 1836: Poem of Apparitions in Boston, the ySth Year of These States, pages 271-274; i860: Boston Ballad, the ySth Year of These States, pages 337-340; 1867: To Get Betimes in Boston Town, pages 195-197; 1871 Boston Ballad (1854). Given its present position in 1881. 1855: without

title,

A "

1855 poem began with *' Clear the way there, Jonathan! the first stanza in the present poem being the second in the

The

original.

Line in

1855: read

Boston town."

*'I

rose this

morning

early to get betimes

Present reading in 1867.

Line 5, 1855: read **and the phantoms afterward" for "and the apparitions copiously tumbling." Present reading in 1856. Line 7, 1855: read "foremost with cutlasses" for "cutlasses of the foremost troops! " Present reading in 1856.

Line 11: "indeed" added in 1867. Line

and

13,

1855: read "Uncountable phantoms gather by flank

rear of it."

Line that

Present reading in 1867.

"To

26'.

"back"

your graves

read before "to."

"Now

Line 34, 1855: read Line 36, 1855: read

"Here

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; back!"

added

i860, except

Present reading in 1867. the President's marshal," etc. is" for " This." Present reading

call

in 1836.

Europe, the y2d and y}d Years of These

States,

[II., p. 27.]

pages 87-88; 1836: Poem of the Dead J2d and y^d Years of These States, pages 252-234; i860 with present title, pages 283-285. 1835: without

title,

Young Men of Europe, Line

1853: read

the

"Europe"

i860. [192]

for "it."

Present reading in

IDarlorum IRea&lnge Line 5: ''exiled patriots" added in i860. 12, 1855: read "strike of personal revenge."

Line

Present

reading in i860. Line

1855: read "rulers" for "monarchs."

14,

ing, in

Present read-

87 1.

Line 16: "lord" added in i860. Line

Line 21

added

[II., p.

added

[II., p.

i860: with this

all, lo,

Shape"; "hover-

in i860.

" crook'd

Hand-Mirror.

Gods.

"Yet behind

1855: read

17,

ing, stealing"

in i860.

30.]

page 415.

title,

30.]

First published in

Passage to India pamphlet (1870);

1871:

the Passage to India annex, page 115. In

87 1 the

"Thought Be thou

God."

Dropped

"Or thee,

for its first stanza the following:

of the Infinite— the All!

Stanza

poem had

in 1881.

1871

the

first

three lines read

Old Cause, where'er advancing;

All great Ideas, the races' aspirations. All that exalts, releases thee,

Lines

Stanza etc.

and

dropped

6, line 3,

1871

Soul!

in 188 1. read " Or shape in

myself— or some,"

Present reading in 1881.

Germs.

[II., p.

31.]

i860: Leaves of Grass, No. ig, page 238; 1867: Leaves of Grass, No. 2, in last annex, page 2y^ 1871 with present title,

page 360. Line

i860:

read

"That

contains," etc.

Present reading

in 1881.

After line

i860: read

"That

Dropped

in 1867. VOL. ni.— 13.

[193]

the theory as of origins."

Xeavca of (Braea Thoughts.

[II., p. 32.]

Thoughts, No.

i860:

page 408.

But the

first line

was

part

of Thoughts, No. 4, page 410. Thoughts, No. 2, i860, began

*'0f waters,

Of Of

forests, hills,

the earth at large, whispering through

medium

me;

vista," etc.

Present reading in 1881.

When I Heard First

page

the Learn'd Astronomer.

published in

Drum- Taps

(1865)

[II., p.

1867

32.]

the

first

annex,

34.

Perfections.

[II., p.

i860: with this

OMe!

OLife!

33.]

page 417.

title,

[II., p.

33.]

published in Sequel

First

Drum-Taps

second annex, page 18. Answer, line 2, 1867: read " will"

To a

;

President.

[II., p.

for

(1865);

1867:

'*may."

33.]

i860: in the group of Messenger Leaves, page 402. I Sit

and Look Out.

[II., p.

;

34.]

ly, page 236; 1867: Leaves of Grass, No. ^, page 289; 1871 with present title. Line 4, i860: read "the young woman" for "young

i860: Leaves of Grass, No.

women." To Rich

Givers.

[II., p. 34.]

i860: with this

Line

any man or

i860: read

woman

the universe."

The Dalliance 1

title,

one of Messenger Leaves, page 399.

i860: read "these" before "as."

"For no

less

know

that

Present reading in 1867. of the Eagles.

881: with this

what

than the entrance to

[II., p.

title.

[194]

350

bestow upon all

the gifts of

IDariorum IReaMnge Roaming 1

Thought.

881: with this

A Farm

Picture.

[II., p.

published in

First

[II., p. 35.]

title.

36.]

Drum-Taps

{1865).

annex

1867,

page

(1865).

annex

1867,

page

(1865).

annex

1867,

page

46.

Line 3 added in 1871.

Child's

Amaze.

[II., p. 36.]

Drum-Taps

First published in

37-

The Runner.

[II., p.

1867: with this

Beautiful

36.]

title,

Women.

page 214.

[II., p.

36.]

i860: one of Debris, page 423.

Mother and Bahe.

[II., p.

36.]

Drum-Taps

First published in

41.

Thought.

[II., p.

37.]

Thoughts, No. 7, page 411.

i860: Visor'd.

[n., p. 37.]

i860: one of Debris, page 422; 1867 with present

Thought.

[II., p.

37.]

i860: Thoughts, No. 4, lines 3 and

GUding 0Âťer 1871

Line

All.

on the

page to Passage

i860:

1871: read "I sing" for "I

881: with this

Thought.

page 410.

[II., p. 37.] title

Hast Never Come to Thee an Hour. 1

India annex.

'11

sing."

[II., p.

38.]

title.

[II., p. 38.]

Thoughts, No. 4, line

To Old Age.

page 410.

[n., p. 38.]

i860: one oi Messenger Leaves, page 402. [195]

title.

Xcapee of (Bra00 Locations and Times.

860

[II., p.

38.]

Leaves of Grass, No. 2j, page 24 1 After line 2, i860: read "What is the relation between 1

and them?" Offerings.

Dropped

in 187

[II., p. 38.]

i860: one of Debris J page 422; 1867:

present

To the

Picture;

1871

with

title.

To Identify the

States,

[II., p.

i860: with this

Drum-Taps.

The

i6th, lyth, or i8tk Presidentiad.

39.]

page 400.

title,

[II., p.

40.]

war poems, published sepaadded as an annex to the Leaves in 1867, and incorporated into the volume in 1871. In 1870 Drum- Taps opened with a prefatory poem, which general

title

of the group of

rately in 1865,

was afterward "'

discarded

Aroused and an^ry,

alarum, and urge relentless war; But soon my fingers fail'd me, my face droop' d, and I thought to beat the

I resigned

myself.

sit

by the wounded dead,

First

and

soothe them, or silently watch the

Songs for a Prelude.

[II., p.

40.]

(1863) 1867.

Line 27, for

1867: read ''gathering" for "gather";

"arming"

"arm." Line 55, 1867: read

"Old matron

of the city! this proud,"

etc.

Eighteen Sixty-One.

[II., p.

43.]

(1865) 1867.

Beat! Beat! Drums!

[IL, p. 44.]

(1865) 1867.

Line

1867:

read "burst like a force 01 ruthless men." [196]

IDarlorum TReaMnge From Paumanok

Starting I Fly Like a Bird.

[II., p.

45.]

(1865) 1867.

Song

Banner

of the

Daybreak.

[11., p.

46.]

(1865) 1867.

Poet

Lines 16 and 17 added in 1871.

(i).

Pennant

(2),

1867: read

Banner and Pennant."

1867: read **us"for ''me." Line 10, 1867: read " But Poet (5).

Line

Banner and Pennant

(8).

of that," etc.

This section read in 1871

Banner and Pennant. Speak to the child, O bard, out of Manhattan; (The war is over out of it, we are yet never over born to real life and identity ;) Speak to our children all, or north or south of Manhattan, Where our factory-engines hum, where our miners delve the *'

—

ground,

Where

our hoarse Niagara rumbles, where our prairie-plows are

plowing; Speak,

bard

point this day, leaving

— and yet we know not why;

all

the

rest, to

us over

all

For what are we, mere strips of cloth, profiting nothing. in the wind ?"

Only flapping

Present reading in 1881.

Poet

(9), line 15,

Banner and "carnage." Line

1867: read '*thirty-six " for "thirty-eight."

Pennant

(10),

line

read

"or four

added

in 1871.

Line

12,

1867: read "thirty-five" for "forty."

Line

13,

1867: read

Father (12), line day."

Banner 2,

"war." Line

after

1867: read "are ours" after "moisten."

Line 11:

Line

"also"

(13).

"from

this

In 1867 these

1867: read

Dropped added in

day"

for

" henceforth."

1867: read "henceforth" for "after this

words were spoken by the

"and banner

in 1881.

1870. [«97]

Poet.

so broad and blue" after

Xeavea of (Braea After line 12, in 1867, there

was

new

section spoken

by the

Banner and Pennant:

Aye all! forever, for all! From sea to sea, north and '*

Fusing and holding,"

south, east and west,

etc., to

the end of the section.

The present arrangement made

in 1881.

Poet (14), line i, 1867: after ''dilate" read ''The blood of the world has fill'd me full." Dropped in 1881. Line

read

1867:

"My

sight,

hearing and tongue."

Present reading in 1881.

Line 7: " indeed " added in 1871; " again " added in 1871. Line 10, 1867: read "unless" for "except." Present read-

ing in 1871. Line 21

Rise

"absolute owner of all" added

Days from Your Fathomless Deeps.

in 1871. [II., p.

54.]

(1865) 1867.

Virginia First

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the West. published in

Two

1876: in the to

Drum- Taps Line

10,

[II., p. 56.]

As a

Strong Bird on Pinions Free (1872);

Rivulets volume, the fourth part.

Transferred

88 1

1876: read "Virginia" for "Rebellious."

City of Ships.

[II., p.

57.]

(1865) 1867.

The Centenarian's

Story. Volunteer of 1861-2 {at Washington [II., p. 58.] Park, Brooklyn, assisting the Centenarian).

(1865) 1867.

The Centenarian, line 21, 1867: after "arrived" read "the king had sent them from over the sea." Dropped in 1881. Line 33, 1867: read "many" for "most." Present reading in 1881.

Terminus, 1867, before line 7: read "It is well like that, always comes good." Dropped in 1881. After line 17, 1867: read illumin'd to

Dropped

at sunrise

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a

lesson

"Ah, river! henceforth you will be with something besides the sun."

in 1881.

[198]

Darlorum Line

i8,

IRea&infle

"Encampments new!

1867: read

in the midst," etc.

Present reading in 1881.

Cavalry Crossing a Ford.

[II., p.

63.]

(1865) 1867.

Line 6 added in 1871.

Bivouac on a Mountain Side.

[11., p.

64.]

(1865) 1867.

Line **

1867:

read

studded with the eternal stars"

studded, breaking out, the eternal stars."

for

Present reading in

1871.

An Army First

Army

Corps on the March.

published

Sequel to

on the March; 187

[11., p. 64.]

Drum-Taps

with present

(1865-6); 1867:

in the

Drum-

advances."

Pres-

and

title

Taps group. Line

1867: read "

As the army

resistless

ent reading in 1871.

the Bivouac's Fitful Flame.

[II., p.

65.]

(1865) 1867.

Come Up from

the Fields Father.

[11., p. 65.]

(1865) 1867. Vigil Strange I

Kept on the Field One Night.

[II., p.

67.]

(1865) 1867.

A March

in the

Ranks Hard-Prest and

the

Road Unknown.

[II.,

p. 69.]

(1865) 1867. Line 6, 1867: read "'tis Line

A Sight

16,

1867: read

Camp

in the

now," etc. "forms of soldiers."

Daybreak Gray and Dim.

[11., p. 71.]

(1865) 1867. Line 14, 1867: read "this face of yours."

As Toilsome

Wander'd

Virginia's

(1865) 1867. [199]

Woods.

[II., p. 72.]

Xeavee of (Braae Not the

Pilot.

[II., p. 72].

i860: one of Debris, page 42^; 1867: with present

title,

page

290.

Line

i860: read '*To be exhilarating music to them, years,

centuries hence";

1871: "

To be

a battle-call, rousing to arms,

them

exhilarating music to

need be

—

—years, centuries hence."

Present reading in 1881.

Year that Trembled and ReePd Beneath Me.

[II., p. 73.]

(1865) 1867.

The Wound-Dresser. (1865) 1867:

§1.

[II., p. 73.]

The Dresser; 1881: with present

title.

[p. 73.]

Lines

§2.

4, 5,

and 6 added

in 1881.

[p. 74.]

Line

11,

knees,"

etc.

1867:

read "In nature's reverie sad, with hinged

Present reading in 1881.

Long, Too Long America. 1867:

(1865)

Long,

[II., p.

77.]

Too Long,

Land.

Present

title

1881.

Line

Give

1867: read '*0 land" for "America."

the Splendid Silent Sun.

[II., p. 77.]

(1865) 1867.

§2.

[p. 77.]

Line 20,

and

1867: read after

"chorus"

— "with

varied chorus

light of the sparkling eyes."

Dirge for First

Two

Veterans.

[II., p. 79.]

published in Sequel to

Drum- Taps

Drum-Taps

(1865-6);

187 1: in

group.

Over the Carnage Rose Prophetic a Voice.

[II., p.

81.]

(1865) 1867.

Most of this poem appeared in i860. No. 5 of the Calamus group (page 349). Come, I will Make the Continent Indissoluble was also a part of this poem. (See rejected poems.) [200]

IDariorum IReaMnae I

Saw Old General

at Bay.

82.]

[II., p.

(1865) 1867.

The Artilleryman's Line

Line

[II., p.

1867: read

"mystic"

1867: read "in

82.]

1871: with present "vacant."

s Vision;

for

my busy brain

title.

unreal" for *Mn fantasy

Present reading in 1881.

unreal."

Line

Vision.

The Veteran

(1865) 1867:

"quick" before "tumuhuous."

Dropped

read " themselves " after " batteries."

Dropped

1867: read

in 1881.

Line

10,

1867

in 1881.

Line

17,

1867:

"comes"

read

after

"lull."

Dropped

1881.

Ethiopia Saluting the Colors.

[II., p.

84.]

with this title and the note {A Reminiscence of 1864), the group called Bathed in War's Perfume, page 357. 1871

Not Youth Pertains to Me.

[II., p.

85.]

(1865) 1867.

Line

1867: read "Beauty, knowledge, fortune," etc.

Lines 7 and

1867: read

" And

at intervals

Fit for

war, and the

have strung together a few songs, life of the camp."

Present reading in 187 1.

Race

of Veterans.

[11., p.

85.]

First published in Sequel to

Drum-Taps

(1865-6), 1867.

"race of victors!" added in 1871. Line 3: "henceforth" added in 1871. Line

World Take Good

Notice.

[II., p.

86.]

(1865) 1867.

Line

1867: read "thirty-six" for "thirty-eight."

O Tan-Faced

Prairie-Boy.

[II., p. 86.]

(1865) 1867.

Look Down Fair Moon.

[II., p. 86.]

(1865) 1867. Line 3, 1867: read "their" before "arms." [201]

Xeavee of ÂŠraea Reconciliation.

[II., p.

Transferred to

1867.

Line

How

87.]

to Drum-Taps (1865-6). Drum-Taps" in 1871.

published in Sequel

First

1867: read "I bend," etc.

Solemn as One by One.

[II., p. 87.]

Drum-Taps

First published in Sequel to

The note {Washington

1867.

Line

In annex,

City, 186^)

(1865-6); in annex

added

in 1871.

1867: read **allworn."

Lay with

My Head

Your Lap Camerado.

First published in Sequel to

Drum-Taps

[II., p. 88.]

(1865-6).

annex

1867.

After line 4, 1867: read **

Indeed

It is

myself the

real soldier;

not he, there, with his bayonet, and not the red-striped artilleryman."

Dropped

in 1881.

Delicate Cluster. 1871

[II., p.

88.]

the group of Bathed in War's Perfume, page 349.

To a Certain

Civilian.

(1865) 1867:

[II., p.

89.]

Did You Ask Dulcet Rhymes from Me?

with present title, in group of Ashes of Soldiers, page annex. Line 2 added in 187 1. Line 3: after "follow" read "to understand."

1871

29, the

Dropped

1871.

Lines

Line 9:

and 7 added

Lo, Victress on the Peaks. First

in 1871.

"and with piano-tunes [II., p.

published in Sequel to

added

in 1871.

89.]

Drum-Taps

(1865-6);

1867:

second annex. Line

1867: read

" Where thou standest,"

etc.

Present

thou, dominant," etc.

Present

reading in 1871. Line

1867: read

"Where

reading in 1871. [202]

IDarlorum TReaMnsa Line

''towerest" for "flauntest."

read

1867:

reading in 1871.

"in

1867:

hour"

this

Present

for **in these hours."

Present reading in 1871.

Line 1871

1867: read " But a

read " But a book."

Whose Work

Spirit

[II., p.

But a cluster ";

90.]

Drum- Taps

published in Sequel to

First

" for

Present reading in 1881.

Done.

book

little

(1865-6); 1871: the

note added {Washington City, 186^). in

Line

1867: read

"years"

87 1. Lines

10,

and

1867: read

11,

Present reading

**war."

for

"While"

for **As."

Present

reading in 1881.

Adieu to a Soldier. 1871

Turn

[11., p. 91.]

Now

Marches

Libertad.

the

War

Over,

[11., p. 92.]

(1865) 1867.

Line

1867:

read

"Turn,

no more doubting."

Libertad,

Present reading in 1871.

Line 2 added in 187 1.

To the LeavenM First

Soil

They Trod.

published in Sequel to

After line

nor the dead." After line

1867: read "

Dropped

92.]

Not

(1865-6).

nor

cities,

man

alone, nor war,

in 1881.

1867: read

earth, witness of

[II., p.

Drum-Taps

"To

the average earth, the wordless

war and peace."

Dropped

in 1881.

Line 14: "fully" added in 1881.

Memories of President Lincoln.

group

title

for

4 poems

[11., p.

called President Lincoln's Burial

When

Lilacs Last in the

The ยง I.

first

94.]

in 188 1.

In 187 1 the

group was

Hymn.

Door-Yard Bloom'd.

of the pieces in Sequel to

[II., p.

Drum-Taps

94-]

(1865-6).

[p. 94.]

Line

1867: read

ever-returning," etc.

in 1881. [203]

Present reading

Xeavee of (5ra60 §4.

[p. 95.]

Line

1867: read "gifted" for "granted."

Present reading

in 1881. [p. 95.]

§ 5.

Line

1867: read "uprising" for "uprisen."

Present read-

ing in 1881.

§8.

[p. 97.]

Lines 2 and 3, 1867: Present reading in 1881. After line

read

1867:

"we

read

"As we

Dropped

dark blue so mystic." Line 7, 1867: after

"west"

walk'd"

for

walk'd up and

"I walk'd."

down

in the

in 1881.

read "ere

Dropped

you went."

in 1881. [p. 97.]

§ 9.

Line

§ 12.

comrade, departing" for

"my

de-.

Present reading in 1871.

[p. 99.]

Line

"My own

Man-

1867: read " the farmer preparing his crops" for

"the

"Mighty Manhattan"

1867: read

Present reading in

hattan." § 14.

"my

1867: read

parting comrade."

for

88 1.

[p. 100.]

Line

farmers preparing their crops."

Line 21, 1867: read death."

"And

Present reading in 1881.

he sang what seem'd the song of

Present reading in 1881.

Line 24, 1867: read "singing" for "carol."

Present reading

in 1871.

Line 25, 1867: read "singing" for "carol." in 187

Present reading

The song

in 1871

was entitled Death Carol. "But praise! O praise and

Line 34, 1867: read ent reading in 1871.

praise."

Line 40, 1867: read " Approach, encompassing Death Present reading in 1871.

Deliveress." § 15.

[p. 102.]

Line 9: "askant" added in 187 1. [204]

Pres-

—strong

IParlorum IRea&lnae Line

1867: read "shreds of the flags

13,

reading in 1871. Line 17: " of the ยง 16.

war" added

left,"

Present

etc.

in 1871.

[p. 103.]

Line thee."

Line

1867: read

"Must

leave thee" for "Passing,

leave

Present reading in 1871.

"Must

1867: read

leave thee" for "I leave thee."

Present reading in 1871.

Line

1867: read

11,

"Must

pass from

song

for thee."

Present reading in 1871.

Line

1867: read

14,

"Yet each

keep, and

all."

Present

reading in 1871. Lines 15 and 16, 1867: ended with

Dropped

"I keep."

1871.

Line

1867,

17,

was next

to the last line.

After line 17, 1867: read

"With

Dropped in read "I keep" 1867:

of mastering odor."

Line

19,

the

and

lilac tall,

its

blossoms

1881. for

"to keep."

Present read-

ing in 1881.

Captain I

Captain.

[II., p.

105.]

(1865-6) 1867.

Stanza

line 6, 1867:

"Leave you not

read

the

spot."

little

Present reading in 1871.

Stanza

2, line 5,

1867: read

captain " for " Here captain."

Present reading in 1871.

Line

1867: read "This

reading in 1871. Stanza 3, line chor'd safe."

arm

1867: read

push beneath you."

"But the

Present

ship, the ship

an-

Present reading in 1871.

Line 6, 1867: read "silent "for "mournful." Present reading in 187 1. Line 7, 1867: read "spot "for "deck." Present reading in 1871.

Hush*d Be the Camps To-Day. First published in

Buried April

19,

Drum- Taps

1865."

[II, p.

(1865)

106.] ;

1867

1871 had this note: " [205]

with note " A.

{May

4, 186^)."

