Published Works In Whitman's Hand Life & Letters Commentary Resources Pictures & Sound About the Archive

contents   |   previous   |   next

View Page 315

LEAVES OF GRASS.

1.

1   On the beach at night alone,

As the old mother sways her to and fro, singing her          savage and husky song,

As I watch the bright stars shining—I think a thought          of the clef of the universes, and of the future.

2   A VAST SIMILITUDE interlocks all,

All spheres, grown, ungrown, small, large, suns, moons,          planets, comets, asteroids,

All the substances of the same, and all that is spiritual          upon the same,

All distances of place, however wide,

All distances of time—all inanimate forms,

All Souls—all living bodies, though they be ever so          different, or in different worlds,

All gaseous, watery, vegetable, mineral processes—the          fishes, the brutes,

All men and women—me also;

All nations, colors, barbarisms, civilizations, languages;

All identities that have existed, or may exist, on this          globe, or any globe;

All lives and deaths—all of the past, present, future;

This vast similitude spans them, and always has          spann'd, and shall forever span them, and com-          pactly hold them.

2.

1   TO ORATISTS—to male or female,

Vocalism, breath, measure, concentration, determina-          tion, and the divine power to use words.

View Page 316

2   Are you full-lung'd and limber-lipp'd from long          trial? from vigorous practice? from physique?

Do you move in these broad lands as broad as they?

Come duly to the divine power to use words?

3   For only at last, after many years—after chastity,          friendship, procreation, prudence, and naked-          ness;

After treading ground and breasting river and lake;

After a loosen'd throat—after absorbing eras, temper-          aments, races—after knowledge, freedom,          crimes;

After complete faith—after clarifyings, elevations, and          removing obstructions;

After these, and more, it is just possible there comes          to a man, a woman, the divine power to use          words.

4   Then toward that man or that woman, swiftly hasten          all—None refuse, all attend;

Armies, ships, antiquities, the dead, libraries, paintings,          machines, cities, hate, despair, amity, pain, theft,          murder, aspiration, form in close ranks;

They debouch as they are wanted to march obediently          through the mouth of that man, or that woman.

5   O I see arise orators fit for inland America;

And I see it is as slow to become an orator as to be-          come a man;

And I see that power is folded in a great vocalism.

6   Of a great vocalism, the merciless light thereof shall          pour, and the storm rage,

Every flash shall be a revelation, an insult,

The glaring flame 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,

View Page 317

On what you called death—(and what to you there-          fore was death,

As far as there can be death.)

3.

1   LAWS for Creations,

For strong artists and leaders—for fresh broods of          teachers, and perfect literats for America,

For diverse savans, and coming musicians.

2   All must have reference to the ensemble of the          world, and the compact truth of the world;

There shall be no subject too pronounced—All works          shall illustrate the divine law of indirections.

3   What do you suppose creation is?

What do you suppose will satisfy the Soul, except to          walk free, and own no superior?

What do you suppose I have intimated to you in a          hundred ways, but that man or woman is as          good as God?

And that there is no God any more divine than Your-          self?

And that that is what the oldest and newest myths          finally mean?

And that you or any one must approach Creations          through such laws?

4.

1   POETS to come!

Not to-day is to justify me, and Democracy, and what          we are for;

View Page 318

But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental,          greater than before known,

You must justify me.

2   I but write one or two indicative words for the          future,

I but advance a moment, only to wheel and hurry back          in the darkness.

3   I am a man who, sauntering along, without fully          stopping, turns a casual look upon you, and          then averts his face,

Leaving it to you to prove and define it,

Expecting the main things from you.

contents   |   previous   |   next

Comments?

Published Works | In Whitman's Hand | Life & Letters | Commentary | Resources | Pictures & Sound

Support the Archive | About the Archive

Distributed under a Creative Commons License. Ed Folsom & Kenneth M. Price, editors.