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Leaves of Grass (1860)
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View Page 190
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16.
| THEY shall arise in the States—mediums shall, |
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They shall report Nature, laws, physiology, and
happiness, |
| They shall illustrate Democracy and the kosmos, |
| They shall be alimentive, amative, perceptive, |
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They shall be complete women and men—their pose
brawny and supple, their drink water, their blood clean and clear, |
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They shall enjoy materialism and the sight of prod-
ucts—they shall enjoy the sight of the beef, lumber, bread-stuffs, of Chicago, the great city, |
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They shall train themselves to go in public to become
oratists, (orators and oratresses,) |
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Strong and sweet shall their tongues be—poems and
materials of poems shall come from their lives— they shall be makers and finders, |
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Of them, and of their works, shall emerge divine
conveyers, to convey gospels, |
View Page 190
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Characters, events, retrospections, shall be conveyed
in gospels—Trees, animals, waters, shall be conveyed, |
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Death, the future, the invisible faith, shall all be
conveyed. |