Xeavee of (Braas Stanza

1867: read

**Sing, to the lower'd coffin there;

Sing, with the shovel'd clods that

fill

the grave

— a verse.

For the heavy hearts of soldiers." Present reading in 1871.

This Dust was Once the Man.

[II., p.

106.]

1871.

By Blue

Ontario's Shore.

[II., p.

107.]

1856: Poem of Many in One, pages 180-201, formed partly from the prose preface of 1855; i860: Chants Democratic, No. /, pages 108-125; 1867: As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario's Shore, in the last annex called Songs Before Parting; 1871 with the title of 1867, but in the group called Marches Now the War is The present title in 1881. Over, pages 309-327. §1. [p. 107.]

was added

This section

in 1867.

The

first

stanza read

*' As I sat alone, by blue Ontario's shore, As mused of these mighty days, and of peace return'd, and the dead that return no more, A Phantom, gigantic, superb, with stern visage, accosf d me Chant me a poem, it said, of the range of the high Soul of Poets, I

—

And chant of the And

welcome bards that breathe but my native air invoke those bards ; chant me, before you go, the Song of the throes of Democracy.

Present reading in 1871

§ 2.

— except

line

revised in 1881.

[p. 107.]

Line 4, 1856: read ''A breed Present reading in 1867.

Lines 10 and

added

whose testimony

in 1867.

Line 13: ''only" added in i860. Lines 14-16 added in 1867. [206]

behaviour."

Darlorum IReablnge [p. io8.]

ยง3.

After

line

After line

''How Which

lines

book

dropped

isolated

say that works

much

in 1867

are inevitably

not diseased

poems

" ?

and others added:

here in the spirit of other lands, are so

poison in These States.

armies,

poems

for

and the offspring following the

America? armies?"

in 1881.

[p. 109.]

Line

"to

1856: read

leap from their seats" for "Crying,

Leap from your seats." "their" for "your." Line

1856: read

Present reading in

read "questioning you up there

now."

Lines 8 and 9 added in 1867. Line 10, 1856: read "Are you, or

would you be

lands,

Line

freer."

1856: read "

ever been before,

come

1856:

1867.

read also

1867;

"goes through the streets"

Present reading in

States."

you

sing;

made

These were dropped

the

that

dare these insects assume to write

For our

ยง 4.

lost,

1856: read

the theory or

"America

(How

in 1867.

dare a sick man, or an obedient man, write is

These

1856: read "If one

Dropped

lost."

Dropped

would you

for

after

"walks

"meet"

in 1867.

be, better" for

Present reading in 1867.

you would be me and

listen to

better than 1

will

tell

all

that has

you"; i860:

"If you would be better than all that has ever been before, come me and not otherwise." Present reading in 1867. Line 12: "elegance, civilization" added in 1871.

listen to

ยง5.

[p. 109.]

Line i, 1856: read "poems" "chants." Dropped in 187 1. Line etc.

1856: read

after

"precedents"; 1867: read

"Mighty bards have done

Present reading in 1867. [207]

their

work,"

Xeat^ea of 6vaee

Line

1856: read

"One work

forever remains," etc.

Pres-

ent reading in 1867.

Line

1856: after "characters" read

hazards" added Line

1856: after

"sternly."

"At

all

in i860.

"sound"

read "sees itself promulger of

men and women."

Dropped in 1867. Line 7, 1856: after "forms" read "or amid other politics, or amid the idea of castes, or the old religions." Dropped in 1867.

Line 8, 1856: after "from" read "the eating and sleeping rooms of the house." Present reading in 1867. Compare the last stanza of this section with the second para-

graph of the prose preface 1855. faithful" for "careless."

ยง6.

[p.

Line

1856: read "carelessly

Present reading in 1867.

no.]

This section

taken largely from the preface of 1855. "Race of races" for "Land of lands."

Line

1856: read

Line

1856: read "Semitic" for

"seminaL"

Present read-

ing in 187 1.

Line

1856: read

"Making

its

geography,

cities,

beginnings,

events, glories, defections, diversities, vocal in him."

Present

reading in 1867. Line

11,

Lawrence"

1856: read " Missouri " after "chutes"; "Ohio, for

"Niagara."

St.

Present reading in 1867.

After line 11, 1856: read "The blue breadth over the sea off Massachusetts and Maine, or over the Virginia and Maryland sea,

or over

inland

Champlain, Ontario,

Erie,

Huron,

Michigan,

Superior, or over the Texan, Mexican, Cuban, Floridian seas, or

over the seas of California and Oregon, not tallying the breadth of the waters below, more than the breadth of above and below is tallied

Line

in 14,

him." 1856: read in addition "cypress,

tamarind, persimmon."

lime-tree,

tulip-

These dropped in 1867. Line 16, 1856: after "ice" read "and icicles hanging from the boughs." Dropped in 1867. "Northern " added in 1867. Line 18, 1856: read "Through him flights, songs, screams, answering those of the wild pigeon, high-hold, orchard-oriole, coot, surf-duck, red-shouldered hawk, fish-hawk, white-ibis, tree, cactus,

[208]

IDarlorum IReaMnae indian-hen, cat-owl, water-pheasant, qua-bird, pied-sheldrake,

buzzard, condor, night-heron, eagle."

mocking-bird,

Present

reading in 1867. 1856: read "rapid" for

Line 22,

embryo."

ing in 1867. Line 25, 1856: read *'calm" for "sure."

Present read-

Present reading in

1867.

Line 28,

1856:

read

"December"

"Twelfth-month."

for

Present reading in i860.

Line }2, 1856: after "carriage" read "their deathless attachDropped in 1867. to freedom."

ment

Line }}: "the whole composite make" added in i860. 4oand4i, 1856: read " Slavery, the tremulous spreading

Lines

of hands to shelter

only

when

— the

ceases."

stern opposition to

it,

which ceases

Present reading in 1867.

[p. 113.]

§ 7.

This section

§8.

was added

in 1867.

[p. 114.]

A few lines in this section were Before line

1856: read

"For

taken from the preface of 1855. these and the like, their own

For these, space ahead!" Dropped in 1867. Line 3: " I isolate myself for your sake " added in 1867. Line 6, 1856: read " I lead " for "Lead." Line 7, 1836: read " Bravas to states whose Semitic impulses

voices!

send wholesome children to the next age " Bravas 867 read to all Semitic impulses sending strong children to the next age." !

' *

Present reading in 1871. Line 8, 1856: after "itself" read

Dropped §9.

"on

flaunters

and dallyers."

in 1871.

[p. 114.]

Lines in this section taken from the 1853 preface. Line i added in 1871.

Line 2 added in 1867. States

1856: "

By great bards only can series of peoples and be fused into the compact organism of one nation,''

Line

Present reading in 1867. VOL. III.— 14.

[209]

Xeaves of (Sraea Line

1856: read ''which

aggregates

living principles" for

in a living principle."

all

"which

Present reading in 1867.

Lines 8-9 added in 1867. § 10.

[p. IIS.]

Nearly the whole of

made up from

this section is

the 1855

preface.

Line

1856: read

"mankind "for "these

Present

States."

reading in 1871. Line 11: " Nature accepts him absolutely " added in 1867. After line 17, 1856: read

"An He

American

literat fills his

justifies science

than the mythical

own

place,

— did you think the demonstrable

stands by liberty according to the compact of the the

first

less divine

? first

day of

year of These States,

concentrates in the real body and soul, and in the pleasure of

possesses the superiority of genuineness over fiction and

things.

romance,

As he emits himself, facts are showered over with light. The day-light is lit with more volatile light the deep between

—

the setting and rising sun goes deeper

many

fold.

Each precise object, condition, combination, process, exhibits a beauty the multiplication table its, old age its, the car-

—

penter's trade

its,

the grand-opera

its,

The huge-hulled clean-shaped Manhattan steam or

The

national circles

with

clipper at sea, under gleams with unmatched beauty. and large harmonies of government gleam

full sail,

theirs,

The commonest definite This was dropped in

intentions

1856: for lines 18 and 19 read viduals, the idea of

and actions with

theirs."

i860.

These

States,

"Of

leaders of leaders."

After line 2^, 1856: read

" Language-using controls the

rest;

[210]

the idea of perfect indi-

their bards

walk

advance,

Darlorum IReabinQe Wonderful

Wondrous

the English language, language of live men,

language!

Language of ensemble, powerful language of resistance, Language of a proud and melancholy stock, and of

all

who

aspire,

Language of growth, Language Language

self-esteem, rudeness, justice, friend-

to well-nigh express the unexpressible.

modern, language

for the

Dropped §11.

faith,

amplitude, prudence, decision, exactitude, courage,

liness,

for

America."

in i860.

[p. 116.]

This section

§12.

was added

in 1867.

[p. 117.]

Lines

and 2 added

in i860,

with this reading:

** Are You indeed for Liberty ? Are you a man who would assume a place to teach here, or be a

poet here

The

place

august

— the terms obdurate."

Present reading in 1871. Line

may,"

etc.

Line ica ? "

1856: read

**Who would

use language to America

Present reading in i860. 1856: read "

Who are you that

would

talk to

Amer-

Present reading in i860.

Line 9: the clause after

Independence

After line 10, 1856: read **Do

added

in i860.

you acknowledge

liberty

with

audible and absolute acknowledgment, and set slavery at naught for

life

and death

Line

"new

? "

Dropped

in 1867.

"described" for **all feudal"; read "the poems and processes of Democracy."

11,

1856:

ones"

for

read

Present reading in 1867. Line

12,

1856:

read after

cesses, crimes, teach."

Line

13,

1856: read

"amativeness"

— "angers,

ex-

Present reading in 1867.

"through customs, laws,

Present reading in 1867. [21X]

popularities,"

Xeavee of Sraes "Are you very strong

Line 14:

People" added Line

are

you

whole

really of the

you possessed yourself with the

1856: ''Have

17,

in i860. spirit

Present reading in i860. of the maternity of These States ?" After line 17, 1856: read " Have you sucked the nipples of the breasts of the

mother of many children

Line 24: 'Ms the

good

Dropped in i860. added in 1871.

— "nobility,

"air"

meanness."

in 1867.

"Does

After line 32, 1856: read

soul

old cause in it"

Line 28 added in 1871. Line 30, 1856: read after

Dropped

to-day

? "

Dropped

respect

me? America?

the

in 1867.

Line 33, 1856: read "What does it mean to me? to American persons, progresses, cities ? Chicago, Canada, Arkansas ? the planter, Yankee, Georgian, native, immigrant, sailors, squatters, old States, new States ?" Present reading in 1881. § 13.

[p. 119.]

is made up from the 1855 preface. read 1871 "foreign " for " other." Line i, 1856: read "from other poems." Present reading in

This section

1881.

" but " added in 1867. Line 3 Line 8: " in the long run " added in i860. :

Line

phy"

1856: read

10,

"poems"

for

"songs";

read "politics, manners, engineering."

after "philoso-

Present reading in

1881.

Line

1856:

12,

read

"fills

" emerging, appears on the Line 14: " I say " added Line

17,

houses

and

streets"

for

in i860.

1856: read "Friendship, self-esteem, justice, health,"

Present reading in

etc.

the

streets."

867.

Line 18 added in i860. § 14.

[p. 120.]

This section Lines

Line all

made up from

and 2 added 1856:

the rest."

1855 preface.

in i860.

read " Give

to speak beautiful

Present reading in 1867. [212]

words! take

IDarlorum IReaMnga Lines 7-1

1856: preceded by "\ have."

After line 11, 1856: read "I have studied

Dropped

land,

in 1881. its

idioms

and men." Line 12 added in 1867; lines 13-15 added in 1871. Line 17, 1856; read "I reject none, I permit all."

Present

reading in 1881. After last line, 1856: read "Whom I have staid with once I Dropped in 1867. have found longing for me ever afterwards." Lines 18 and 19 added in 1867; but read "that alone" for "you and yours."

ยง 15.

[p. 121.]

Line 3: "

Line

up there

1856: read

added in 1867. "to individuals"; 1871: "to form great

Present reading in 1881. 1856: read " Underneath all are individuals."

individuals."

Line

Line 7: "to me now" added in i860. Line 8: "altogether" added in i860.

Line 10 added in i860. Lines

ยง 16.

and 12 added

in 1867.

[p. 122.]

Line

1856: read "Underneath

Line

1856: read

"need of

all is

nativity."

the expression," etc.

Present

reading in 1881. Line

1856: read

"had "for "seen."

Present reading in

1867.

Line 11: " the same monotonous old song" added in i860. After line

me, what were ยง 17.

1856: read "

1, it

If all

you and me

had not kernels

Dropped

for

you and

in 1867.

[p. 123.]

Line 1: for "flashing" read

"now."

Present reading in

i860.

After line

Its

1856: read

roughs, beards, haughtiness, ruggedness, are you and me, [2x3]

%cavcB of (5ra00 Its

ample geography, the

Huron, Toronto, Raleigh, Nashville, Havana,

sierras, the prairies, Mississippi,

Colorado, Boston,

you and me,

are Its

settlements, wars, the organic compact, peace, Washington,

Its

young men's manners, speech,

the Federal Constitution, are you and me, dress, friendships, are

you and

me."

Dropped Line

in 1867.

1856: read ''slavery" after "defections."

After line

1856: read

"Its inventions, science, schools, are you and me. Its deserts,

clearings, log-houses, hunters, are

forests,

you and

me,

The

perpetual arrivals of immigrants are

Dropped

you and me."

in 1867.

Line 6 added in 1867. After line are

1856: read "Failures, successes, births, deaths,

you and me."

Compare an

Dropped

in 1867.

early manuscript reading of these lines:

"Its settlements, wars, the organic compact, peace, Washington, the Federal constitution, are Its

young men's manners, speech,

you and me.

dress, friendships, are

you and

me.

you and me,

Its

crimes,

Its

congress

Its

inventions, science, schools, are

Its

deserts, forests, clearings, log houses,

are

lies,

defections, slavery, are

you and me you and me, is

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the

officers, capitols, armies, ships,

you and me, hunters, are

you and

me.

you and me. paved cities, wharves, wealth, avenues, dwellings, are you and me. The perpetual arrival of immigrants, are you and me. The north, south, east, west, are you and me, Natural and artificial, are you and me, Its

ships, fisheries, whaling, gold-digging, are

Its

[214]

IParlorum IReabinge poems, employments, are you and me, you and me, present, future, are only you and me.

Liberty, language,

Failures, successes, births, deaths, are

Past,

cannot evade any part of myself. I swear Not America, nor any attribute of America, not friendship, hospitality, procreation, Not my body Not my soul, not the last explanation of prudence, Not faith, sin, defiance, nor any of the dispositions or duties of I

—

myself,

Not

liberty

— not to cheer up slaves and horrify despots."

Lines lo,

i6,

19,

and 21: began with

swear."

Dropped

in 1881.

Line

and following, 1856: read

*' Not America, nor any part of America. Not my body, not friendship, hospitality, procreation. Not my soul, not the last explanation of prudence. Not the similitude that interlocks me with all identities that

exist,

or ever have existed,

Not faith, sin, defiance, nor any disposition or duty of myself. Not the promulgation of liberty, not to cheer up slaves and horrify despots."

Dropped

in 1867.

Line

1856:

19,

read

*'with America and with the earth."

Present reading in i860.

Line 24 added in i860. Lines 25-27 added in 1867. § 18.

[p. 124.]

Line 9 added in i860.

The Many

These States

One

After this line in i860: read

— what

is it finally

except myself?

— what are they except myself?"

Revised in 1867. Lines 12 and 13, 1856: read

*M will learn 1

why

the earth

gross, tantalizing, wicked,

take you to be mine, you beautiful, terrible, rude forms." [215]

!lLeape0 of (Braee

This ends the

poem

in that edition.

i860: read **

have learned

why

sake,

for

is I

take

you

the earth

be mine, you

gross, tantalizing,

beautiful, terrible,

wicked

—

rude forms."

This ends the poem in that edition. Lines 14-16 added in 1867. § 19.

[p. 125.]

This section was added in 1867. Line 3, 1867: read *'sang" for '^thriU'd."

Present reading

in 1881.

§ 20.

[p. 125.]

This section was added in 1867. Line

my charm"

1867: read '*song,

for

verse,

calL"

Present reading in 1871. After line 4, 1867: read **

But,

strong soul of Poets,

Bards for

my own

Dropped

land, ere

go,

invoke. -^

in 1871.

Lines 5-8 added in 187 1. Lines 9-13, 1867: read

You Bards grand as these days so grand! Bards of the great Idea! Bards of the wondrous inventions! Bards of the marching armies a million soldiers waiting ever'*

—

ready.

Bards towering like these

little

hills

— (no

more these

dots, these pigmies,

piping straws, these gnats, that

fill

the hour, to

pass for poets;)

Bards with songs as from burning coals, or the lightning's fork'd stripes!

Ample

—

Ohio's bards bards for California! inland bards; Bards of pride! Bards tallying the ocean's roar, and the swooping

scream charm, I invoke!

eagle's

You, by

[216]

IDariorum IReaMnge This was the reading of 187 1, except certain statements were added. After line 2 (above)

read

(*'

for the war, the

war

over")

"bards of the war," and then the following important line: '* As a wheel turns on its axle, so I find my chants turning finally on the war." The present reading in 1881. after line 6: read

Autumn

Rivulets.

group

As Consequent,

127.]

[II., p.

employed

title first

etc.

in 188 1.

127.]

[11., p.

1881.

The Return

—

1871

of the Heroes.

revisions

all

faced

[II., p.

128.]

Carol of Harvest, for i86y, in

note:

this

edition.

this

**In

all

grandest achievement yet for

1881 with present

poem was

1876 the

title

pre-

or modern, the

History, antique

— —

Humanity

grander even than the triumph of This Union over Secession was the return, disbanding, and peaceful disintegration from compact military political

organization, back into agricultural and civil employments, of

the vast Armies, the

—a

two

problem reserved promptly solve."

The

first

millions of embattled

for

men

of America

Democracy, our day and

section in 1871

was

land,

the following (discarded in

1881):

A A

SONG of the good green grass! song no more of the city streets song of farms ^a song of the soil of fields.

song with the smell of sun-dried hay, where the nimble pitch-

—

ers handle the pitch-fork

A song §1.

new

wheat, and of fresh-husk'd maize."

[p. 128.]

Line § 2.

tasting of

1871

read

verse to seek, to see, to narrate thee."

[p. 129.]

Line

1871:

read **The flowers, the grass, the

Line 10, 1871: read "the

lilliput," etc.

bulging, silvery fringes." [217]

Xeaves of (Braes [p. 129.]

ยง 3.

Line

1871

12,

read ''that giv'st a million farms."

[p. 130.]

ยง 4.

Line

1871

Line

1871

After line

Line

11,

read ''conflict" for

"war."

read "armies" for "conflict."

1871

"no more

read

wounded." "so handsome, dress'd

the dead and

1871: after "brigades" read

in blue."

After line

1871:

11,

read

river,

out of whistles loud and

ยง 7.

[p. 133.]

"Scream, you steamers on the your salutes."

shrill,

Line 9, 1871: read "America" after "where." Line 10, 1871: began with "Well-pleased."

There

Was

a Child

Went

Forth.

[II., p.

135.]

1855 without title, pages 90-91; 1856: Poem of the Child That Went Forth, and Always Goes Forth, Forever and Forever, pages 2S2-2S'y; i860: Leaves of Grass, No. g, pages 22\-22')\ iSS^: Leaves of Grass, No. i, pages 59-1 61; 1871 with pres1

ent

title.

Line 2, 1855: read after "upon" "and received with der or pity or love or dread." Dropped in 1867. Line

1855:

read

"March-born"

won-

"Third-month."

for

Present reading in i860.

Line

11,

1855:

and Fifth-month." Line night,

19,

read "April and

May"

for

"Fourth-month

Present reading in i860.

1855: read

"he

and fathered him."

that

had propelled the

fatherstuflf at

Present reading in i860.

Line 21, 1855: read "they and of them became part of him." Present reading in 1867.

Line 32, 1855: read "tiered" for "heavy-plank'd." reading in 1867. Line 34, 1855: read "three" for

"two."

Present

Present reading in

1881.

Line 36, slapping."

The

1855: read "waves and quickbroken crests and Present reading in 1856.

last line,

that peruses

1835: read

them now."

"And

Dropped [218]

these

become of him

in 1867.

or her

IParlorum IReaMnge There were several

poem

trial lines for this

in the

manuscript:

''The horizon's edge, the flying seacrow,

The unearthly laugh of the

mud

shore

The song of the

Old Ireland. First

laughing-gull, the salt-marsh and

odor.

the phoebebird, the blossom of apple-trees and ."

[II., p.

published in

138.]

Drum-Taps

The City Dead-House.

[II., p.

(1865)

;

1867 in annex, page 66.

139.]

1867.

This Compost.

[II., p.

140.]

1856: Poem of Wonder at the Resurrection of the Wheat, pages 202-205 860 Leaves of Grass, No. 4, pages 208-2 1 1 1867 with present title, pages 306-308. ;

ยง

[p. 140.]

Line

men?" ? "

sicken

Line

"in you." Line

11,

ards," etc. ยง 2.

1856: read

i860:

"How can O how

Earth!

the ground

not sicken of

can the ground of you not

Present reading in 1871, but

itself"

added

in 1881.

1856: read *Mn the earth" for ''within you"; i860:

Present reading in 1871. 1856: read "disposed ofthose carcasses of the drunk-

Present reading in 1867.

[p. 140.]

Line

1856: read

"Behold! This

the compost of billions of premature corpses."

Present reading in 1867.

Line 3: "of spring" added in 1871. Line 13: "the lilacs bloom in the dooryards " added in 1871.

To a

Foil'd

European Revolutionaire.

Poem for Asia, Africa, Europe, America, AusCuba, and the Archipelagoes of the Sea, pages 268-270;

1856: Liberty tralia,

[H., p. 142.]

[219]

Xeavee of (Svaee i860: To a Foiled Revolter or Revoltress,

among

Leaves, pages 394-396; 1871 with present Line i: " yet " added in 1871.

title.

the Messenger

Line 4: ** or by any unfaithfulness " added in i860. Line 6, 1856: read ''Asia, Africa, Europe, America, Australia,

Cuba, and all the islands and archipelagoes of the sea" for "all the continents " 1867 "all the continents, and all the islands and :

;

archipelagoes of the sea."

Line 7: "

What we

Present reading in 188 1.

believe in invites " etc.

Present reading

in 1881.

Line

1856: read

"Waits

century — a hundred centuries."

patiently

its

time

—a

year

—a

Present reading in 1867.

Lines 9-13 added in 1871.

Line

16,

The

last

"When

1856: read "necklace and anklet."

stanza of 1856:

read as follows

more memories of the

there are no

lovers of the

whole of

the nations of the world,

The

lovers'

names scouted

in the public gatherings

by the

lips

the orators,

Boys not christened

after

them, but christened

murderers instead.

Laws

after traitors

and

—

sweet to the taste of people the slave-hunt acknowledged, You or walking abroad upon the earth, elated at the sight of slaves, no matter who they are, And when all life and all the souls of men and women are discharged from any part of the earth, Then shall the instinct of liberty be discharged from that part of for slaves

the earth,

Then

shall the infidel

and the tyrant come into possession."

i860 contained the above passage and added the

last

three

poem in its present form (except " European revolter, revoltress!" was added in 1867 and 1871; "misconception" was added in 1871). The present reading of stanza 6 was given in 1867.

stanzas of the

Unnamed

Lands.

[II., p.

144.]

i860: pages 412-414. [220]

IDariorum IReaWnga Line

ii,

belong to

i860: after "it" read

Dropped

it."

Line 22, i860: read

"and

all

will henceforth

in 1881.

believe of

all

those billions of men,"

Present reading in 1881.

etc.

Line 25,

i860: read "languages,

medals,

coins,

marriage,

literature,

phrenology, government, products, games, jurispru-

dence, wars, manners, amativeness, crimes," etc.

Present read-

ing in 1867.

Song

of Prudence.

Made

[II., p.

146.]

from the 1855 prose preface; 1856: Poem of the Last Explanation of Prudence, pages 257-261; i860: Leaves of Grass, No. 5, pages 211-214; 1867: Manhattan's Streets I Saunter' d.

partly

Present title in 1881. Pondering, pages 309-312. i, 1836: read " All day I have walked the city and talked

Line

with

friends,

The

and thought of prudence."

present line

substituted for this in 1867.

Line

1856: read "After

the last,"

all,

etc.

Present reading

in 1881.

Line

"The

1856:

10,

indirect

more than the

direct."

Pres-

ent reading in 1867.

Line

"judge" read "prostitute."

1856: after

19,

Dropped

"literat" added in 1867.

in i860;

After line 2^, 1856: read "All furtherance of fugitives,

Dropped in 1881. 1836: read "hundreds" for "dozens."

and of

the escape of slaves." Line 30,

Present

reading in 1871. Line 41 " entirely" added in i860. :

Line 42:

"only" added

Before line 44,

Dropped

ยง

"Now

give you an inkling."

in 1881.

The Singer 1871

in 1867.

1856: read

in the Prison.

in the

The

Passage

first

line

[II., p.

150.]

India annex, pages 94-96.

of the refrain,

1871:

read

shame, and pain, and dole! ยง 2. This section opened with the refrain

sight of pity, gloom,

O pardon

and dole!

me, a hapless Soul ! [221]

sight of

!ILeave6 of (Brass

After line

1871

read "All that dark, cankerous blotch, a

Dropped

nation's criminal mass."

1871

in 1881.

hymn

the refrain repeated after each stanza of the

varying form

O sight of shame, and pain, O fearful thought — a convict

and

dole !

Soul

O sight of pity, gloom, and dole! O pardon me, a hapless Soul !"

Life ! no

life,

hut hitter dole I

burning, heaten, haffled Soul!

" Convict no more

—

nor shame, nor dole! " Depart! a God-enfranchis' d Soul!

Warble 1871

Line

for Lilac-Time. in

1871: read after **sake"

After line 7, 1871

1871

18,

first

life's

—

Dropped

in 1881.

sweet

in 1881.

berries."

read "Spiritual, airy insects,

Dropped

gossamer wings."

— ''and

Dropped

life's."

read "bird's eggs, and the

Line

152.]

Passage to India annex, pages 96-98. "returning in reminiscence" added in 1881.

and death's the same as

mer"

[II., p.

read

sake After ''sum-

humming on

in 188 1.

"O for another world! O

if," etc.

Pres-

ent reading in 1881. After line 21, 1871: read

"(With

additional songs

— every

spring will

now

strike

additional songs,

Nor ever again

forget, these tender days, the chants of

Death as

well as Life;)

Dropped

in 1881.

After line 24, 1871

" To

tally,

Cities,

and

read

drench'd with them, tested by them. artificial life,

and

all

their sights

and scenes,

My mind henceforth, and all its meditations — my recitatives, My land, my age, my race, for once to serve in songs, (Sprouts, tokens ever of death indeed the [222]

same

life.)

IParlorum IReaMnga Dropped

in 1881.

Outlines for a

Tomb.

[II., p.

154.]

Brother of All, with Generous Hand, in Passage to Present title in 1881. India sinnex, pages 108-1 11. the poem opened with the following stanza (disIn 1 87 1

871:

carded

881):

Brother of all, with generous hand, Of thee, pondering on thee, as o'er thy tomb, **

A thought to launch in memory A burial verse for thee." After the

section of the present

first

and

Soul,

of thee,

poem,

following stanzas and section (discarded in 1881)

1871, read the :

'*Yet lingering, yearning, joining soul with thine. If

not thy past

chant,

chant the future,

adorn the future.

Select,

Lo, Soul, the graves of heroes!

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the gratitudes of men,

The The The

statues of the manifold

The

excellent rulers of the races, great discoverers, sailors.

pride of lands

famous dead, Old World and New, wide thy vision,

kings, inventors, generals, poets, (stretch Soul,)

Marble and brass select from them, with pictures, scenes, (The histories of the lands, the races, bodied there, In what they *ve built for, graced and graved,

Monuments In

to their heroes.)

87 1 the

poem

closed with the section following (discarded

in 1881):

" Lo, Soul, by this tomb's lambency. The darkness of the arrogant standards of the world. With all its flaunting aims, ambitions, pleasures. (Old,

The

commonplace, and rusty saws.

rich, the

Now,

gay, the supercilious, smiled at long,

piercing to the

marrow

bones.

Fused with each drop my heart's blood Swim in ineffable meaning.) [223]

jets,

â&#x20AC;˘

Xeavea of (Braea Lo, Soul, the sphere requireth, portioneth,

each his share, his measure,

The moderate

to the moderate, the

ample to the ample.

Lo, Soul, see'st thou not, plain as the sun.

The only The only

wealth of wealth in generosity. " life in goodness ?

real life

Out from Behind This Mask.

Two

1876: in the

This note the

was

prefixed:

Wound-Dresser

§1.

[II., p.

156.]

Rivulets volume, the '

"To

confront

Leaves of Grass.

first part,

page

24.

Portrait, illustrating

[p. 156.]

Line

1876:

§ 2.

Masks

read ''All straighter, liker

The

this preferr'd."

rejected

—

present line substituted in 1881.

[p. 157.]

Line

1876: read "clench" for "clinch."

Vocalism.

[11., p. 157.]

i860: Chants Democratic, No. 12, pages 183-185; Section To Oratists, 867 Leaves of Grass, No. 2, pages 3 1 5-3 17; 1 87 1 pages 347-348. Present title given to the two sections in 1881. Section 2, i860: Leaves of Grass, No. 21, page 240; 1867: Leaves of Grass, No. 3, in Songs Before Parting annex, pages i,

23-24; 1 871: f^oiceSj page 308. localism in 188 1. §

Joined with To OraZ/s/s to form

[p. 157.]

Before line

Dropped Line

i860: read

"To

oratists

— to male or female."

in 1881. i,

i860: read "Vocalism, breath, measure

use words."

Present reading in 1881

— but

...

"breath" dropped

in 1871.

After line

i860:

read

"Are you

eligible?"

Dropped

1867.

After line ' *

Remembering long

i860: read inland America, the high plateaus, stretching

[224]

IDariorum IReaMnge

—

remembering what edges the vast round " edge of the Mexican Sea ?

Remembering Kanada Dropped Line in 188

in 1867.

i860: read '*the

11,

dead"

In i860, this section closed

carded

"O now And And Of a

see arise orators

see

see that

with the following stanzas

it is

(dis-

for inland

fit

America,

slow to become an orator as to become a man,

power

folded in a great vocalism.

when you hear it, the merciless and the storm rage around.

great vocalism,

Every

Dropped

881):

shall pour,

The

after ''antiquities."

flash shall

be a revelation, an

light

insult,

glaring flame turned on depths, on heights, on suns, on stars.

On the interior and exterior of man or woman. On the laws of Nature — on passive materials. On what you called death and what to you

—

therefore

was

death.

far as there

§2.

can be death."

[p. 158.]

This section, in i860, began with the following stanza (discarded in I 881): **

Now make a leaf of Voices—for I

have found nothing mightier

than they are.

And

have found that no word spoken, but

beautiful, in its

place."

Line

To Him

i860: read

that

Was

Crucified.

i860: with present

Line

i860: after

You Felons on

"Now

believe that

[II., p.

all

waits," etc.

159.]

page 397. ''you" read ("there are others also"). title,

Trial in Courts.

[II., p.

i860:

160.]

Leaves of Grass, No. ij, pages 2^1-2^2; 1867 with present title, pages }^6, 337. VOL. III.— 15.

[225]

leavea of (Bra^a In i860, the following stanzas

began the poem (discarded

1867):

*'0

Confession sprig!

bitter sprig!

—

I bind you bouquet I give you place also Proceeding no further till, humbled publicly, I give fair warning, once for all.

In the

own that

have been

sly, thievish,

in.

mean, a prevaricator, greedy,

derelict,

And

What

own

that

remain so yet.

—

thought but I think it or have in me the stuff out of it is thought ? " darkness in bed at night, alone or with a companion ?

foul

which

What

Line

i860: read **0 culpable!

traitor! "

Present read-

ing in 1867.

Laws

for Creations.

[11., p.

160.]

Chants Democratic, No. i^, pages 185-186; 1867: Leaves of Grass, No. ^, page 317; 1871 with present title, page i860:

96.

Lines 4 and

There

i860 read thus:

5 in

be no subject but it shall be treated with reference ensemble of the world, and the compact truth of the world And no coward or copyist shall be allowed; There shall be no subject too pronounced All works shall illustrate the divine law of indirections; There they stand I see them already, each poised and in its *'

shall

to the

—

place.

Statements, models, censuses, poems, dictionaries, biographies, essays, theories

— How

complete!

How

relative

No one supersedes another; They do not seem to me like the old specimens, They seem to me like Nature at last, (America has

and

in-

terfused!

them, and

They seem

and weeds

given birth to

have also;)

at last as perfect as the animals,

—

them. with floating clouds

fitted to

Fitted to the sky, to float

the trees with rustling leaves, [226]

and

— to

as the rocks

rustle

among

IParlorum IReaMnga To

stretch with stretched sail in

and

level waters,

where ships

silently

the distance."

Present reading in 1867. Line

i860:

read *M have intimated" for

"\ would

inti-

Present reading in 1871.

mate."

Compare

the manuscript notes for this

poem:

(a)

"Of Biography, and That written

literature

has been

and

art.

has not been with reference because everything, every subject

has not been well written because

by authors who considered

to the ensemble of the

—

world

made too prononce.

— and

with the rest dividual and complete

thing

all

their subjects

The charm of nature

that every-

not prononce, but yet distinct, in-

in itself.

(*)

a Literat.

Your subject

You have not

always too pronounced.

considered your subject with reference to

its

place

and with reference to the ensemble of the world. The great statements, censuses, poems, essays, dictionaries, biographies, etc., are those that stand in their places with the things of the world.

Behold nature!

how

Each toward

and nothing supersedes the

all

distinct, individual,

complete. rest.

—

Walt Whitman's law For the new and strong

artists of America For the fresh brood of perfect teachers, literats, the diverse savans

and the coming musicians, be no subject but it shall be treated with reference to the ensemble of the world and no coward or copyist shall be any more allowed. There shall be no subject too pronounced all works shall acknowledge the divine law of indirections,

There

shall

—

[227]

leavee of (Smee There they stand,

them

see

already, each easy in

its

place,

Statements, music, poems, dictionaries, biographies, essays

How

how

complete,

interfused

— No one supersedes the

—

rest.

They do not seem to me like what saw in arriere, in the old volumes and specimens. They seem to me like nature at last (America has given rise to I

them, and

They seem

have

also).

—

sky with clouds like trees with rustwith ships sailing on in

like the

ling leaves, like stretching waters

the distance.

They seem

at last as

good

as animals

and as the rocks,

earth and weeds."

To a Common

Prostitute.

i860: with present

[II., p.

title,

i6i.]

among

the Messenger Leaves, page

399I

Was Looking

a Long While.

[II., p. 162.]

Chants Democratic, No. ig, page 192; 1867 with page 312. Line i, i860: read "I was looking a long while for the history and now I have of the past for myself, and for these Chants found it"; "a clue to" was added in 1871; **for Intentions" was added in 1881. Line 6, i860: read '* It is in Democracy in this America the old world also." Present reading in 1871. Lines 8 and 9: ** in" added in 187 1. Line 10: '' All for the modern " added in 1881. i860:

present

title,

—

Thought. i860:

Miracles.

[II., p.

Poem of

1856:

162.]

Thoughts, No.

page 409; 1871: Thought.

163.]

Perfect Miracles, pages 2']()-2Si

;

i860: Leaves

of Grass, No. 8, pages 219-220; 1867: Miracles. In 1856 the poem began: *'

Realism

Take

all

mine,

of the rest

miracles.

— take

freely

—

only of them, [228]

keep but

my own —

give

IDarlorum IReaMnge

offer

—

them without end

them

offer

you wherever your

feet can carry you, or your eyes reach."

i860, '67: read '*

What

shall

give? and which are

Dropped Line

— my miracles — Take

Realism is mine Take without end,

offer

them,"

miracles? freely.

etc., as in 1855.

in 1871.

1856: read

"my

mother

" for ''the rest."

Present

reading in 1881. Line

10,

1856: read " August " for "

summer. "

Present read-

ing in i860.

Line

14,

1856: read "

May "

for

" spring. "

Present reading

in i860.

After line 14, 1856: read

"Or whether go among I

those

like best,

and that

— mechanics, boatmen, farmers. Or among the savans — or to the soiree — or to the opera.

best

Or stand a long while looking at the movements of machinery. Or behold children at their sports, Or the admirable sight of the perfect old man, or the perfect old woman. Or the sick in hospitals, or the dead carried to burial. Or my own eyes and figure in the glass." Dropped

in 1881.

Line 18: " cubic " added in 1871. Line 20: "cubic" added in 187 1. After line 20, 1856: read

—

"Every spear of grass the frames, limbs, women, and all that concerns them. All these to

Dropped

1871

men and

are unspeakably perfect miracles."

in 188 1.

Sparkles from the :

organs, of

WheeL

with this

title,

[II., p.

164.]

in Passage to India annex, [229]

page

103.

Xeapea of (Braaa To a

Pupil.

[II., p.

i860: with this

165.]

page 400, one of the Messenger Leaves,

title,

Unfolded Out of the Folds.

[II., p.

166.]

1856: Poem of JVomen, pages 100-102; i860: Leaves of Grass. No. 14, p. 2}}\ 1867: Leaves of Grass, No. 2, page 286; 1871 with present title.

Line

1856: read *'only" before "out."

Line

1856: read

"poem

woman."

of the

Present reading

in 1881.

Am I After All.

What

[H., p. 166.]

i860: Leaves of Grass, No. 22, p. 241

1867: Leaves of Grass, Songs Before Parting annex, page 24. After line i, i860: read "I cannot tell why it affects me so much, when I hear it from women's voices, and from men's

No.

;

4, in

my own

voices, or

from

Kosmos.

[II., p.

Dropped

voice."

in 1867.

167.]

title, page 414. " all other theories " added

i860: with this

Line 7:

Others

May

Praise

what They Like.

First

published in

Line

Drum-Taps

in 1867.

[II., p.

168.]

(1863); 1871: in annex, page

68.

1867:

read "breathed well"

for

"well inhaled."

Present reading in 1871.

Line

1867: read

"And

exudes

fully

again."

Present

reading in 1881.

Who

Learns

Lesson Complete.

[II., p.

168.]

1855: without title, pages 92-93; 1856: Lesson Poem, pages 313-315; i860: Leaves of Grass, No. 11, pages 22(>-22^\ 1867: Leaves of Grass, No. ^, pages 163-165; 1871 with present title. Line 13, 1855: read "little" for "small." Present reading in 1867.

Line 14, 1855: read "decillions" reading in 1867. Line 21, 1855: read

am now â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and was

"And how

born on the

last

[230]

for

"billions."

Present

was not palpable once but day of May 1819 and passed

IDariorum IRcaMnae from a babe

in the creeping trance of three

and was born on the

last

day of the

"And

After line 21, 1855: read that

that

man

have become a here

anyhow

— are

i860, '67: read as

in 1867.

Fifth

Month,

that

grew

— — and

six feet high

thirty-six years old in 1835 all

three

in the year

Present reading in 1867.

of America."

and

summers and

read as above with change

winters to articulate," etc.; i860:

Dropped

equally wonderful."

above with change "thirty-six years

old in the year 79 of America." After last line, 1855: read

" Come

should like to hear you tell me what there wonderful.

is in

your-

self that is not just as

And

should

hear the

like to

name

of anything between Sunday

morning and Saturday night that

not just as

won-

derful."

i860: read as above with change "First Day morning and Seventh Day night." Dropped in 1867. Tests.

[11., p.

170.]

i860: with this

The Torch.

[II., p.

170.]

First published in

Star of France.

Drum- Taps

1870-71.

Two

The Ox-Tamer.

865)

[II., p.

;

1867

annex, page 52.

170.]

a Strong Bird on Pinions Free (1872); Rivulets volume.

First published in

1876: in the

page 416.

title,

[II., p.

172.]

1876: in i\\eTwo Rivulets volume.

Line

14,

1876: read "See,

how

straight," etc.;

"see what

fine," etc.

Line

15,

1876:

read

"See how they watch,"

etc.;

"see

how

they turn, "etc.

Old Man's Thought of School. Public School, Camden,

1876: in

Two

For the Inauguration of a

New Jersey,

1874.

[11., p.

173.]

Rivulets (the date given October 31, 1874). [231]

%cnvce of (Braes Wandering

Mom.

Two

1876: in

[II,, p.

174.]

Rivulets,

Line

1876: read " seated " before ''coil'd."

Line

1876: read

Wandering

Music in Dakota.

Italian

tal

Band

The

[

I ever heard.

—

^this

common,"

etc.

Seventeenth —the finest regimen-

[II., p. 175.]

1881.

With

All

Thy

1876: in

Gifts.

Two

[II., p.

176.]

Rivulets.

Picture Gallery.

[II., p.

176.]

1881.

The

Prairie States.

[II., p.

177.]

1881.

Proud Music of the Storm. 1871

§2.

[II., p.

178.]

Passage to India annex, pages 17-24.

[p. 178.]

Line

19,

1871

read ^'feudal" for

Passage to India. 1871

§1.

[II., p.

middle."

186,]

annex.

[p. 186.]

Line

1871: read "1 sound, to

thee,

§ 2.

[p. 186.]

commence, the

cry,

with

soul"

After line

17:

read '*The people to

become brothers and

sisters."

§4.

[p. 189.]

Line

§9.

11,

1871

"America

read

hemisphere unborn)."

[p. 196.]

Lines 3 and

1871

Prayer of Columbus. 1876: in

Two

read

"These"

for

"Those."

[II., p. 198.]

Rivulets.

The poem was preceded

the following preface [232]

1876

IParlorum IReaMnge was near

—

the close of his indomitable and pious life on voyage when nearly 70 years of age that Columbus, to save his two remaining ships from foundering in the Caribbean Sea in a terrible storm, had to run them ashore on the Island of Jamaica where, laid up for a long and miserable year 1503 he was taken very sick, had several relapses, his men revolted, and death seem'd daily imminent; though he was eventually rescued, and sent home to Spain to die, unrecognized, neglected and in want. It is only ask'd, as preparation and atmosphere for the following lines, that the bare authentic facts be See, recall'd and realized, and nothing contributed by the fancy. the Antillean Island, with its florid skies and rich foliage and scenery, the waves beating the solitary sands, and the hulls of **It

—

his last

—

See, the figure of the great Admiral,

the ships in the distance.

—

walking the beach, as a stage, in this sublimest tragedy for what tragedy, what poem, so piteous and majestic as the real scene ? as his mystical and religious soul and hear him uttering

—

—perhaps,

surely utter'd, the ideas following

in their equivalents,

the very words."

Line 31, 1876: read after ''accomplished" been, has been."

— "for what

has

After line 50, 1876: read **

Steersman unseen! henceforth the helms are Thine; (what to my petty skill Thy navigation

Take Thou command

The

Sleepers.

[11., p.

1855: without

i860:

286-301;

—

?)"

201.]

title,

pages 70-77; 1856: Night Poem, pages pages 426-439; 1871: The

Sleep-Chasings,

Sleepers,

§ I.

[p. 201.]

Line

stopping."

1855:

read "Pausing and gazing and bending and

Present reading in 1856.

Line 22, 1855: "all, all " added in i860. Line 2^, 1855: read "I stand with drooping eyes by the

worst suffering and restless." Line 26 added in i860. After section

Present reading in i860.

1855: read [233]

Xeavee of (Braea '*0 hotcheek'd and blushing! O foolish hectic! for pity's sake, no one must see me now! my clothes were stolen while I was abed, Now I am thrust forth, where shall I run ? Pier that

saw dimly

night

last

when

looked from the win-

dows! let me catch myself with you and stay you; ashamed to go naked about the world.

Pier out

—

feel

And am

from the main,

will not chafe

curious to

know where my

flooding me,

— —and

feet stand

manhood

childhood or

^and

what the

this

hunger

that crosses the bridge between.

The

cloth laps a first sweet eating and drinking. Laps life-swelling yolks laps ear of rose-corn, milky and

—

just

ripened

The white

And

teeth stay,

liquor

spilled

and the boss-tooth advances in darkness, on lips and bosoms by touching glasses,

and the best liquor afterward."

Dropped §3.

[p.

in 1881.

205.]

Line

1855: read ''baffled and banged and bruised."

Line

1835

§6.

[p.

read

roll

him and swing him and turn him."

207.]

8, 1855: read "beauty "for ''freshness." After section 6, 1855; read

Line

"Now

Lucifer

was not dead

—or

he was,

his sorrowful

him

that oppresses

terrible heir; I

have been wronged me,

—

will either destroy him, or

Damn

How

him! how he does he informs against

oppressed

defile

—

hate

shall release

me.

me,

brother and

for their blood,

[234]

sister,

and takes pay

IDarlorum IReaMnge

How

he laughs when that carries

Now

the bend after the steamboat

though

the whale's bulk,

seems mine,

so sleepy and sluggish,

tap

lie

And have an unseen something

death."

Dropped

in 1881.

[p. 208.]

After line

down

look

the vast dusk bulk that

Warily, sportsman

§7.

away my woman.

in contact

1855: read

with them also."

Dropped

Line 14, 1855: read "the Pole goes his way." Line 40, 1855: read **what waits is in its place." reading in 1881. Line 43, 1855: read

"go on"

for

in 1881.

"come

on."

Present

Present read-

ing in 1867.

§8.

[p. 210.]

At the end of this

"Not you

section, 1855: read

will yield forth the

will yield forth

dawn

again

more surely than you

again,

womb yields the babe in its time more surely than be yielded from you in my time."

Not the

Dropped

[11., p.

212.]

taken from a the Propositions of Nakedness, lines are

poem was ,

To Think

shall

in 1856.

Transpositions.

These

left

poem

in 1856, entitled

— afterwards

Poem of

Responde^.

out of the 1881 edition, except for these few

of Time.

[II., p.

This lines.

213.]

pages 65-70; 1856: Burial Poem, pages ^}2-^^2\ i860: Burial, pages 440-448; 1871 with present title. 1855: without

title,

[p. 213.]

i860 the

poem began "To

think of it!"

Dropped

1871.

Line

1855: read "to think through the" for

"of

all

that."

Present reading in i860.

Line

every thing

1855: read "flexible and real and alive" and "that was real and alive." Present reading in 1856. [235]

Xeavee of (Braee \ § 2.

[p. 213.]

Stanza 2: the the ninth with

eight lines,

first

began with "When,"

1855,

"Then," the tenth with "They

Present

are."

reading in 1856.

Line

1855: read "are" for "go."

Line

1855: read "is" for "goes."

Line

1855: read

Line

"have been"

1855: read

11,

"Then

bed, and the living look upon them." § 3.

"are."

for

the corpse-limbs stretch on the

Present reading in 1856.

214.]

[p.

Line

added

in 1871.

In 1855 the first line read:

"To

think that the rivers will

come

and the snow upon us now yet

to flow,

and fruits ripen, and act upon others not act upon us " Dropped in 1881.

fall,

—

Line

1855: read "small" for "no."

Present reading in

1856.

§4.

215.]

[p.

Stanza Line

added 1855:

Dropped

place."

Line

in 1871.

read after "stages" in

88 1.

— "other

"Broadway

added

1855: read "rapid" for "steady."

vehicles give in 1856.

Present reading

in i860.

Line 8:

"new-dug" added

in i860.

Line 9: "pass'd out" added in i860. Line 10 added in i860. Line

13,

1855: read after "looking"

— "able to take

his

own

Dropped Before "Ready," line 14, 1855: read "witty, sensitive to a slight." Dropped in 1881. For "gambled" read "played part."

in 1881.

some." Line

§5.

Present reading in i860. 19,

[p.

1855: clauses connected

Dropped

in 1856.

216.] 3, 1855: read "Have you pleasure from looking at Have you pleasure from poems?" Dropped in 1881.

After line

the sky?

by "or."

[236]

IDarlorum TRea&inga §6.

[p. 217.]

Before line pleasure of

1855: read ''The sky continues beautiful, the

women

pleasure of

Dropped

men with women

shall never be sated, nor the with men, nor the pleasure from poems."

in 1881.

1855: read "they also are not phantasms" none of them phantasms." Present reading in 1856.

Line

Line 5, 1855: reading in 1856.

§7.

for *'are

read "apparition" for "delusion."

Present

[p. 217.]

Line

1855: read "for reasons" after "long."

Dropped

1881.

Line 15, 1855: read "cannot be eluded" for "not one iota thereof can be eluded." Present reading in i860.

§8.

[p. 218.]

Stanza

"The

1855: read

interminable hordes of the ignorant and wicked are not nothing,

The barbarians of Africa and Asia are not nothing, The common people of Europe are not nothing

— the American

aborigines are not nothing,

A Zambo

Crowfoot or a Comanche

or a foreheadless

nothing,

not

— the

The

infected in the

The

perpetual successions of shallow people are not nothing as

The

prostitute

immigrant hospital are not nothing

murderer or mean person they go. is not nothing nothing as he goes."

not nothing,

— the

mocker of

religion is not

Present reading in 1881.

Line 10 added in 1871 in place of the following: "I with the rest we have satisfaction."

—

shall

After line 14, 1855: read

"And

have dreamed that the satisfaction is not so much is no life without satisfaction the earth ? what are body and soul without satisfaction ?

changed, and that there

What is

[237]

;

Xeavee of (Sraes I

go with the rest, cannot be stopped

shall

To show

— that

given point

at a

satisfaction;

us a good thing or a few good things for a space of

time

— that

satisfaction

We must have the indestructible breed

of the best, regardless of

time."

These

were dropped

lines

being added in 1881. Line 17, 1855: read

1871, the present fifth stanza

"If otherwise,

all

these things came,"

etc.

Lines 18 and 19, 1855: read "If maggots and rats ended us, then suspicion and treachery and death. " Present reading in 860. Line 26, 1855: read after "animals"

Dropped

soul!"

— "How perfect

in 1871.

Line 28, 1853: read "sin" for "bad."

Present reading in

1856.

§ 9.

[p 220.]

In 1855 this section

opened with the following verses:

"O my soul! if I realize you I have satisfaction, Animals and vegetables if realize you have satisfaction. Laws of the earth and air! if I realize you have satisfaction. !

cannot define cannot define

Dropped Stanza

my my

life

— yet

it is

so.

so."

in 1871.

i :

"O I

satisfaction

it comes to swear I think

i860 this stanza began thus:

me now! now that

everything without exception has an

eternal soul."

The

first line

was dropped

1871.

In line 2

"without ex-

ception" was added in i860. Line 5, 1855: read "and

"and

life

i860: life and death are for it" and death are altogether for it." Present reading in ;

1871.

Whispers of Heavenly Death.

A group

title first

used

[II., p.

in 187

[238]

221.]

in the

Passage

India annex.

IParlorum IReablnge Barest Thou 1871

Now

Passage

in the

Stanza

Soul.

4, line 3,

[II., p.

India annex, page 64.

1871

read ''bound" for

Whispers of Heavenly Death. 1871

Passage

Chanting the Square

221.]

[II., p.

bounding."

221.]

India annex, page 6^,

Deific.

[II., p.

First published in Sequel to

222.]

Drum-Taps

(1865-6); 1867: in

annex.

§2.

[p. 223.]

After line 9, 1867: read

—

(Conqueror yet

weapons of war become impotent)."

the

Him 1871

Love Day and Night.

i860:

page 270; Stanza

"The As

[II., p.

87 1 with present

added

225.]

226.]

1867: Despairing Cries,

title.

"day and night"

after

"me";

next line:

etc.

a Phantom CaressM Me.

among

in 188 1.

in 1871.

i860: read

sad voice of Death,"

i860:

Dropped

all

India annex.

Ye Downcast Hours. [H., p. among the Debris, page 422;

Yet, Yet,

Line

Passage

me bow — and

for before

the armies and soldiers of the earth shall yet

[H., p. 227.]

the Debris^ page 425; 1867 with present

title,

page 290. Line

added

in 1867.

Line 3: "The one Line 5, i860: read

and mock me." Assurances.

loved that caress'd

"perplex

me"

for

me"

added in 1867. "are hateful to me

Present reading in 1867.

[II., p.

227.]

Faith Poem, pages 26^-26^] i860: Leaves of Grass, pages 217-218; 1867 with present title.

1856:

No.

After line at a

given time,

" do not doubt that whatever I know there waits for me more which do not know."

1856: read

[239]

leavea of Craaa

After line 3, 1856: read " I have no idea of, waiting for

universes

—also upon

After line **

this earth."

1856: read

do not doubt there

do not doubt there are realizations through time and through the

is far

in trivialities, insects, vulgar

persons, slaves, dwarfs, weeds, rejected refuse, than

supposed; do not doubt there

— and

poems than

in all

myself than

men and women

have

have supposed

— and

have supposed."

Line 9 added in 1871. After line 10, 1856: read

do not doubt that shallowness, meanness, malignance, are

**I

provided for; I

do not doubt that earth,

politics,

cities,

you, America, the remainder of the

freedom, degradations, are carefully pro-

vided for." Line 12 added in 1871.

Quicksand Years.

title,

[II., p.

published in

First

228.]

Drum-Taps

Quicksand Years that Whirl

That Music Always Round Me.

annex under Whither.

(1865); 1867: in

Know Not

[II., p.

228.]

i860: Calamus, No. 21, page 363; 1867 with present

and

Calamus. Line i: ''That" added

What

Ship Puzzled at Sea.

in 1867.

title in

A Noiseless 1871

Line

229.]

[II., p.

i860: C^/^w^^5^ A^o. 3/, part

ent

title,

first;

1867: Here Sailor.

Pres-

1881.

Patient Spider.

with

this

title,

[II., p.

in Passage

229.] to

1871: read "surrounded"

Living Always, Always Dying.

India annex. for

[II., p.

"detached." 230.]

i860: Calamus, No. 2y, page 369; 1867: in Calamus, with present title. [240]

IDarlorum IRcaMnge

i860: the

poem began

"O Love! O dying — always dying.'* To One Shortly

to Die.

i860: with this

230.]

[II., p.

title,

page 398.

Line 8: **you yourself will surely escape" added in 1871.

Compare the manuscript reading:

—

you must not deceive you am melancholy and stern, but

do not

**I

are to die, I

love

you

— there

no escape

for you.

know your destination,

Night on the Prairies.

but

know

is real

and perfect."

231.]

[II., p.

i860: Leaves of Grass, No. 1^, page 234; 1867: Leaves of Grass, No. j, page 287; 1871 with present title.

Lines 2 and 3 added in 1867. Line 10, i860: read "there tumbled upon

me"

for

sprang out so noiselessly around me." Present reading Line 16, i860: read **0 how plainly I see," etc. Line 17, i860: read **0 I see," etc. Present reading

Thought.

[II., p.

there

in 1867.

232.]

Thoughts, No. 5, page 410; 1871 Thought. Lines 3 and 4 added in 1871. Line 7, i860: read the huge sob," etc. i860:

The Last Invocation. 187 1

with this

[II., p.

title,

233.]

Passage

India annex.

Watched the Ploughman Ploughing.

1871

with

this title, in

Pensive and Faltering. 1871

with

Passage

[11., p.

this title, in

India annex.

1872, under the

Pinions Free; 1876: in

ment Poem

Two

234.]

Passage

Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood. First published in

[II., p.

India annex.

[II., p. title

Rivulets.

Dartmouth College, June

of the United Literary Societies. VOL. III.— 16.

[241]

235.]

As was

26,

a Strong Bird on the

1872,

Commenceby

invitation

Xeavea of (Braaa §1.

[p. 235.]

Stanza

was

the

stanza of a separate

first

poem

1872,

beginning thus

"One I

song, America, before

'd sing, o'er

For thee

all

the

rest,

— the Future."

go,

with trumpet sound,

Present reading in 1881.

Stanzas

§2.

2, 3,

and 4 were the

rest of the

above poem.

[p. 235.]

As a

This was the beginning of

Strong Bird on Pinions Free

in 1872, '76.

"to-day" "to-day"

"think." "bring."

Line

1876: read

Line

1876: read

Line

1876: read " pine in the north, in Maine."

after after

Line 10 added in 1881.

Line

§3.

1876: read

14,

Union!"

for

"dread Mother."

[p. 236.]

Line 12 added in 1881.

§4.

237.]

[p.

Line

§5.

1876: read "Steer, steer," etc.

[p. 238.]

Line 23, 1876: read " America " after "sun." Line 24, 1876: read "thy endless great hilarity."

Line 30, 1876: read " material wealth and civilization." Lines § 6.

^"^

and 34 added

in 1881.

[p. 240.]

Line 3}:

"such brood

A Paumanok Picture.

as thine "

[II., p.

added

in 1881.

242.]

1881.

From Noon

group

Thou Orb

to Starry Night. title in

[II., p.

243.]

1881.

Aloft Full-Dazzling.

[II., p.

1881. [242]

243.]

IDarlorum IReaMngs Faces.

[II., p.

244.]

without title, pages 82-85 1856 Poem of Faces, pages 302-308; i860: I^^/o/Fj^^5^ pages 278-282; 1 87 1 with present 1855

;

title.

§ I.

[p. 244.]

Line

1833: read "here then

are

faces" for

'Mo,

such

faces."

Line

ugly face";

"welcome"

read "here then are faces" for "faces and

1835:

14,

and

§2.

"The welcome

in 1836.

Line faces

1853: read

dropped

Present reading in 1867.

faces."

[p. 245.]

Line

1833: read " advertising and doing business" after

11,

Dropped in 1836. At the end of this section, 1833: read "Those the bosses and tufts of the great round globe! "epilepsy."

men! Dropped in

are really "

1881.

[p. 246.]

Line

1833: read

"Well

then," etc.

Compare manuscript reading

"The

teeth grit

of this passage:

— the palms of the hands are cut by the turned

nails,

The man

falls struggling and foaming to the ground, though he buys and barters so coolly.

remember when

visited the

smeared and slobbering

asylum they showed

the most

idiot.

for my consolation of the great laws that emptied and broke my brother The same waited their due time to clear the rubbish from the fallen tenement,

Yet

And And

know

to look again in a score or

two

of ages

meet the real landlord stepping as good as myself." shall

[243]

forth every inch

Xeave0 of (Braee §4.

[p. 247.]

Line

§5.

"man"

1855: after

19,

and thumb."

Dropped

read

"and

give

your finger

in 1867.

[p. 248.]

Line

1855

read " Sabbath " for " First-day."

Present read-

ing in i860. 1855 read " I heard what the run of poets were saying so long." Present reading in 1856.

Line

The Mystic Trumpeter.

Two

1876: in

§6.

[II., p.

published in 1872 in

First

249.]

a Strong Bird on Pinions Free;

Rivulets.

[p. 251.]

Line

1876: read

"war's wild alarums."

To a Locomotive in Winter. 1876: in Two Rivulets.

O Magnet-South.

[II., p.

253.]

254.]

Longings for Home, pages 389-390.

i860:

Present

title in

1881.

Line 19^ i860: read "Tennessee" for "Kentucky."

reading in 1881. After line 19, i860: read lake, or

still

bayou."

Mannahatta.

[II., p.

"An

Dropped

Arkansas

prairie

— or

Present sleeping

in 1881.

256.]

title, pages 404-405. i860: read " and behold here

i860: with this

Line

the aboriginal name."

Present reading in 1867.

Line

i860: read

"up

there" for "from of old."

Present

reading in 1881. Line spires."

i860: after

Dropped

"superb" read "with

After line 17, the i860

"The

tall

and wonderful

in 188 1.

poem

read as follows:

parades, processions, bugles playing, flags flying,

beating; [244]

drums

IDarlorum TReaMnge

— manners — the most hospitality

million people

—

and superb open voices courageous and friendly young

free

men;

The The

no owners of slaves! and sparkling waters! the masts and of spires

free city!

city

The The

no slaves

beautiful city! the city of hurried

city nested in bays!

such

city of

women,

city!

am mad

The

city of

out

to be with

them

will re-

them

turn after death to be with

such young men, I swear 1 cannot live happy, with" often go talk, walk, eat, drink, sleep, with them !

Present reading in 1881. ^

All Is Truth.

[H., p. 257.]

i860: Leaves of Grass, No. 18, pages 237-238; 1867: Leaves Grass, No. i, annex, page 22\ 1871 with present title. of After line 2, i860: read "Me with mole's eyes, unrisen to

buoyancy and vision

A Riddle

Song.

— unfree."

[II., p.

Dropped

in 1867.

258.]

1881.

Excelsior.

[II., p.

260.]

1856: Poem of the Heart of the Son of Manhattan Island, pages 255-256; i860: Chants Democratic, No. 1^, pages 188189; 1867 with present title, page 118.

Line 1871

1856: read "I swear

"have not

After line

would be

gone."

"And who

Dropped

1856: read

words, they

1871 this ifne read:

"1 would go";

has been firmest?

For

in 1881.

"And who

words through the longest time will say such

for

Present reading in 1881.

1856: read

firmer."

After line

go"

will

has projected beautiful

By God

shall stretch

will outvie

him

through longer time!

"And who

has

projected beautiful

words through the longest time } Have not outvied him ? have not said the words that shall stretch through longer time?" I The whole line was dropped in 1881. 1

[245]

Xeavee of (5vnBB "And

After line 9, 1856: read

sweetest from

women, and

paid

whom

them

the like sweets, and pay

them

and Sulky Retreats.

Poverties, Wincings,

Dropped

in kind."

First published in Sequel to

has been given the ? For I will take

kind

Drum-Taps

in 1871.

[II., p.

261.]

(1863-6); 1867: in

annex. Line

1867: read ''unquestioned" for "ultimate."

11,

Thoughts.

[II., p.

262.]

i860: Thotight, page 2S6;

Line

i860: read

Line

i860: read

Mediums.

[II., p.

871:

Thoughts,

262.]

Chants Democratic,

i860:

present

"Of the New World," etc. "and to me" after "them." No.

16,

page 189;

1867,

with

title.

Line

i860: read

"mediums shall"

after "States."

Dropped

in 1867.

Line

i860: read " oratists " after "become."

Dropped

1871.

Weave

In,

My Hardy

Life.

[II., p.

263.]

Drum-Taps (1865); 1867 title Weave In, Weave In, My Hardy Life. Line 2, 1867: read "Weave, weave," etc. First published in

Spain, 1873-74.

1876:

Two

annex, with

Rivulets. [II., p.

After line 11, 1876: read

[n., p. 264.]

By Broad Potomac's Shore. 1876: in Two Rivulets. give

264.]

smiling earth

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;O summer sun,

of you!"

From Far Dakota's Canons. June

2^, 1876.

[II., p.

265.]

1881.

Old War-Dreams. First

annex, with 1871

[11., p.

266.]

to Drum-Taps (1865-6); 1867: in In Clouds Descending, In Midnight Sleep,

published in Sequel title,

In Midnight Sleep.

Present [246]

title in

1881.

Darlorum IRea&lnge Stanza

line

night sleep,"

Stanza

2, line

Stanza

3, line

Dropped

1867: read "In clouds descending, in mid-

Present reading in 1871.

etc.

1867: read **the fields and the mountains."

"long lapsed"

1867: read

after

"pass'd."

in 1871.

Thick-Sprinkled Bunting. First published in

[II., p.

Drum-Taps

267.]

(1865); 1867: Flag of Stars, 1871 with present title.

Thick- Sprinkled Bunting, in annex; Line

What

1867: read

"Flag of

Best I See in Thee.

stars! thick-sprinkled

[II., p.

bunting!"

267.]

1881.

Fonn'd This Scene.

Spirit that

268.]

[11., p.

1881.

Walk These Broad

Majestic Days.

[11., p.

269.]

Chants Democratic, No. 21 pages 193-194 1867: As I Walk Solitary, Unattended, in Songs Before Parting annex, page 28; 87 with present title. i860:

Line

Lines

Line

read

i860:

Dropped

;

"As

walk, solitary,

unattended."

in 1881. i

to 6 added in 1871.

13,

i860: read

14,

i860: after

"But we

too," etc.

Present reading in

1871.

Line

"I watch them." Line 15 added

"nothing" read '*they serve"; 1871: Dropped in 1881.

in 1871.

After last stanza, i860: read **

For

support

all,

done and gone, we remain, There is no final reliance but upon us. Democracy rests finally upon us (1, my brethren, begin After the rest

And our

visions

Dropped

in 1881.

A Clear

Midnight.

sweep through

[II., p.

270.]

1881. [247]

eternity."

it,)

Xeavee of (5ra60 Songs of Parting.

group

annex.

see last

Grass

title,

[II., p.

271.]

Songs Before Parting, first employed in 1867: The poems were incorporated in Leaves of

with present

in 1871

As the Time Draws Nigh.

Departure

271.]

[II., p.

pages 449-450; 1867: As Nearing Songs Before Parting annex; 1871 with present

i860:

title.

Soul,

reading.

Stanza

i860: read

As nearing departure, As the time draws nigh, glooming from you ''

cloud

—a dread beyond,

know

not what, darkens me."

Present reading in

Stanza

1 87 1. read

i860:

^'OSoul!

Then all may arrive to but this The glances of my eyes, that swept the daylight, The unspeakable love interchanged with women, 1

My joys

open The continual good in the

young men

air

reflections alone

—my walks through the Mannahatta, have met—the curious attachment of

will

me.

—the absorption into me from the landscape,

stars, animals,

thunder, rain, and snow, in

my wanderings

alone,

The words

faults

The

and

mouth, rude, ignorant, arrogant

—my

many

derelictions,

light touches,

lips,

of the lips of

comrades, at

parting.

The

which I leave, upon the side-walks and fields. but arrive at this beginning of me, This beginning of me and yet it is enough, O Soul, tracks

May

—

Soul,

have positively appeared

—that

enough."

Present reading in 1867.

Years of the Modern. First published in

[II., p.

271.]

Drum-Taps

(1865); 1867: with

of the Unperform'd ; 1871 with present [248]

title.

title

Years

Darlorum IReablnge Line Line

Years of the modern " added in 1871. 1867: read *M see" before "new" and before ''the *'

Dropped

solidarity."

in 188

Line 6: "the old wars" added in 187 1. Line 7, 1867: read "I see Freedom, completely arm'd, and

and very haughty, with

victorious,

forth against the idea of caste."

Ashes of First

Soldiers.

[II.,

published in

Law by

her side, both issuing

Present reading in 1871.

p. 273.]

Drum-Taps

1867:

(1865);

Hymn

of Dead

Soldiers, annex, pages 39-60. In 87 Ashes of Soldiers was a group title for a number war poems, the group being prefaced by the following stanza: 1

"Again a verse for sake of you, You soldiers in the ranks you Volunteers,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

Who To

bravely fighting, silent

fill

and 2 and line 1867 the poem began thus: Stanzas

" One breath, O my perfum'd thought

fell,

unmention'd graves." i

of stanza 3 were added in 187 1.

silent soul,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; no

ask, for the sake of

all

dead

soldiers.

Buglers off in

armies!

At present ask not you to sound Not at the head of my cavalry, all on their spirited horses With their sabres drawn and glist'ning, and carbines clanking by their thighs," etc. 1

Present reading in 1871. Line hurrahs,

1867: read "But aside from these, and the crowd's and the land's congratulations." Present reading in

19,

1871.

Line 21 added in 1871.

Line

25,

1867:

read

"Phantoms,

welcome,

tender!" Present reading in 1871. Line 30, 1867: read "Dearest comrades! Present reading in 1871.

Line 35 added in 1871. [249]

all

divine

now

and

over."

leavee of (Braaa Line 37 added in 187 1. Linens, 1867: read "Olove!

O chant! solve all with the last Present reading in 1871, but **0 chant" dropped

chemistry." in 1881.

Line 40: " like a moist perennial

dew

added

in 1871.

Line 41, 1867: read "For the sake of all dead soldiers." Present reading in 1871, but " South or North " added in 1881.

Thoughts.

[II., p.

275.]

i, i860: Chants Democratic No, 9, pages 179-180; Thoughts, No. I, in annex. Section 2, i860: Chants Democratic, No. 11, pages 182-183; 1867: Thoughts, No. 2, in annex.

Section

1867:

[p.

275.]

i860: the

poem began with

here for."

Dropped in 1867. and have pass'd " added

Line 2: Line

read

i860:

the line

gigantic"

thought of what

in 1867.

''muscular."

for

Present

reading in 1867; "the absolute success" added in 1871. Line 4 added in 188 1. Line

i860: read

"Of how many,"

etc.

"Western" added in 1871. " of the war" added in 187 1.

Line 6:

Line 7: Line 10: "for a while " added in 1867.

"and war

Line 14:

itself,

with

all

its

horrors" added in

1871.

§2.

[p. 276.]

i860: the

poem began with

" The thought of

Of Death, (the Dropped in Line

fruitage,

life

greater)

— of seeds,"

etc.

1867.

i860: read

these lines

"Ohio "for "Arkansas."

Present reading

in 1881.

Line

Minnesota." Line

i860:

read

"Missouri, Kansas,

Present reading in 1871.

added

in 1871.

Line 7 added in 1871. [250]

Iowa,

Wisconsin,

Darlorum IReabinge Line 9

read "

than any yet."

Of departing

— of the growth of a mightier race

Present reading in 1867.

After line 9, i860: read

soon,

'*0f myself,

perhaps,

closing

songs by these

shores,

—of Oregon — and of me journeying to Of the Western Sea — of the spread inland between Of

California

live

and sing

and the

there

spinal river,

Of the

great pastoral area, athletic and feminine."

Dropped

in 1881.

Line

i860:

Dropped

10,

After line

10,

happiness

miles,

"flows"

i860: read

warm and

Line

after

read **and

Westward

still."

in 1867.

cold."

i860: read

11,

pected, (as

those

also,

"Of future men and women

high

plateaus,

Dropped

"Of

—

in 1881.

cities

and as

there

ranging three thousand

yet unsurveyed and unsus-

must be)."

Present reading in

1881.

Line

i860: read "strong" for

12,

"modern."

Present read-

ing in 1871. Line

i860: read "inland, spread there" for "far West."

15,

Present reading in 1867.

Line

i860: read "Leaves "for "songs."

16,

Present reading

in 1881.

Song

at Sunset.

[11.,

p. 278.]

i860: Chants Democratic, No. 8, pages 176-179; 1867: Song at Sunset, in annex.

Line

i860: read "falling "for "ended."

Present reading

in 1867.

Line 28, i860: read

"happy."

"amorous"

for "satisfied"; 1867: read

Present reading in 1871.

Line 45, i860: read "sailed "for "steam'd."

Present read-

ing in 1881.

Line 51 added in 187 1. Line 33, i860: read "I sing the Equalities";

old" added

in 1871;

"to the last" added [251]

in 1881.

"modern

leavee of (5ra60 Line

read

i860:

59,

comes."

setting

O when

sun!

the time

Present reading in 1867.

Thy

Portals also Death.

[II., p.

280.]

1881.

Legacy.

[II., p.

281.]

published in 1872; 1876.

First

Pensive on Her Dead Gazing.

Dead Gating,

[II., p.

Drum-Taps

published in

First

Heard

282.]

(1865); 1867: Pensive on

Mother of All,

the

Present

Line 3 added in 1871. Line 7: ''impalpable " added in 1881. Line

1867: read

11,

beautiful bodies absorb

Present reading in

blood."

Camps

"My

of Green.

[II., p.

First published in

Line

dead absorb

— and 1

Her

1881.

young men's

their precious, precious, precious

88 1.

283.]

Drum-Taps

1867: read

— my

title in

1867 with this title. (1865) soldiers" for "old comrades of the

;

Present reading in 1881.

wars." Line

18,

1867: read

"us and

ours and all" for "all."

Pres-

ent reading in 1871.

Line 20, 1867: read "fight" for "fought." in

87 1. Line 21,

meet."

1867:

read

"we

shall all

meet"

Present reading

for

"we

all,

all

Present reading in 188 1.

The Sobbing

of the Bells.

p. 284.]

[II.,

1881.

As They Draw First

a Close.

[II., p.

284.]

published in Passage to India (iS^i); 1871

with present title. Lines 7-10 added in 1881 read " Of you, 1871 " great! to place on record faith in you, O death 1

Thought;

;

—

Line

14,

187 1: read

Joy, Shipmate Joy. 1

871: with

[II.,

soul of

p 285.]

this title. [252]

man."

mystery

IDarlorum IReaWnge The Untold Want.

[II., p.

285.]

1871.

Portals.

p. 286.]

[II.,

1871.

These Carols.

[II., p.

286.]

1871.

Now

Finals to the Shore.

286.]

[11., p.

1871.

So Long.

[II., p.

286.]

i860: with this After line

"The

title.

i860: read

thought must be promulged, that all I know at any time time only not subsequent time

—

suffices for that I

announce greater offspring,

Dropped Line close,

in 1867

and

i860: read

before

orators, days,

and then depart."

1881.

remember

said to myself at the winter-

leaves sprang at

all,

candid and unloosed summer-poet."

that

would become

Present reading in 1867.

After line 4, i860:

When each part is peopled with free people, When there is no city on earth to lead my city, '*

men, the Mannahatta leads

When

all

— But

when

the city of the

young

Mannahatta

the cities of the earth.

there are plentiful athletic bards, inland and seaboard."

Dropped Line

eyed

city

in 1867.

i860: read

— when breeds,"

Line

When fathers,

etc.

firm, unconstrained,

open-

This clause dropped in 1867.

i860: read ''Then to

ripeness and conclusion."

Present reading in 1867. After line 8, i860: read

—

" Yet not me, after all let none be content with me, I myself seek a man better than I am, or a woman better than I am, I invite defiance, and to make myself superseded, [253]

Xeat^ee of (Braee

All

have done, I would cheerfully give to be trod under it might only be the soil of superior poems.

foot, if

have established nothing for good, have but established these things, till things farther onward shall be prepared to be established. And 1 am myself the preparer of things farther onward." I

Dropped

in 1867.

Lines 10 and

added

in 1871.

After line 14, i860: read

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

and not enforce you to give play to yourself depend on me, or on any one but yourself, Once more 1 proclaim the whole of America for each individual, **Once more

without exception.

have announced the true theory of the youth, manhood, womanhood, of The States, I adhere to it; have announced myself on immortality, the body, procreation, hauteur,

As As

prudence,

crowd menacing weapons

joined the stern

that

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

still

confronts the President with

adhere to

have announced each age for example.

all.

itself,

this

moment

demand the choicest edifices to destroy them Room! room! for new far-planning draughtsmen and

set the

engineers!

Clear that rubbish from the building-spots and the paths!

Dropped

in 1867.

Before line

15,

i860: read ''So long I

Dropped

Line 20: "indissoluble" added in 1871. Line 24, i860: '' So long! " at beginning of

in 1867.

line.

Line 26, i860: ''So long"' began this stanza. Line 27, i860: read **old age" for ''end." Lines 28 and 29 added in 1871. Line 30: " (So long!) " added in 1867. Line 34, i860: read "Now throat, sound your last!" ent reading in 1867.

Line 35, i860: read "future" for "days." [2543

Pres-

IDarlorum IReaMnga

Line 43,

i860:

read

"out of me"

"out of the war."

for

Present reading in 1871.

Line 47: " really" added in 1867. Line 52: "solely to you" added in 1867. Line 53: "Camerado" added in 1867. Line 55: "together" added in 1881.

—

Line 66, i860: read " progress on."

one

feel like

who

has done his

Line 67 added in 187 1. Line 68, i860: read "The" for

"An."

Line 69: "I may again return " added in 1871. In i860 Leaves of Grass, No, 24, page 242

poem

work

Present reading in 1867.

— read as follows

" Lift me close to your face till whisper, What you are holding is in reality no book,

—a

separate

It is

a man, flushed and full-blooded

—

it is

nor part of a book, So long!

—

must separate Here! take from my lips Whoever you are, I give it especially to you; and I hope we shall meet again." So long

this kiss,

—

Passage to India appeared To the Reader at Parting:

"Now,

dearest comrade,

lift

—

to your face.

must separate awhile Here take from Whoever you are, I give it especially to you; So long! And I hope we shall meet again." I

lips this kiss.

—

These poems were omitted from the Sands at Seventy.

Good-Bye

[11., p.

My Fancy.

Old Age Echoes.

The poems

final edition.

291.]

[III., p. 7.]

[HI., p. 31.]

of the annexes

were reprinted

forms, without revision.

[255]

in their original

part IRejecteb These are

lines

irir

%incQ anb passaaes

taken from the early manuscripts, most of them

Some of the sections are merely antedating the 1855 edition. suggestions for poems or a few trial lines.

Osirus

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to give forms.

who

finds nothing

more divine than simple and

natural

things are divine. 5

Remembrances

American ground with, Lessons to think I scatter as they come. 1 perceive that myriads of men and women never think, I perceive that e'er visible effects can come, thought must come, I

plant

perceive that sages, poets, inventors, benefactors, lawgivers, are

only those who have thought, That maugre all differences of ages and lands they differ not. That what they leave is the common stock of the race.

And And

the tough Scotch sailor crosses the minch to the Hebrides, the

Orkney boy and the Shetland boy wonder

tant

world they hear

of,

at that dis-

yet love their rude cold island for-

ever. [256]

1Re|ecte^

And

the canny Caledonian thrives and thinks

Solway

And

Firth

all

ranees, the Styrian

stayer

near and love are to me, so are

live

the seas of the earth to those

and love them. And as the mountains of tains, to the

anywhere between

and Noss Head.

as the shores of the sea

the shores of

You

Xinca anb ipaeeagea

who

live

near

land are to me, so are the Alps, Py-

Carnacks, Balks, Sedletz

hills,

moun-

people of those lands.

by the Shannon, the Dee, the Trent, the Severn, or

goer from thence.

You tough sailor crossing the minch to your You Orkney boy and Shetland boy. You Spaniard of Spain, you Portuguese, you Note:

and 7 are

first

Hebrides,

Swiss.

drafts of lines for Salut

Monde,

au .^f.^,

As we

are content and is

dumb the amount of us in men and women

content and dumb.

As we cannot be mistaken

they cannot be mistaken.

at last,

have advanced from.

—

we are the solid and liquid we are we have advanced to. have advanced from what was our own cohesion and for-

All that

mation.

We advance to just as Time

suffices, VOL. HI.— XT.

much more, and just

and the laws

suffice. _

[357]

much more.

Xeave6 of (Sxaee lO

Send any and

all,

no matter what,

We have places for any and all — good places We receive them, we have made preparation, We have not only made preparation for a few developed persons. We have made preparation for undeveloped persons also. II

We effuse spirituality and immortality. We put a second brain to the brain. We put second eyes to the eyes and second Then the drudge clothes

are

The

in the kitchen

— then

ears to the ears,

— then the laborer

in his stained

the black person, criminals, barbarians

no more inferior to the rest. and the blunderer are not to be laughed

frivolous

— as

before,

The

cheat, the crazy enthusiast, the unsuccessful

man, come un-

der the same laws as any.

As the turbulence of the expressions of the heat and the great cold

earth, as the great

— as the soiledness of animals and

the bareness of vegetables and minerals.

No more to

than these were the roughs

among men shocking

me. 13

Remember

you

are dying, that

you

are dying,

is it

then? If it I

tell

be so

bring no shuffling consolation of doctors and priests,

the truth

...

tell

with unvarying voice. 14

White, shaved, foreign, soft-fleshed, shrinking, Scant of muscle, scant of love-power. Scant of gnarl and knot, modest, sleek in costumes, [258]

linee anb ipaaaagee

1?eiecte^

Averse from the wet of rain, from the fall of snow, from the of the stones and soil, A pretty race, each one just like hundreds of the rest, A race of scantlings from the stony growth of America.

American

air

grit

have breathed^ breathe henceforth also of me,

American ground that supports me,

will support

you

also.

procession without halt,

Apparent

and hid

at times,

at times.

Rising the rising ground, in

relief

against the clear sky, lost in the

hollows, stretched interminably over the plains.

eye that ever saw the starting, no eye that ever need wait for the ending. Where any one goes, however ahead, the rest duly coming, however far behind,

Marches a marching procession.

A A

remembrance

breath to American

Remembrance

for a

air,

breed of ftiU-sized young

men and women.

see

And

now

that

that intellect

have the make of materialism and things, is to me but as hands or eyesight, or as a

vessel.

Give Give

me something savage, and me large, full-voiced .

luxuriant. .

[259]

men.

Advance shapes Shapes that

like his

— the king of Egypt's shape, wholesome, clean—gigantic

shape

tally Sesostris

in stature,

eyed,

— every limb, every part and organ pro— strong, bearded, supple, nine years, Conqueror of two continents Lover most of those that repelled him sternest — builder to them memorials. of sixty-two years — accepter of Ruler wisely and religions — preferer of none. Freer of slaves — divider among them of homesteads — maker of Six feet ten inches

tall

portion

phallic

friendlily for

all

farmers. 21

Sanity and ensemble characterize the great masters,

Innocence and nakedness are resumed. Theories of the special depart as dreams.

Nothing happens, or ever has happened, or ever can happen, but the vital laws are enough.

None were

or will be hurried, none

vast, clear

were or

scheme, each learner learning

Taking men, women, laws, the

earth,

will be retarded,

for himself,

and the things of the earth

as they are.

and coming back to one's-self. Looking always toward the poet. Seeing all tend eternally toward happiness. What is narrower than gravitation, light, life, of no account. Starting from one's-self

What

than the sure formation of density, or the patient strata, of no account. less than that which follows the thief, the liar, the glutless

upheaving of

What

ton, the drunkard, through this experience,

and doubtless

afterwards, that too of no account.

What

does not

satisfy

each one and convince each one

of no account.

Hear my fife I am a recruiter, Come, who will join my troop } I

[260]

— that too

IRelectet)

Xinea

anÂŁ) ipaeeage^

The I

sores on

shoulders are from his iron necklace,

look off on the river with

stops the steamboat

with

Under

this

till

bloodshot eyes,

she take

my woman

and paddle away

her.

rank coverlid stretch the corpses of young men.

Light and air! Nothing ugly can be disgorged, Nothing corrupt or dead set before them. But it surely becomes translated or enclothed Into supple youth or a dress of living richness, spring gushing out from under the roots of an old tree, barnyard^ pond, yellow jagged bank with white pebble stones, timothy, '

sassafras, grasshopper,

pismire, rail-fence, rye, oats, cu-

cumbers, musk-melons, pumpkin-vine, long string of running blackberry regular sound of the cow crunching, crunching the grass.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

The path worn

in the

grassâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; katy-did,

locust, tree-toad, robin,

wren. 25

know many beautiful things about men and women, But do not know anything more beautiful than to be freehanded and always go on the square.

see an aristocrat

see a

smoucher grabbing the good dishes exclusively to himand grinning at the starvation of others as if it were

self

funny, I

gaze on the greedy hog; he snorts as he roots in the delicate greenhouse.

How

those niggers smell!

Must that hod-boy occupy the same stage with Doth the dirt doze and forget itself ? [261]

me ?

%envcB of (5ra60 And let tomatoes And do no better

Who am

ripen for busters and night walkers, for

gentleman or lady, With a stoop and a silver door-plate and a a regular

And is the day here when One with the immigrant gutter

One with

pew

church

vote at the polls.

that last

August strewed lime

the thick-lipped black

And can dew wet the air after such may be And make laws over me ? Have you heard the gurgle of gluttons

elected to Congress,

perfectly willing to stuff

themselves

While they laugh at the good fun of the starvation of others, But when the gaunt and the starved awkwardly come for their slices

The

quiet changes to angry hysterics.

It is

for babies to

lift

themselves out of the

go not with the babies

am none

who

of the large baby sort

have no wish to lift myself above breathing eminent or attractive; am not quite such a fool as that, remain with people on average terms

air,

and be

specially

too great to be a mere leader.

26 I entertain all the aches of the human heart Outside the asteroids I reconnoitre at my ease.

27 All

have come out of

us,

and

all

may

[262]

return to

usâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;they are ours.

1?eiecteb Xinee

anb ipaeaaaee

These are the sights that I have absorbed in Manhattan island, and in all These States, These are the thoughts that have come to me some have come by night, and some by day, as I walked.

—

know that Personality is divine, and gives life and identity to a man or woman. And know that egotism is divine, know that the woman is to be equal to the man. — And know

—

that there

to be nothing excepted.

29 I

a curse: a negro thinks

You cannot speak

my own

lend him

dart like a snake

me;

for yourself, negro;

tongue;

from your mouth.

My eyes are bloodshot, they look down the river, A steamboat paddles away my woman and children. His iron necklace and red sores of the shoulders

The hopples

at the ankles

and

do not mind. must not

tight cuffs at the wrists

detain me. I I

go down the river with the sight of go to the steamboat that paddles off

my woman

my bloodshot eyes, my woman and children.

and children,

do not stop with

burst the saloon doors and crash on a party of passengers.

But for them I too should have been on the steamer I should soon

...

His very aches are ecstacy.

Poem

of existence. [263]

%cwoee of (5ra00

call

one the past and

call

another the future,

But both are alike the present. not the past, though

we All the

The

call it

—nor

the future though

call it so,

while

ciirious

it is

the present only.

realities

now everywhere — on

the surface of the

earth in the interior of the earth

What

is it ?

Is it

liquid fire ?

Are there

living creatures in that ?

Solid ?

Is it fire ?

some vast, strange, vacuum ? Any kind

vacuum

there not toward the core

stiffling

there anything in that

of curious flying

or floating

life

The existences on

with

its

nature fitted

the innumerable stars, with their varied de-

grees of perfection, climate, swiftness

Some

probably are but forming, not so advanced as the earth

(Some There

no doubt more advanced).

are

intercommunion.

One sphere cannot know another sphere. Communion of life is with life only, and of what Each sphere knows

itself only,

is after life.

and cannot commune beyond

itself.

Life

communes

Whatever

it is

only with

life.

that follows death

cannot guess what the entertainment will be, But I am sure it will be generous enough, I have never yet seen the sign of a niggard in anything but man.

The

do not treasure chips, or stick for the odd same fashion for I am their friend.

great laws

rate

must have

of the

—

myself high

—

full

receive no small

price

sums;

—whoever enjoys me. [264]

cent;

1Re|ecte&

feel satisfied

Xlnee anb paa^agce

visit will

be worthy of

and of

Hosts

and Favorites; I

leave

The

them how

to receive me.

retrospective ecstacy

upon me, now

spirit

burns

volcanic;

The

ashamed before

earth recedes

prophetical

crisis.

34 In

American schools sit men and women men and women are more necessary than

Schools for

Enough

for children.

fastened and loosened contact.

Nor

humility's

book nor the book of despair nor of

old restric-

tions;

Book of a new soldier, bound for new campaigns; Book of the sailor that sails the sea stormier, vaster than any. 37 Great are the Myths

Adam

Great are

too delight in them.

...

and Eve

too look back and accept

them, Great between them and their poets,

And And

that I

rest

and

priests.

easy enough shallow pate to go about singing them above the

and deferring to them become great by singing and

did not

Great are you and great

the risen and fallen nations, and

sages, rulers, warriors

so,

am no

And they

women,

are just \s

deferring.

good and bad

as the eldest or [265]

youngest or any,

!ILeavc0 of (5ra60

What What What

the best and the worst did

can do,

do we not feel it in ourselves ? they thought do we not think the same ? they

felt

—

3»

Of your

soul

say truths to harmonize

anything can harmonize

you,

Your body

how Your eyes

are

me is sweet, clean, loving, strong, appears to others or to yourself, more

than poems, your

lips

indifferent

do better than

play music,

The

your cheeks, the lashes of your eyes, are eloquent me, The grip of your hand is richer than riches. lines of

of Forms.

Their genesis,

They

genesis.

all

lost, all lost

—

for

they include

all.

The earth and everything in it, The wave, the snake, the babe, the

landscape, the human head, Things, faces, reminiscences, presences, conditions, thoughts tally

and make

definite a divine indistinct spiritual delight

in the soul.

Of the

arts,

as music, poems, architecture, outlines,

they are in their

way

and the

rest,

to provoke this delight out of the

soul.

They

are

to seek

where

waits

—

for

see that

always

patiently waits.

Have you sought the inkling ? Have you wandered after the meanings of the earth? not wander; Behold those forms. [266]

You need

Xlnea anb Ipa60afle0

IReiecteJ)

To an

Exclusive.

Your tongue here But

Your

feet

haunting the States

also haunt the States, their born defender

brother of low persons and rejected and

determined

wronged persons

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;espouser of unhelped women,

hour sleeping and eating mainly that I wake and be muscular for their sakes. Training myself in the gymnasium for their sakes, and acquiring

From

this

a terrible voice for their sakes.

Rapacious! 1

fight,

take up your challenge!

win or lose, and hereby pass the feud to them me; charge the young men that succeed me to train themselves whether

that succeed

And

For

and acquire terrible voices for disputes of life and death and be ready to respond to whatever needs response. prophecy that there will never come a time, North or South, when the rapacious tongue will not be heard, each age in its own dialect. 41

As As

procreation, so the Soul

childhood, maturity, craft, greed, hatred, denial

lies,

thefts,

adulteries,

sarcasm,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;so the Soul. 42

The

circus

boy

riding in the circus,

on a

fleet horse.

Dimly

man

with a young

looking together

saw those we

watched on the shore disappear. 44

Walt Whitman, show us some pictures; America always Pictorial And you Walt Whitman to name them. !

[267]

leaver of 6ra60 Yes, in a

little

house

keep suspended many pictures

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

not

a fixed house. It is

round

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Behold!

has

room

for

seaboard and inland, persons

America, north and south, .

45 Lo, space, eternal, spiritual, hilarious,

Lo, the future free

demense of what

is at

present called death.

The woman that sells candies and The boy crying his newspapers in

apples, at the street-stand.

the morning.

The

malaria from

low wet grounds. 48

The

red liquid heart of the earth.

How curious is the brown, How curious the .

divine, coarse, substantial earth,

The

Alleghanies climbed and descended

by me, the mighty

Anahuacs climbed. 50 National hymns, real American music.

The

master's words, arrogant, fluent,

final,

severe.

Tar, turpentine, shingles, from North Carolina.

The

slaves drive mules

and oxen drawing the rude [268]

carts.

l?c|ecte&

Xine0 anb ipaeeagea

The lumber schooner.

The pack of negro-dogs chained

Who wills with

his

own

in couples for the slave-hunt.

brain, the

sweet of the

float of the earth

descends and surrounds him,

you be a laborer or apprentice or

solitary farmer,

the

same.

Have you known Have you known

You

that your limbs

must not dangle

that your hands are to grasp vigorously ?

are also to grasp with your

Remember how many

mind

vigorously.

pass their whole lives and hardly once

think and never learned themselves to think.

Remember As

before

to you,

all realities

must

exist their thoughts.

you have not yet learned

to think, enter

upon

now, Think

You

once with directness, breadth, aim, conscientiousness, from the start and grow rapidly each successive week.

will find a strange pleasure

53 I set up for myself I set up profit and He is greatest who has the most caution, He only wins who goes far enough.

After aU

A A

loss,

sum laid aside for burial money, few clapboards around, and shingles overhead, on a American soil owned, few dollars to supply the year's plain clothing and food,

little

And

then

away

issue myself in triumphant issues,

live as

go and

wait long besides, [269]

lot of

Xeavea of (Braes

never abandon myself nor the sweet of myself, nor the eternity

will not lose the

of myself,

Nor the I

bloom and odor of the earth, flowers, atmosphere, women and men that like me and that

true taste of the like.

little

sum

aside

laid

for burial

money

—a

few clapboards

around and shingles overhead on a lot of American soil owned a few dollars to supply the year's plain clothing and then away. and food

— —

Prudence has interminable eyes, rejects money, modern prudence, money-making.

Abandonment

of such a being as

you

are to the toss

and

pallor

of years.

To be

a doer of deceits,

...

parlors

underhand dodgings,

infinitesimals of

a shameless stuffer while others starve.

the bloom and odor of the earth, flowers, atmosphere, and of the true taste of the women and men you pass or have to do with in youth or middle age. Receiver of the issuing sickness and revolt at the close of a life without elevation or naivete. Chatterer of the ghastly chatter of a death without serenity or

Loser of

all

sea,

majesty. 55

Will you have the walls of the world with the clouds

air

and the fringed

The Poet says God and me. What do you want from us and maybe we will give it you.

— as one who knows

The Soul addresses God as his equal greatness as a younger brother.

—

Ask

his

—

Ships sail upon the waters some arriving, others depart. Ten thousand rich, learned, populous cities they have grown or certainly to

—

grow. [270]

IRelecteb

The

States spread

the

two

— old States and new States — they front — they are edged or by the Mississippi,

amply

seas

cleft

Congress is in session appointed time.

The President

See!

Xines an& paaeage^

in the Capitol, or will

menaced

face to face

in session the

by the common

people for his derelictions. 57

Have I refreshed and elevated you ? Though have uttered no word about your particular employment, have you received from me new and valuable hints about your employment? Have you gone aside after listening to me and created for yourI

self?

Have

proved myself strong by provoking strength out of you

58 I

subject

all

the teachings of the schools and

ity to the tests

And

all

dicta

and author-

of myself

encourage you to subject the same to the tests of yourself

— and to subject me and my words to the strongest

tests

of any.

Of recognition.

Come I

will

will no more trouble myself about recognition, no longer look what things are rated to be but what they really are to me.

pass existence

so good, there

not chance for death.

What would

bring you to be elected and take your place in

the Capitol I

elect

you

to understand; that

public could not do. [271]

what

all

the offices in the Re-

The power by which the carpenter plumbs his house is the same power that dashes his brains out if he fall from the roof. 63

Now On

for a legend not old,

the spreading land.

but as

new

as the

newest

You You

You

lusty and graceful youth!

are great;

youth be great with amplitude and steadiness

are not exclusively great in

Your middle age

shall

and fullblooded strength Your old age shall be equally great with majesty and bloom and fascination and love. 65

Are the prostitutes nothing

Does the

nothing?

light or heat pick out ?

pick out

Are the mockers of

religion

Does the

attraction of gravity

}

66 I

have

all lives, all effects, all

in myself.

This 1

the earth's

word

and the truth are one,

causes,

all

gerunds, invisibly hidden

— the round and compact we

earth's,

are curiously welded.

67 After Death.

Now when am looked back upon hold levee, lean on my left elbow — take ten thousand lovers, another, by my right hand. I

one

after

There are the caravan of the desert encampment and the camels. [272]

— the close of the day — the

1Rciccte& Xincs

an& ipaseaees

69 I

do not expect to see myself in present magazines, reviews, but presently expect schools, pulpits and legislatures and legislatures in magazines, schools or to see myself

—

that

friends after

will see

—

there.

the

new

continent comes the offspring of the rest of the con-

tinents to bear offspring,

And

these

poems

are both offspring

and parents of superior

offspring.

To this continent comes the offspring of the And these poems are both offspring and

other continents, fathers of superior

offspring,

And from

the same spirit that launched Congress and the menaces that confront

poems launches

these

those ships,

cities.

the President,

And

these are for the lands.

Points in Proem.

That only when sex

properly treated, talked, avowed, ac-

woman

be equal with the man, and pass where the man passes, and meet his words with her words, and his rights with her rights, and cepted, will the

Poem

Collect

all

Pitcher —

woman

under the ''new dispensation." from history Molly the best mothers the healthiest women the

illustrative of the

illustrative

characters

—

most loving women.

A woman

to be able to ride,

shoot, defend herself, as a

swim,

sail

man.

VOL. III.—z8.

run, resist, advance, refuse,

a boat, hunt, rebel, just as _

[273]

much

Xeavee of (Bra^a woman

have not the grand attributes in herself, the cannot have them afterwards, The woman is to be athletic also. the

man

74 1

heat the hot cores within and fix the central point of the cores

And

carry straight threads thence to the sun

and

to distant un-

seen suns. 75

inexorable, onward, resistless, impassive, amid the screams and din of disputants, so America.

nature,

Yet I

If it

out of

lost to

and whatever

myself

could dash the girder of the earth

between

lay

Surely I

and dart through

strike

think

away

wanted.

head!

— and nature

another form has

laid

down

place.

a creased and cut sea

;

the furious

wind

77 I

am become

descend

the poet of babes and

— retrace steps oceanic — but

many

steps

the objects

all

little

things,

go backward primeval

pass around not merely

my own

kind,

see.

Pure water Sunshine,

will henceforth drink

space unclosed,

...

stifle

in the

confinement of

rooms,

The Give

wheat, rye, corn, rice. have a clean, sweet, resistless body to myself,

flesh of animals,

that

[274]

1?ejecteb

Give

Xlnce an& ipaeaagee

must have

last

79 winter observed the

snow on

the spree with the north-

west wind

And

put

out of conceit of fences and imaginary

lines.

The dry

leaf whirling its spiral whirl

and

falling

content to the

ground. 81 I

hours and days and think them immeasurable

shall venerate

hereafter I

was

But

how much

finding a

good

friend to

all

can pass through in a few minutes. things before,

now what was seems I

limpsey and

little.

Why

should

money

to build

some

hero's statue ?

That butcher boy is just as great a hero He does not know what fear is. 83 I

a student free of a library, to

limitless

and eternally open

me;

The books and

are written in numberless tongues,

always perfect

alive.

They do not own

who buy

the library

the books and

sell

them

again, I

owner of the library meaning of the same.

the

for

read every page and enjoy the

Thought never

be forgotten

in lectures.

[275]

!lLcapC0 of (5ra00

through (now) the

this age, pass

That we, the

new age

We are now going America

terrible transitions to

—ages. through the parturition.

illustration of

it.

—

Few see the result few have any faith Many desperately cling to the old age, Yet continues the divine whirl, the

it,

conflict.

No? Have you supplied the door of the house where need was, the old one decayed away, And do you not see that you also want your foundation and the roof?

Have you put only doors and windows to the house where they were crumbled ? Do you not see that the old foundation beams of the floor have rotted under your feet and who knows when they may break

Do you

not see that the roof

night,

may

fall

in ruin

is also crumbled and about your heads ?

this day, this

86 Aspirations.

**Keep the secret

—keep

cluster of poemetta.

close."

To my

Soul.

friends.

Did you think then you

knew me

Did you think that talking and the laughter of me, represented

me? 87

Can

make me

so exuberant yet so faintish ? [276]

lRejecte&

Xinee anb pae^agee

The rage of an unconquerable

fierceness

conquered by the

touch [of the] tenderest hand. I

cannot be awake for nothing looks to me as it did before, else I am awake for the first time and all before has been a

mean

sleep.

The Body.

Why

what do you suppose

Do you suppose

fruit that is eaten, is

No, those are

Body ?

the

always existed

the

body

visible parts of the

some way

this that has

—

this meat, bread,

body, materials that have existed form

for billions of years not entering into the

of the body,

But there

(Make

this

the real

body

too, not visible.

more rhythmic.) 89

Divine

How How How

the

body

—

it is all

—

it is

the soul also.

can there be immortality except through mortality ? can the ultimate reality of visible things be visible ? can the

real

body ever

die ?

Downward, buoyant,

must not

To you I

do not

forget!

reach friendlily

must not

To you 1

swift on turbid waters a coffin floating.

forget,

adhere. flatter,

not polite, but

Baffled, exiled, ragged, gaunt. [277]

adhere to you

Xeapea of (Braee 92

You are English, Irish, Scotch, Welsh, To-morrow the most powerful Queen

that ever reigned over

earth sends her eldest son to you,

—

Germany contributes to you Italy to you. You are Spanish also, and French also adopter

—

for good, or as

noble guests.

You,

You

Libertad,

do not refuse them, you welcome each and and African.

all.

are of eld Asiatic also,

—

I— of many a smutch'd deed reminiscent of worse deeds capable. Yet I look composedly upon nature, drink day and night the joys of life, and await death with perfect equanimity. Because of my tender and boundless love for him I love, and because of his boundless love for me. Full of wickedness,

94 Spirituality, the

unknown, the

great aspirations of the soul, the

idea of justice, divinity, immortality.

95 Merely what I tell is not to justify me. I provoke from you and from ensuing times, me.

What

to justify

96 Loving every one I meet and drawing their love in return, Never losing old friends and finding new ones every day of life.

Where

the boys dive and splash in the bath.

You woman, mother

of children, [278]

%incB anb ipaeeagea

1Rejecte&

You young woman,

thinking of man, bashful, longing, loving,

thinking alone at night.

You wife of your husband, You husband of your wife

—you

old husband, and

you middle-

aged or old husband. 99 I

know

that amativeness

which

know

just as divine as spirituality

put freely in

—and this

poems.

lOO

Poem.

Shadows.

Reflections.

windows of the shops as I turn from the crowded and peer through the plate glass at the pictures or rich goods Broadway, the reflections, moving, glistening, silent.

As seen

in the

street

The heavy

base, the great

hum and

harshness, composite and

musical.

The

and

faces

figures, old

and young,

all

so various,

all

so phan-

tasmic,

The omnibus passing and then another and sky up of .

another, the clear

lOI

To be I

at all

think

—what

callous

am am

better than that ? in its

not in any callous shell cased with supple conductors

They take every They They

were nothing more developed, the clam shell in the sand were august enough.

there

object

all

over;

by the hand and lead

within me.

are thousands, each one with his entry to himself; are to

always watching with

their

feet.

[279]

little

eyes,

from

head

Xeavea of (Braee One no more than

a point lets in

and out of

such

bliss

and

magnitude, I

think

could

lift

the girder of the house

then and whatever

away

lay

between

wanted. I02

a look

—mystic—

in a trance

Something wild and untamed

Common

things

—

exaltation.

—half savage.

—the trickling sap that flows from the end of the

manly maple. 103

Living bulbs, melons with polished rinds smooth to the reached

hand Bulbs of

lilies,

life,

polished melons, flavored for the mildest hand

that shall reach.

104 I

The

that half-grown angry boy, fallen asleep. tears of foolish passion yet undried

upon

cheeks.

Years with all their events pass for me, Some are spent in travel some in the usual hunt

—

after fortune.

pass through the travels and fortunes of thirty years, and

become

old.

Each

in its

And then The

due order comes and goes, me comes.

a message for

105 Religion.

Outset.

That these are a few casual observations

— thoughts

into the future.

There can be henceforth no system of religion. [280]

projected

anb paaeagee

1Rejecte& Xinee

— nay already

assumes grander propormounts flying infuses, every one touches, skies to the is the only democracy, Democracy and greater than Democracy Religion soon assuming tions freed from

—

fables, spangles, trickeries,

—

true, divine, the revealer, the

io6

See

— there

Epicurus

teaching His physique

ogy

calls

is full

—

— see

the old

his voice clear

philosoph in

and sonorous

perfect,

around him

— his phrenol-

—

river, arguing.

107

down

the Mississippi of a clouded midnight.

How

solemn! sweeping this dense black tidel friendly lights i' the heaven o'er us; A murky darkness on either side. And kindred darkness all before us!

Now, drawn

near the shelving rim.

Weird-like shadows suddenly

rise;

Shapes of mist and phantoms dim Baffle the gazer's straining eyes.

River fiends, with malignant faces

Wild and wide

their

arms are thrown,

to clutch in fatal embraces

Him who

sails their

realm upon.

Then, by the trick of our own swift motion, Straight, tall giants, an army vast,

Rank by

How

rank, like the

the shore march

solemn

Which

porch

young men he gathers them with them along the banks of the

his school of

in the street, or saunters

Sailing

waves of ocean, stilly past.

the river a trailing

pall.

takes, but never again gives back; [28X]

%caveB of (5ra60 And moonless and

starless the heavens' arch'd wall,

Responding an equal black! O,

tireless

waters! like Life's quick dream, ever hurrying

—

Onward and onward

Like death in this midnight hour you seem, Life in your chill drops greedily burying!

Like earth

you

river

Existence like

offer us burial,

your hurrying on.

Like time with a clutch remorseless, continual.

That which you take

forever gone.

Unlike time you begin and end, Unlike

you

life

've a

pathway

steady.

Unlike earth's are your numberless graves

Ever undug, yet ever ready.* io8 In

Song

The hot

of Kisses. kiss of the

new husband

to the bride

— and the kiss of

the bride to the husband.

i09t

Take O boatman thrice thy Take I give it willingly,

—

fee.

For unwittingly to thee, twain have crossed with me.

Spirits

* Belongs to 848 1

— Cf. Complete Prose fVorks, where other verses of the poem

are given.

runs

A poem by

Uhland, translated by S. N. N., containing

six verses

;

the last

Take now boatman, take thy Thrice thy due

For with

me two

Spirits of the

Underneath

W. W.

writes his

spirits crossed,

loved and

own

fee;

offer thee:

lost.

version, as above.

[282]

IReJecteb

Xinea anb paeeage^

no* I

see the burial-cairns of Scandinavian warriors. Ill

Poem

of Triumph.

Poem

of Defiance.

Poem .

Make

poem

including a

list

what poems are yet wanted. Something to bring in a dirge, slow, murky, half-suffocated, long, drawn out,— of not being able to extricate one's self from the most agonizing sorrow, and despair •

•

The Triumphant Poem. young man.

Poem Poem

of approaching death for a

of approaching death.

O for joy! O come at last O strength! O perfect content! O now my most triumphant poem. O the sunset off in the heavens, westward, with fringed clouds, I

with long

flakes,

calm with pure

light,

with rich wonder-

ful colors

the grand march, stately, maestoso wild-pealing, high-trilling, distant, the great

drum

beating,

and the

112 1

can

was

tell

of the long besieged city;

in its last

need of a

bombardment.

reveille

from the drummers that morning.

* Above passage (see Leaves of Grass, ^60 edition, p. 250, and current edition, was taken almost verbatim from a newspaper cutting found in one of Whitman's scrap-books. The words on it are as follows ** The old Scandinavian heroes, when they died, desired to have their funeral mounds raised high above them their corpses close to the margin of the restless ocean, so that the spirit, when it grew weary of the narrow, quiet grave, might rise up through the mound and gaze forth over the vast expanse of tossing billows, and then become refreshed by a sense of immensity, liberty, action." I.

p. 169)

;

[283]

Xeavee of (Braaa 113

And

the farther south,

The

early negro at daylight calling his brethren together

sound of the Carolina

by the

yell.

114

Shadows of men and houses

glistening.

scene phantasmic spread off before me,

see through the plate

glass glistening,

Through the

men and the landscapes

pictures of

of the river-side

over the pictures

and the ocean-side gliding over the

tableaux and groups.

Or as sit at dusk and look out through the house-room window Of the room, through the glass, a curious dim red with the glow I

— the

in the

fire

stove

— the

walls and furniture

— the

singing purr of the kettle. Gliding through there the three

workmen

returning

home from

—

work, each carrying his dinner kettle their steps sounding on the walk; The gray stones of the pavements the lamp opposite just lit, and in the wintry air their day's

—

in glass

windows

my own

pass by,

figure,

walking.

the portrait

...

Poem.

of walking along a street

House lives wonder who lives

In this I

in these

Houses

116 ( ?

Thought. [284]

Superfluous

reflected,

paeB^Qce

TRejecteb %lnce ani>

— of experiences — of vast unknown matter and — much doubtless more than known matter and — of the long paOf many a covered embryo, owner and tience through millions of years — of the slow formation, Of that

come

qualities lying inert

qualities,

foetus

germs waiting the due conjunction, the arousing

countless touch.

these tending fluidly and duly to myself, and duly and

all

fluidly to

reappear again out of myself. 117

...

now with a mere majority have the love of all men and all women, there be one left in any country who has no faith

not content

him

must

in me, I will and go to that one and stand up-

travel to that country,

right before

118

joy of

spirit

mounds

worn

path

Pasture

uncaged

hops

like a bird

on the grass

of earth.

in the grass

where the

field,

— .

and horses

cattle

feed.

119

Yet

sweeps your road, O martial constellation group stretches far your journey

far

ever adding

For the prize All its ships

see at issue

and shores

is I

the world;

see interwoven with your threads,

spotted cloth.

Dreamed, again, the

flags of

kings,

highest borne, to flaunt

unrivall'd ?

hasten blue and silver!

with sure and steady step, passing

highest flags of kings.

Walk supreme them Dense

to the heavens,

mighty symbol

all

starr'd bunting.

[285]

— run up

above

ILeavee of (5ra00

O your path stretches far, O to find your lazy seams O long long your road.

martial [constellation].

they can turn and flap for carnage.

120 Children

and

maidens

— strong

men

from

fighters

battle,

wearied, wearied,

Rocked

in the twilight ripples, calmly they sleep lapped in the ebbing tide, the ocean borne out, the hidden and measureless ocean with room for all.

—

121

The Elder Brother

of the soul

— my

soul.

122

Poem L'Envoy:

—

From one State to another from the From Massachusetts to Texas .

east to the west,

123

What, think you, does our Continent mean in reference to our race ? I say it means with radical and resistless power to sissert

the Individual

—

raise a refuge strong

practical average use, for

That

will

man and woman

and

free for

America build and curiously looking around writes

thereof a

poem

thereof.

124

womb to birth, from birth to and transmission, quickly transpiring Conveying the sentiment of the mad, whirling, fullout speed of Undulating, swiftly merging from

—

fullness

the stars, in their circular orbits.

125 If

you

are black,

ashamed of your woolly head [286]

•

Xinee anb paeeagee

IReiectet)

126

Do you remember your mother ?

she living

127

—

Hours discouraged, distracted myself without, soon out

Hours when

ing, but

am I

forgotten

believe

saw

Sullen and suffering hours!

cannot content

him content himself with-

— (O weeks

one

for he, the

and months are pass-

never to forget!) I

128

How can How can How can

there be immortality except through mortality ?

the ultimate reality of visible things be visible ? the real

body ever

die ?

129

Why, what do you suppose is the body ? Do you suppose this that has always existed fruit,

that

eaten,

the

body

—

this meat, bread,

No, those are visible parts of the body, materials that have existed in

some way

for billions of

years

now

entered

into the form of the body.

But there

the real

body

too, not visible.

130* I

cannot be awake, for nothing looks to

else

am awake

mean

for the first time,

and

as all

did before,

before has been a

sleep.

Have you supplied the door of the house where the old one decayed away

* Referring to his recent illumination, probably written 1853 (Bucke).

[287]

Xeaves of (5raee not see that you also want your foundation and the

And do you roof?

Have you put only doors and windows to the house where they were crumbled ? Do you not see that the roof is also crumbled and this day, this

may

night,

Do you not see

fall

in ruins

rotted under your feet

break

about your heads

that the old foundation

and

beams of

the floor have

who knows when

they

may

132

commonest

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; bestowed

The

divinest blessings are the

And

where, the most superb beauties are the cheapest the world over.

every-

n3 Pure water, sunshine, space unclosed stifle in the confinement of rooms, The flesh of animals, wheat, rye, corn,

Give

that

self

I .

have a clean, sweet,

rice,

resistless

body

my-

134

The dry

leaf whirls its spiral whirl

and

falls still

and content to

the ground.

know

that procreation

which

know

just as divine as spirituality,

put freely in

and

this

poems.

136

Did you think then you knew me ? Did you think that talking and the laughter of

137 Reflections

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Shadows. [288]

represented

IReiecteb

Xlnea anb paeeagee

windows of the shops as I turn from the crowded and peer through the plate glass at the pictures or rich goods In Broadway, the reflections, moving, glistening, silent, Turn from the heavy base, the great hum and harshness, The faces and figures, old and young all so various, all so phanAs seen

in the

street

tasmic

The omnibus passing and then another and another sky up .

— the clear

138* Incident for: Soldier in the ranks.

Describe a group of

men coming ofl* the

heavy battle, and dusty mothers would not recognize them.

the grime, the sweat, clothes, their

The moon

own

some

field after a

half naked, the torn

over the battlefield but red as blood comsmoke you look over the field, you see little lights moving around, stopping and moving around again, they are searching for the wounded, they are rises silently

—

ing above the

bringing off the dead.

At Gettysburg, the second day of the battle, our troops drove the secession army from a position they had occupied and where the preceding night they had gathered their dead the dead lay in certain spots piled three or four deep where they had placed them to be ready for burial the next morning. 139

The Time and Lands are devoted Make a demand for the Ideal (or

to the Real.

rather idea of the Ideal of the

Real).

In the piece, t

* Written f

That

as basis for a

rough jotting is

— the

VOL. III.-I9.

poem.

— a suggestion

for a

lines that follow are for

poem the poem

[289]

that

to be written.

%cwocQ Of (5ra00 Thy

true development, in thy unloosen'd soaring spirit!

Thee

thy

In that thy joy

a song in

and

fuller

within thee

—a

—

loftier religions

the saviors latent

— the bibles equal with any—divine as any.

coping with Nature's ceaseless force.

chant

— which

— celebrate — America, her best exultant — the States south — Brotherhood — an

shall sing

her best, her greatest

— her

young men

men), with joyful bursts, lyric, east and west, north and

—

all

equal union.

140

Have you found the scope of the great materialistic laws ? The use of finding the scope of the great materialistic laws is to make politics, lives, manners and all plans of the soul no less

than they

141

tastes sweetest

who

results the sweetest.

Nations, poets, inventors, knowers,

must themselves make the become appre-

only growth through which they shall ciated.

142 I

admire a beautiful

woman

...

easy about

who

her portrait.

Poet go I

ready to swear never to write another

word

143* See'st

thou

Know'st thou ? The Three of the Three There is on the one part

—

* Compare

this early draft

with IVhen the Full-grown Poet Came.

[290]

paints

anb paeeagea

IRejccteb Xinee

Between

this beautiful

but

dumb

earth,

with

all

its

manifold

eloquent but inarticulate shows and objects,

And on

the other part the being Man, curious, questioning and

at fault.

Now

between the two comes the

poet, the

Answerer.

144

The same

old mystery and problem.

Ever the puzzles of birth and death. Ever the same old mystery and problem. I

bring,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

a passing thought, no news and flutters by,

friends,^

Arrested as

it flits

Detained a

moment

as o: late

fluttered like a bird or insect

round me. 145

The

true

New World,

the

World

of Science,

Mind and

Literature.

146

The mystic

roll

from

all

From wooded Maine,

America.*

New

England farms, from

fertile

vania,

The boundless West, the South, the * The

roll

Carolinas, Texas.

of the dead soldiers of the war.

[291]

Pennsyl-

part

iFirir

IRejecteb

poems

Hpostropb. First

published in

Dropped

860 as a prefatory poem

in 1867.

The

text given

in is

Chants Democratic. that of i860.

O MATER O flls! O brood continental! O flowers of the prairies! O space boundless! O hum of mighty products! O you teeming cities! O so invincible, turbulent, proud! O race of the future! O women! O fathers O you men of passion and the storm O native power only O beauty O yourself O God! O divine average! O you bearded roughs! O bards! O all those slumberers! O arouse! the dawn-bird's throat sounds shrill! Do you not !

hear

the cock crowing?

O, as

walk'd the beach, I heard the mournful notes foreboding the low, oft-repeated shriek of the diver, the

a tempest

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

long-lived loon

heard, and yet hear, angry thunder;

make quick

from

O O O

sailors!

O ships!

sweep, the warning cry of the eagle! It is useless! Give up your spoils;) sarcasms! Propositions! ( O if the whole world should prove indeed a sham, a sell!) I believe there is nothing real but America and freedom

(Give

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;O you

preparation!

his masterful

way

there, all!

to sternly reject all except

imperator!

O who

Democracy

dare confront you and [292]

me?

1?eiecteb

to promulgate our

own O

mankind! feuillage! O North

pocme

to build for that

which builds

for

O the slope drained by the Mexican sea! O O all, all inseparable â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ages, ages, ages O a curse on him that would dissever this Union for any reason !

whatever!

O climates, labors O good and evil O death O you strong with iron and wood! O Personality! O the village or place which has the greatest man !

even

if it

woman!

be only a few ragged huts

where women walk in public processions same as the men; wan and terrible emblem, by me adopted!

the city

in the

streets, the

Oa O shapes arising! shapes of the future centuries! O muscle and pluck forever for me! O workmen and workwomen forever for me! O farmers and sailors! O drivers of horses forever for me! O will make the new bardic list of trades and tools! O you coarse and wilful! love you! O South! O longings for my dear home! O soft and sunny airs! O pensive! O must return where the palm grows and the 1

O O

O O O O

mocking-bird sings, or else I die! equality! O organic compacts! I am come to be your born poet! whirl, contest, sounding and resounding! I am your poet, because I am part of you days by-gone! Enthusiasts! Antecedents! vast preparations for These States

years

what is now being sent forward thousands of years to come! mediums! O to teach! to convey the invisible faith! To promulge real things! to journey through all The States!

O creation! O to-day! O laws! O unmitigated adoration! O for mightier broods of orators, artists, and singers! O for native songs! carpenter's, boatman's, ploughman's songs! shoemaker's songs!

O haughtiest growth of time! O free and extatic! O what here, preparing, warble for! O you hastening light! O the sun of the world will I,

zling,

and take

his height

ascend, daz-

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and you too will ascend;

[293]

so amazing and so broad! up there resplendent, darting and

prophetic!

burning;

with weight of

vision staggered

light!

with

pouring glories!

O copious! O hitherto unequalled! O Libertad! O compact! O union impossible to dissever! O my Soul! O lips becoming tremulous, powerless! O centuries, centuries yet ahead! pause — listen for you O voices of greater orators O you States! Cities! defiant of all outside authority! I

spring

once into your arms! you I most love! O you grand Presidentiads I wait for you! New history! New heroes! I project you! at

Visions of poets! only you really last!

O O O

O O

Death

O O

you

heights!

striding there

infinitely too swift

purged lumine! you threaten present!

return while yet

poets to come,

sweep on! sweep on!

cannot yet

and dizzy yet!

me more may

than

can stand!

to you!

depend upon you!

ot IReal ipeace^

published in i860 as part of Apostroph.

Dropped

in 1881.

The

Published separately in 1867.

text of 1871.

O SUN of real peace!* O hastening light! O free and extatic! O what here, preparing, warble for! O the sun of the world will ascend, dazzling, and take his height — and you too, O my Ideal, f will surely ascend! O so amazing and broad — up there resplendent, darting and I

burning!

vision prophetic, stagger'd with

weight of

light!

glories

lips

* " " t

soul, already

becoroing powerless!

O sun

of real peace " added in 1871.

O my

Ideal" added in 1871.

[294]

with pouring

IReiecteb ipoems

ample and grand Presidentiads

Now

the war, the

war

over!

New

history

new

heroes

project

Visions of poets! only you really

O O

you

last!

sweep on! sweep on!

heights too swift and dizzy yet!

purged and luminous! you threaten

me more

than

can

stand

— the ground under my menaces me — not support me: O future too immense,) — O present, return, while yet may, must not venture

feet

will

to you.

So Jar anb so

on Uowar& tbc iBnb.

ifar, arib

Dropped

Published in edition of i860, Leaves 0/ Crass, No. 20.

far,

and so

Singing what

and on toward the end, sung in this book, from the

in 1867.

far, is

irresistible

impulses

me; But whether continue beyond this book, to maturity. Whether I shall dart forth the true rays, the ones that wait unof

fired,

(Did you think the sun

—

was shining

has not yet fully risen

Whether Whether

shall

brightest

;)

complete what

shall attain

its

my own

here started.

height, to justify these, yet un-

finished.

Whether

ing

shall all

make the Poem of the New World,

others

— depends,

Depends, whoever you are

now

rich persons, filling

the current Presidentiad,

upon you,

Upon you, Governor, Mayor, Congressman, And you, contemporary America. * " " f

Now

war is over! " added immense " added in 1871

the war, the

future too

[295]

transcend-

upon you,

in 1871.

%cnvcB Of (5raa0 fn tbe IRew Garden,

In Hll tbe parts* Dropped

Published in edition of i860.

In the

new

In cities

garden, in

now, modern,

all I

in 1867.

the parts,

wander.

Though the second or third result, or still further, primitive yet, though various, the same, Days, places, indifferent Time, Paradise, the Mannahatta, the prairies, finding me un-

—

changed. Was I buried Is it that I lived long since ? Death indifferent very long ago ? For all that, I may now be watching you here, this moment; the woman of the For the future, with determined will, I seek

—

future,

You, born years, centuries

after

me,

seek.

States Calamus group, in which edition the poem concludes with Come I IVill Make the Continent Indissoluble. Portions of this poem made up Over the Carnage Rose Prophetic

Published in i860 in verses called

a Voice

Drum-Taps.

States!

Were you looking to be held together by the lawyers ? By an agreement on a paper ? Or by arms ?

Away! I

arrive,

These

bringing these, beyond

you together

to hold

all

the forces of courts and arms,

as firmly as the earth itself

together.

The

old breath of

Here!

pass

life,

ever new.

by contact

to you, America.

mother! have you done much for me ? me be much done

Behold, there shall from

[296]

for you.

held

1Rc\cctci>

There

poem0

—

from me be a new friendship It shall be called after name, circulate through The States, indifferent of place, twist and intertwist them through and around each other

shall

my It

shall

— Compact

shall

they be, showing

new

signs,

Affection shall solve every one of the problems of freedom,

Those

who

They

shall finally

love each other shall be invincible,

make America completely

victorious, in

name.

One from Massachusetts shall be comrade to a Missourian, One from Maine or Vermont, and a Carolinian and an Oregonese, shall all

be friends

triune,

more precious

to each other than

the riches of the earth.

To Michigan shall be wafted perfume from To the Mannahatta from Cuba or Mexico, Not the perfume of

Florida,

flowers, but sweeter, and wafted

beyond

death.

danger shall balk Columbia's lovers, need be, a thousand shall sternly immolate themselves for one. The Kanuck shall be willing to lay down his life for the Kansian, and the Kansian for the Kanuck, on due need. If

shall

be customary

to see

manly

in all directions, in the

houses and

streets,

affection,

The departing brother

or friend shall salute the remaining brother

or friend with a kiss.

There There

be innovations. be countless linked hands namely, the Northeasterner's, and the Northwesterner's, and the Southwesterner's, and those of the interior, and all their brood, These shall be masters of the world under a new power, They shall laugh to scorn the attacks of all the remainder of the shall

—

shall

world. [297]

OLeavca of (Braea

The most dauntless and rude shall touch face to The dependence of Liberty shall be lovers, The continuance of Equality shall be comrades. These I,

shall tie

extatic,

face lightly,

and band stronger than hoops of partners!

iron,

henceforth with the love of

lands!

lovers tie you.

%om

XTbouabt tbat 1knowlc&ge.

Published in i860, in

Long

Calamus group.

Rejected in 1867.

thought that knowledge alone would

suffice

—O

could but obtain knowledge!

Then

lands engrossed

— Lands

land, the southern savannas,

—

of the prairies, Ohio's

me — For them

engrossed

would be their orator would live met the examples of old and new heroes Then I

;

warriors,

seemed as any

And

sailors,

and

me that

too had

— and would be so; came to me to New World — And then believed

then, to enclose

the

heard of

— And

to be as dauntless

strike

all, it

—

persons

dauntless

all

up the songs of life must be

spent in singing;

now

But

take notice, land of the prairies, land of the south

savannas, Ohio's land.

Take

notice, all

—

also.

And I

love.

With

—

That you each and all find be your singer of songs, One who loves can be your singer of songs no longer me is jealous of me, and withdraws me from all but

you, Californian mountains

somebody

For

—

and and you Lake Huron you Kanuck woods and you Niagara you roll toward Niagara

that with

the rest suffice

else to

—

I dispense 1 sever from what I thought would me, for it does not it is now empty and tasteless

—

to me, [298]

IReiectei)

poems

heed knowledge, and the grandeur of The States, and the example of heroes, no more, I will go with him I love, I am indifferent to my own songs We never sepaIt is to be enough for us that we are together I

—

rate again.

Ibours (Tontinuino Xona, Sore an& 1beat>p*l3eartet>* Published in i860, in

Calamus group.

Rejected

in 1867.

long, sore and heavy-hearted, withdraw to a lonesome and unfreHours of the dusk, when quented spot, seating myself, leaning my face in my

Hours continuing

hands;

Hours

sleepless,

deep

in the night,

when

forth,

speeding

swiftly the country roads, or through the city streets, or

pacing miles and miles, stifling plaintive cries; for the one cannot content myHours discouraged, distracted self without, soon 1 saw him content himself with-

—

out me;

Hours when but

forgotten,

believe

Sullen and suffering hours! I

like,

torment

am ashamed — but

—

wonder

out of the like feelings

there even one other like lover, lost to

it is

useless

—

am what am;)

Hours of Is

(O weeks and months are passing,

never to forget!)

he too as

him

men

ever have the

— distracted — his

friend,

his

am now ? Does he who is lost think who is lost ? I

jected, thinking ing,

other

still

rise in

him

the morning, de-

and

at night,

awak-

Does he too harbor his friendship silent and endless ? harbor his anguish and passion ? Does some stray reminder, or the casual mention of a name, bring the fit back upon him, taciturn and deprest ? Does he see himself reflected in me ? In these hours, does he see the face of his hours reflected [299]

Xeavee of 6ra60

Mbo Us mow IReaMng Ub\3 ? Published in i860 in

Who is now May-be one of

reading this is

now

past

Calamus group.

Dropped

in 1867.

reading this

who knows some wrong-doing

life,

Or may-be a stranger is reading this who has secretly loved me, Or may-be one who meets all my grand assumptions and egotisms with derision,

Or may-be one who

puzzled at me.

As if were not puzzled at myself Or as if never deride myself (O conscience-struck 1

O self-con-

victed!)

(O tenderly, a long time, I do not secretly love strangers and never avow it Or as if I do not see, perfectly well, interior in myself, the stuff of wrong-doing. Or as if it could cease transpiring from me until it must cease.

;

Uo lou. Published in i860.

Dropped

in 1871.

Let us twain walk aside from the rest; are together privately, do you discard ceremony. Come! vouchsafe to me what has yet been vouchsafed to none Tell me the whole story. Tell me what you would not tell your brother, wife, husband, or

Now we

physician.

ÂŠt Ube

IDtsa^es of TLbinQS,

Published in i860 under Thoughts.

the visages of things

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;And

Dropped

in 1871.

of piercing through to the ac-

cepted hells beneath [300]

IRelecteb

poeme

as there —To me there just as much human beings acceptof ugliness beauty — And now the able to me; any detected persons — To me, detected persons are not, are and not persons — undetected than worse respect,

ugliness

any respect worse than

myself

equally crim—To me, any judge, or any —and any reputable person also—and the President juror, is

criminals inal

is also.

First

In 1867 sections

published in i860.

In 1871 a part

retained.

2,3,4,6, and 8

published under

title

are discarded,

but

title

of Suggestions.

SAY whatever tastes sweet to the most perfect person, that

finally right.

2 I

say nourish a great

great brain

intellect, a

have said anything to the contrary,

hereby retract

it.

man

hold property in

man

say

say the least developed person on earth

shall not

just as important

and

sacred to himself or herself, as the most developed person is

to himself or herself

4 I

say where liberty draws not the blood out of slavery, there

say the

slavery

draws the blood out of liberty, the good old cause in These

word of

sound

States,

and

re-

hence over the world. 5

human

shape or face

so great,

must never be made

say the

say for ornaments nothing outre can be allowed,

ridiculous

;

[301]

leaves of 6ra00 And And

that anything

most

beautiful without ornament,

be sternly revenged in your own physiology also physiology, and can be jetted and conceived children clean-shaped say that in public, and the huprevail forms natural only where

that exaggerations will

in other persons'

And

man face and form

are never caricatured

And I say that genius need never more be turned to romances, (For facts properly told, how mean appear all romances).

say the

word

of lands fearing nothing

land;

—

will

have no other

—

and expose all I am for every topic openly; I say there can be no salvation for These States without innowithout free tongues, and ears willing to hear the vators tongues And I announce as a glory of These States, that they respectfully listen to propositions, reforms, fresh views and doctrines, from successions of men and women. Each age with its own growth. I

say discuss

all

—

many times

that materials and the Soul are great, and depends on physique; reverse what I said, and affirm that all depends on the

have said that

all

Now

And

that criticism

aesthetic or intellectual. is

great

—and that

refinement

greatest of

all;

And

affirm

now

that the

mind governs

—and that

all

depends

on the mind. 8

With one man

woman — ( no

matter which one

—

even pick

out the lowest,) or her I now illustrate the whole law; say that every right, in politics or what-not, shall be eligible to

With him I

that one

man

woman, on [302]

the

same terms

as any.

IReiecteb

poems

Debris* The

published in i860.

First

sections not retained in the final edition are here

given.

He He

wisest

who has the most caution, who goes far enough.

only wins

Anything

good

as established,

that will produce

What

when

and continue

that

established

it.

General has a good army in himself, has a good army; in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy.

He happy But

you you cannot be happy by others, any more than you can beget or conceive a child by others.

tell

One sweeps All

by, attended

by an immense

emblematic of peace â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not

train.

a soldier or menial

among

One sweeps by, old, with black eyes, and profuse white He has the simple magnificence of health and strength, His face strikes as with flashes of lightning whoever

them.

hair,

turns

toward.

Three old

men

by three

slowly pass, followed by three others, and they others,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

the one in the middle of each group holds companions by the hand, As they walk, they give out perfume wherever they walk.

They

are beautiful his

What weeping Is it

face is that looking from the stream those sorrowful tears ? for some burial place, vast and dry ?

Is it

Why

does

wet the

soil

of graves

[303]

window ?

Xeavc0 of (5ra06

an egg out of the robin's nest in the orchard, will take a branch of gooseberries from the old bush in the garden, and go and preach to the world;

will take

You You You

meet a single heretic or scorner, clergymen, and confound them, stump see how I a scarlet tomato, and a white pebble me showing see

shall see shall shall

will not

from the beach.

—

fresh, native, copious, each one for himself or herself, Behavior America and freedom expressed Nature and the Soul expressed

— In

—

the finest

pride, cleanliness,

physique,

art,

sympathy, to have

intellect, faith

an army or a

city,

—

their chance.

just as

or to write a

book

much

The youth, the laboring person, the poor person, rest

The

manage

rivalling all the

rest.

no greater than its nothing in the whole universe that can be more effective than a man's or woman's daily behavior can be,

effects of the universe

For there In

— perhaps outdoing the

as to

— perhaps more.

any

position, in

any one of These

States.

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. As 1 lean and look through the glimmering light that one has I

—

utterly disappeared,

And

those appear that perplex me.

I^ot

/IDi^

Bnemtes iBvct

finvn^c />€•

Published in Sequel to Drum-Taps, 1865-6.

Not my enemies them

But the lovers

me — no harm

ever invade

fear; I

recklessly love

—

lo!

how

Lo! me, ever open and helpless, bereft of Utterly abject, grovelling

they master

strength!

on the ground before them. [304]

pride from

poems

1?e}eete^

1856, with

published in 1855.

Poem of a few

title

Greatnesses.

1867, with the above Leaves of Grass, No. 2, page 199. The reading here is that of 1871. after 1876.

1860,

Dropped

title.

—

myths I too delight in them Great I too look back and accept them; and Eve Adam are Great nation, and their poets, women, sages, fallen and risen the Great are the

—

inventors, rulers, warriors, and priests.

Great

Liberty! great

Helmsmen I

weather

Equality!

their follower;

where you

of nations, choose your craft!

— —

equally great is Old Age Youth and Night; great is Poverty great Great is Wealth

Great

sail,*

—

— great is

Day

are the

Expression

— great

Silence.

Youth,

sail,

out with you, or sink with you. f

large, lusty, loving

— Youth,

full

of grace, force, fascina-

tion!

Do you know

that

Old Age may come

grace, force, fascination

Day, full-blown and splendid

after

you, with equal

— Day of the immense sun, action,

ambition, laughter.

The Night follows

with millions of suns, and sleep, and

close,

restoring darkness. *Stanza

"Yours

2, after line 2,

the muscle of

1855: read

life

or death

— yours

the perfect science

absolute faith.

Great It is

To-day, and beautiful,

good

to live in this age

— there never was any

Great are the plunges throes triumphs and

falls

better.

of democracy,

Great the reformers with their lapses and screams,

Great the daring and venture of

sailors

on new

explorations.

Great are yourself and myself,

We are just What What What

good and bad

the best and worst did,

they

felt,

do not we

they wished, do

Dropped

in 1867.

VOL. HI.

—ao.

as the oldest

feel

and youngest or any,

could do, in ourselves ?

not wish the same ? "

\Ux\t 3 added in 1867.

[305]

—

you

have

Xeapee of (Sraea Wealth, with the flush hand, fine clothes, hospitality; But then the Soul's wealth, which is candor, knowledge, pride, enfolding love;

(Who

goes for wealth ?)

men and women showing

Expression of speech Silence

what

Poverty richer than

written or said, forget not that

also expressive.

That anguish as hot as the hottest, and contempt as cold as the coldest, may be without words.*

Great

way

the Earth, and the

Do you imagine

became what

has stopt at this

it is;

the increase abandon'd

Understand then that it goes as far onward from this, as this is from the times when it lay in covering waters and gases, before man had appear'd.f Great

quality of truth in

inevitably in the

man

the quality of Truth in

The

man man

supports

— he

itself

and

through

all

are in love,

changes,

and never

leave each other.

The If

truth in

there If

man is

truth

—

it is

truth

vital as

—

all

man

woman

there be physical or moral, there

upon the

truth of the earth

eyesight;

there be

there be equilibrium or volition, there

things at

no dictum,

there be any Soul, there

truth

—

truth

there be

earth, there is truth.

my way

determin'd to press

toward

you;t Sound your voice!

scale mountains, or dive in the sea after

you. * stanza

" That the Great

1855: read

7, after line 2,

true adoration

the greatest nation

likewise without

— the nation of

words and without kneeling.

clusters of equal nations."

" " f before man had appear'd added in i860. read ** truth of the earth truth of things 1 1855 :

whole way toward you"; 1860-7: read " O truth of the of things! am determined to press my way toward you."

press

[306]

determined to earth!

O truth

TReJecteb

Great It is

—

Language

it is

the mightiest of the sciences,

the fulness, color, form, diversity of the earth, and of

and women, and of greater than wealth

It is

poems

—

all

qualities

men

and processes

greater than buildings, ships, re-

it is

ligions, paintings, music.

Great

the English speech

English

Great

the English brood

— what

speech

so great as the

— what brood has so vast a destiny as

the English ? It is

the mother of the brood that must rule the earth with the

new

rule;

The new

rule shall rule as the Soul rules,

and as the

love, justice,

equality in the Soul rule.

Law

Great

They

are the

Great

— great are the few old * land-marks of the law, same

in all times,

and

shall

not be disturb'd.f

4 Justice It

Justice!

not settled by legislators and laws

—

it is

in the Soul;

cannot be varied by statutes, any more than love, pride, the attraction of gravity, can;

It is

immutable

what

—

not,

does not depend on majorities

come

at last before the

same

— majorities or

passionless and

exact tribunal

For justice are the grand natural lawyers, and perfect judges

—

itj in their Souls; It is

— they have not studied nothing — the great on the highest grounds — they oversee

well assorted

for

includes the less;

They

rule

all

eras, states*

administrations. * 1855

for

" old few." " Great are marriage, commerce, newspapers, books, steamers, international mails and telegraphs and exchanges " ;

" few old

" read

f After this line, 1855: read free trade, railroads,

i860: read as above, omitting "marriage." 4:1855: for

is it

" read

is."

[307]

Xeaioee of (Braea

The

perfect judge fears nothing

fore

God

Before the perfect judge

is Life, real

Great

Death

poem

stand back.*

and mystical, wherever and whoever; life holds all parts together, Death holds

— sure as

much

Life

hell shall

parts together.

all

Has

shall

life

— heaven and

stand back

Great

shall

all

— he could go front to front beand death stand back —

purport

— Ah,

Death has the greatest purport.

of IRcmembrances tot a (Birl or a J5o^ of XLbcec

States First

published in 1856;

The

i860: Chants DemocratiCy No. 6.

text of 1760.

You just maturing youth You male or female Remember the organic compact of These States, Remember the pledge of the Old Thirteen thenceforward !

rights, * After this

liberty, equality

life,

1855: read

line,

" Great is goodness; I do not know what

to the

of man,

it is

any more than

know what

health

— but

know

it is

great.

Great

Do you

wickedness call

—

find

that a paradox ?

often admire It

The

eternal equilibrium of things

And

there

Great

is life,

Great

certainly is

great,

just as

much

admire goodness:

a paradox.

and the

eternal

overthrow of things is great,

another paradox.

and

real

death— Sure

1855 closes the

and mystical, wherever and whoever, as

life

holds

poem with "

all

parts together, death holds

all

parts together."

Sure as the stars return again after they merge in the

death is great as life "; 1856-60 omit above line and add " Death has just as much purport as Life has. Do you enjoy what Life confers? you shall enjoy what Death confers.

light,

1 I

do not understand the realities of Death, but I know they are great; do not understand the least reality of Life how then can understand the of Death ? "

—

[308]

realities

ipoema

IReiecteJ)

Remember what was promulgated by The

the founders, ratified by

signed in black and white by the

States,

and read by Washington

sioners,

army,

Remember

the purposes of the founders,

Commis-

the head of the

— Remember Washing-

ton;

Remember

the copious humanity streaming from every direction

toward America; the hospitality that belongs to nations and

Remember

(Cursed be nation,

woman, man, without

men;

hospitality!)

Remember, government is to subserve individuals, Not any, not the President, is to have one jot more than you or me.

Not any habitan of America

to have one jot less than

you

or me.

Anticipate

when

the thirty or

fifty millions,

two hundred millions, freewomen, amicably joined.

hundred, or

Recall ages

— One age

but a part

are to

become

the

of equal freemen and

— ages are but a part

Recall the angers, bickerings, delusions, superstitions, of the idea

of caste. Recall the bloody cruelties and crimes.

Anticipate the best I

women

;

and well-defined women These States, These States must be free, capable, dauntless,

new

say an unnumbered

race of hardy

are to spread through I

say a

girl fit for

just the

same

Anticipate your

as a boy.

own

—

retract

diseases,

see

tion,

—

retract

with merciless power.

time lies,

errors,

thefts ?

lost

rum-drinking, dropsy, fever, mortal cancer or in-

flammation

Do you

life

— Do you see those weaknesses, that character? — Do you see decay, consump-

Shirk nothing

Do you

all

see death, and the approach of death [309]

leavea of (5ra66 Ubinli ot tbe

SouL

In that edition and in i860 it is a continuation of Poem published in 1856. The text of 1 87 1 0/Remembrances, that part being discarded in the 187 1 edition.

First

Think of the Soul; swear to you that body of yours gives proportions to your I Soul 1

somehow

to live in other spheres;

do not know how, but

know

it is

so.

Think of loving and being loved; 1 swear to you, whoever you are, you can interfuse yourself with such things that everybody that sees you shall look longingly upon you.

Think of the past; I warn you that in a little while others and your times.

The

race

All is

never separated

inextricable — things,

— nor man nor woman escapes; spirits,

you

will find their past in

Nature, nations, you too

—

from precedents you come. Recall the ever-welcome defiers, (The mothers precede them;) Recall the sages, poets,

inventors,

saviors,

earth Recall Christ, brother of rejected persons felons, idiots,

lawgivers,

— brother

of the

of slaves,

and of insane and diseas'd persons.

Think of the time when you were not yet born; Think of times you stood at the side of the dying; Think of the time when your own body will be dying. Think of spiritual Sure as the earth its

results,

swims through

the heavens, does every one of

objects pass into spiritual results.

Think of manhood, and you to be a man; Do you count manhood, and the sweet of manhood, nothing [310]

ipoeme

IReiecteb

Think of womanhood, and you to be a woman; The creation is womanhood Have not said that womanhood involves all ? Have not told how the universe has nothing 1

best

womanhood

better than the

1Re9pon0c3 1856 under

published in

First

title

the Proposition of Nakedness;

Poem of

i860: Chants Democratic, No. $; 1867: under this title;

Text of 1871.

discarded after 1876.

Respondez! Respondez! (The war is completed

— the

beyond recall;)* Let every one answer! evade!

let

price

those

paid

who

— the

sleep be

title is

waked!

settled

let

none

we still go on with our affectations and sneaking }% me bring this to a close — pronounce openly for a new

Must Let

distribution of roles; § Let that which stood in front

go behind! and let that which was behind advance to the front and speak; Let murderers, bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new propositions!

Let the old propositions be postponed

Let faces and

theories be turn'd

! ||

inside out!

freely criminal, as well as results

let

meanings be

Let there be no suggestion above the suggestion of drudgery! Let none be pointed toward his destination!

know your Line

added

destination

(Say!

do you

in 187 1.

*' not you any more than others," f 1856: after "evade," read Line which read " If it really be as is pretended added in i860, 4 X

longer must

§ Line I

we go 5

on," etc.; 1867: read "

added

Lines 6,

7, 8,

How much

longer must

how much we go on," etc,

in i860.

with

lines

65 and 66, were afterwards published under

title

Reversals. 1"

1856: after " results," read "(Say! can results be criminal, and meanings not

criminal

[311]

Xeavc0 of ÂŠra00 Let

men and women* be mock'd with

bodies and mock'd with

Souls

Let the love that waits in them, waitl born to other spheres! Let the

sympathy

that waits in every

let

die, or

man, wait! or

pass

still-

let it also

pass, a dwarf, to other spheres!

Let contradictions prevail! let

one

line of

let

one thing contradict another! and

my poems

contradict another!

Let the people sprawl with yearning, aimless hands! let their let let their eyes be discouraged tongues be broken !

none descend into of love (Stifled,

O days O lands

Smothered

with the fresh lusciousness

their hearts

every public and private corruption!

mountain-

impotence, shamelessness,

thievery,

high;

Brazen effrontery, scheming, rolling like ocean's waves around and upon you, O my days my lands For not even those thunderstorms, nor fiercest lightnings of the !

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Let

war, have purified the atmosphere;) parison

Let

still be management, caste, comwhat other theory would you ?)

the theory of America

them

(Say

that distrust birth and death

why

shall

they not lead you

Let the crust of hell be

still

lead the rest

near'd and trod on

darker than the nights

than waking time brings Let the world never appear to

(Say!

let

the days be

let

slumber bring

slumber

less

him or her

for

whom

was

all

made Let the heart of the

of the old

young man

man

and

let

still

exile itself

from the heart man be ex-

the heart of the old

from that of the young man moon go let scenery take the applause of the audience let there be apathy under the stars every one who Let freedom prove no man's inalienable right can tyrannize, let him tyrannize to his satisfaction iled

Let the sun and

* 1856: read

Let trillions of

men and women,"

f Lines 17-20 added in 1870. X Lines 22, 44 and 46 were

afterwards

sitions .

[312]

etc.

published under

title

of Transpo-

pocme

1Reiecte&

Let none but infidels be countenanced

Let the eminence of meanness, treachery, sarcasm, hate, greed,

be taken for granted above governments, households, religions, philosophies, take such for granted above all Let the worst men beget children out of the worst women indecency, impotence, all!

lust,

writers, judges,

let

Let the priest

still

play at immortality

Let death be inaugurated

Let nothing remain but the ashes of teachers,* artists, moralists,

lawyers, and learn'd and polite persons

Let him

who

my poems

without

be assassinated Let the cow, the horse, the camel, the garden-bee fish,

the lobster, the mussel,

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

eel,

let

mud-

the

the sting-ray, and the

let these, and the like of these, be put on a perfect equality with man and woman Let churches accommodate serpents, vermin, and the corpses of those who have died of the most filthy of diseases Let marriage slip down among fools, and be for none but fools Let men among themselves talk and think forever obscenely of women and let women among themselves talk and

grunting pig-fish

think obscenely of

men

without missing one, be exposed in public, naked, monthly, at the peril of our lives let our bodies be freely handled and examined by whoever chooses Let nothing but copies at second hand be permitted to exist upon

Let us

all,

the earth

Let the earth desert God, nor tion'd the

Let there be no

name

God

let

God

there ever henceforth be

men-

Let there be money, business, imports, exports, custom, authority,

precedents, pallor, dyspepsia, smut, ignorance, un-

belief!

1856: read " Let nothing remain upon the earth except teachers," etc.

t After line 38, 1856:

every

woman

trick every

X 1856: read

man doubt

every

woman!

And

let

Let nothing but love-songs, pictures, statues, elegant works be

permitted," etc.; i860: niscences, elegant

read " Let every "

man

read

"Let nothing but

works be permitted,"

etc.

[313]

copies, pictures,

statues,

remi-

leavea of 6ra90 Let judges and criminals be transposed! let the prison-keepers be put in prison let those that were prisoners take the !

Say!

keys!

posed

why

might they not

just as

the masters

become

well be trans-

Let the slaves be masters!

let

slaves!

Let the reformers descend from the stands where they are forever bawling! let an idiot or insane person appear on

each of the stands Let the Asiatic, the African, the European, the American, and the Australian,

go armed against the murderous stealthilet them sleep armed! let none be-

ness of each other! lieve in

good

will!

Let there be no unfashionable * wisdom derided off from the earth Let a floating cloud in the sky

—

let

wave

such be scorn'd and

let

of the seaf

ing mint, spinach, onions, tomatoes

—

let

grow-

these be

exadmission Let all the men of These States stand aside for a few smouchers! let the rest gawk, let the few seize on what they choose giggle, starve, obey! Let shadows be furnish'd with genitals let substances be dehibited as

shows

—

let

at a great price for

prived of their genitals! Let there be wealthy and

immense

cities

—

^but still

through any

of them, not a single poet, savior, knower, lover!

Let the infidels of These States laugh If

one

man be found who

Let

them

Let

the

affright faith

let

all

faith

away

upon him! them destroy the power of breeding

has

faith, let

the rest set

faith!

she-harlots and the he-harlots be prudent!

dance on, while seeming seeming!) Let the preachers recite creeds!

they have been taught * 1856: f 1856: X

for

" unfashionable

" read

lasts!

let

let them (O seeming! seeming!

them

teach only

what

living."

— Let one glimpse of your eye-sight upon the landscape or grass—

"Let them teach only what they have been taught

57. '856, read

alone,

still

by day

added

860.

Let the preacher of creeds never dare to go meditate

night! (If one ever once dare, he

[314]

lost!)"

After line

upon the

hills,

1Reiecte&

Let insanity

still

poeme

have charge of sanity!

Let books take the place of trees, animals, rivers, clouds! Let the daub'd portraits of heroes supersede heroes!

manhood

Let the

Let

man

never take steps

after itself!

take steps after eunuchs, and after consumptive and genteel

persons!

Let the white person again tread the black person under his (Say!

heel!

which

trodden under

heel, after all ?)

Let the reflections of the things of the world be studied in mirrors! let

the things themselves

Let a

man

Let a

woman

still

continue unstudied!

seek pleasure everywhere except

himself

seek happiness everywhere except in herself

(What *

real happiness have you had one single hour through your whole life? Let the limited years of life do nothing for the limitless years of death! (Whatf do you suppose death will do, then ?)

SoU^, Ironical, IRoUina Otb. First

published in

Drum-Taps,

1865.

Dropped

1881.

Solid, ironical, rolling orb!

Master of

and matter of

all,

fact!

Bringing to practical, vulgar

And

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

tests,

at last

all

ideal

dreams,

of me, as lover and hero.

J5atbe^ in First

Bathed

published in

Mar*s perfume*

Drum-Taps,

war's perfume

â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

1865.

Dropped

to hear ful

you

woman!

* 1856: read "(Say! What") t 1856: read

"(Say

fleets,

the sailors and the soldiers

call

What")

in 1881.

delicate flag!

(Should the days needing armies, needing

accept your terms;

etc. etc.

C315]

come

again,)

flag like a beauti-

Xeave0 of (Braes

to hear the tramp, tramp, of a million

answering men!

the

ships they arm with joy!

O to see you leap and beckon from the tall masts of ships! O to see you peering down on the sailors on the decks! Flag like the eyes of

women.

XTbougbt First

published in i860 under Thoughts.

Dropped

in 1881.

—

Of what write from myself As if that were not the resume; As if such, however complete, were not less comOf Histories I

—

plete than the preceding poems those shreds, the records of nations, could possibly be as

poems; amount of all nations, and of all

lasting as the preceding

here were not the

the lives

of heroes.

Published in Passage to India.

are who teach only the sweet lessons of peace and safety; But I teach lessons of war and death to those I love, That they readily meet invasions, when they come.

There

XTbts H)ai?, First

This day,

Long

published in Sequel to

Soul,

Drum-Taps, 1865-6.

give you a

Behold,

Faithfully

Soul!

it is

showing you

all

Dropped

in 1881.

wondrous mirror;

and cloud and the tarnish gone;

in the dark, in tarnish

pass'd, .

now

lay

— But the cloud has

a clean and bright mirror.

the things of the world. [316]

1Reiecte5

poema

Qnc Song, Hmettca, Before I Go. First

One I

published in /is a Strong Bird on Pinions Free, 1873.

song, America, before

'd sing, o'er all

For thee

sow

the

rest,

— the Future.

go,

with trumpet sound,

a seed for thee of endless Nationality;

'd fashion

thy Ensemble, including

show, away ahead, thy

real

Body and

Union, and

Soul;

how

may be

accomplish'd.

(The paths to the House I seek to make. But leave to those to come, the House itself.)

—

sing and Preparation; and Nature are not great with reference to the Present only, But greater still from what is yet to come,

Belief

Life

Out of

that formula for

Thee

Uwo First

Two Two

Rivulets side

sing.

1Rivulet0»

published in 1876.

side.

blended, parallel, strolling tides.

Companions,

travelers,

gossiping as they journey.

For the Eternal Ocean bound, ripples, passing surges, streams of Death and Object and Subject hurrying, whirling by.

These

The Real and

Ideal,

Alternate ebb and flow the

Days and Nights,

(Strands of a Trio twining. Present, Future, Past).

You, whoe'er you are, my book perusing, I myself in all the World these ripples flow, All, all, toward the mystic Ocean tending. In

—

[3x7]

Life,

%CBVCB Of (5ras0 (O yearnful waves! the kisses of your lips! breast so broad, with open arms, O firm, expanded shore !)

Your

OVf

tbat

jf torn

First

published in

Sea ot

Two

XTtme*

Rivulets,

876.

Or, from that Sea of Time,

blown by the wind

Spray,

and (O

little

—a

double winrow-drift of weeds

shells;

shells,

so curious-convolute! so limpid-cold and voice-

less!

Yet will you not, to the tympans of temples held. Murmurs and echoes still bring up Eternity's music,

—

far.

Wafted

inland, sent

from Atlantica's rim

the Prairies,

— chords

Whisper'd reverberations ously sounding

Your

tidings old, yet ever

Infinitessimals out of

—

faint

and

strains for the Soul of

for the ear of the

West, joy-

new and untranslatable ;) and many a life,

life,

—

(For not my life and years alone 1 give all, all I give ;) These thoughts and Songs waifs from the deep here, cast high and dry, Wash'd on America's shores.

—

Currents of starting a Continent new. Overtures sent to the solid out of the liquid, Fusion of ocean and land tender and pensive waves, (Not safe and peaceful only waves rous'd and ominous too, Out of the depths, the storm's abysms who knows whence?

—

Death's waves.

Raging over the

vast,

with

many

sail).

[318]

a broken spar and tatter'd

it t

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