The Walt Whitman MEGAPACK Read online

  Contents

  COPYRIGHT INFO 22

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER 23

  The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series 26

  LEAVES OF GRASS 34

  BOOK I 35

  One’s-Self I Sing 36

  As I Ponder’d in Silence 37

  In Cabin’d Ships at Sea 38

  To Foreign Lands 40

  To a Historian 41

  To Thee Old Cause 42

  Eidolons 43

  For Him I Sing 47

  When I Read the Book 48

  Beginning My Studies 49

  Beginners 50

  To the States 51

  On Journeys Through the States 52

  To a Certain Cantatrice 53

  Me Imperturbe 54

  Savantism 55

  The Ship Starting 56

  I Hear America Singing 57

  What Place Is Besieged? 58

  Still Though the One I Sing 59

  Shut Not Your Doors 60

  Poets to Come 61

  To You 62

  Thou Reader 63

  BOOK II 64

  Starting from Paumanok 65

  BOOK III 80

  Song of Myself 81

  BOOK IV 149

  To the Garden the World 150

  From Pent-Up Aching Rivers 151

  I Sing the Body Electric 154

  A Woman Waits for Me 164

  Spontaneous Me 166

  One Hour to Madness and Joy 169

  Out of the Rolling Ocean the Crowd 171

  Ages and Ages Returning at Intervals 172

  We Two, How Long We Were Fool’d 173

  O Hymen! O Hymenee! 174

  I Am He That Aches with Love 175

  Native Moments 176

  Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City 177

  I Heard You Solemn-Sweet Pipes of the Organ 178

  Facing West from California’s Shores 179

  As Adam Early in the Morning 180

  BOOK V. 181

  In Paths Untrodden 182

  Scented Herbage of My Breast 183

  Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand 186

  For You, O Democracy 188

  These I Singing in Spring 189

  Not Heaving from My Ribb’d Breast Only 191

  Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances 192

  The Base of All Metaphysics 194

  Recorders Ages Hence 195

  When I Heard at the Close of the Day 196

  Are You the New Person Drawn Toward Me? 197

  Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone 198

  Not Heat Flames Up and Consumes 199

  Trickle Drops 200

  City of Orgies 201

  Behold This Swarthy Face 202

  I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing 203

  To a Stranger 204

  This Moment Yearning and Thoughtful 205

  I Hear It Was Charged Against Me 206

  The Prairie-Grass Dividing 207

  When I Peruse the Conquer’d Fame 208

  We Two Boys Together Clinging 209

  A Promise to California 210

  Here the Frailest Leaves of Me 211

  No Labor-Saving Machine 212

  A Glimpse 213

  A Leaf for Hand in Hand 214

  Earth, My Likeness 215

  I Dream’d in a Dream 216

  What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand? 217

  To the East and to the West 218

  Sometimes with One I Love 219

  To a Western Boy 220

  Fast Anchor’d Eternal O Love! 221

  Among the Multitude 222

  O You Whom I Often and Silently Come 223

  That Shadow My Likeness 224

  Full of Life Now 225

  BOOK VI 226

  Salut au Monde! 227

  BOOK VII 239

  Song of the Open Road 240

  BOOK VIII 252

  Crossing Brooklyn Ferry 253

  BOOK IX 261

  Song of the Answerer 262

  BOOK X 268

  Our Old Feuillage 269

  BOOK XI 275

  A Song of Joys 276

  BOOK XII 285

  Song of the Broad-Axe 286

  BOOK XIII 299

  Song of the Exposition 300

  BOOK XIV 311

  Song of the Redwood-Tree 312

  BOOK XV 317

  A Song for Occupations 318

  BOOK XVI 327

  A Song of the Rolling Earth 328

  Youth, Day, Old Age and Night 335

  BOOK XVII 336

  Song of the Universal 337

  Pioneers! O Pioneers! 340

  To You 345

  France 348

  Myself and Mine 350

  Year of Meteors 352

  With Antecedents 354

  BOOK XVIII 357

  A Broadway Pageant 358

  BOOK XIX 363

  Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking 364

  As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life 371

  Tears 375

  To the Man-of-War-Bird 376

  Aboard at a Ship’s Helm 377

  On the Beach at Night 378

  The World below the Brine 380

  On the Beach at Night Alone 381

  Song for All Seas, All Ships 382

  Patroling Barnegat 384

  After the Sea-Ship 385

  BOOK XX 386

  BY THE ROADSIDE 387

  A Boston Ballad 388

  Europe 391

  A Hand-Mirror 393

  Gods 394

  Germs 395

  Thoughts 396

  When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer 397

  Perfections 398

  O Me! O Life! 399

  To a President 400

  I Sit and Look Out 401

  To Rich Givers 402

  The Dalliance of the Eagles 403

  Roaming in Thought 404

  A Farm Picture 405

  A Child’s Amaze 406

  The Runner 407

  Beautiful Women 408

  Mother and Babe 409

  Thought 410

  Visor’d 411

  Thought 412

  Gliding O’er all 413

  Hast Never Come to Thee an Hour 414

  Thought 415

  To Old Age 416

  Locations and Times 417

  Offerings 418

  To The States 419

  BOOK XXI. 420

  First O Songs for a Prelude 421

  Eighteen Sixty-One 424

  Beat! Beat! Drums! 425

  From Paumanok Starting I Fly Like a Bird 427

  Song of the Banner at Daybreak 428

  Rise O Days from Your Fathomless Deeps 436

  Virginia—The West 439

  City of Ships 440

  The Centenarian’s Story 441

  Cavalry Crossing a Ford 447

  Bivouac on a Mountain Side 448

  An Army Corps on the March 449

  By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame 450

  Come Up from the Fields Father 451

  Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night 453

  A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown 455

  A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim 457

  As Toilsome I Wander’d Virginia’s Woods 458

  Not the Pilot 459

  Year That Trembled and Reel’d Beneath Me 460

  The Wound-Dresser 461

  Long, Too Long America 465

  Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun 466

  Dirge for Two Veterans 469

  Over the Carnage Rose Prophetic a Voice 471

  I Saw Old General at Bay 473

  The Artilleryman’s Vision 474

  Ethiopia Saluting the Colors 476


  Not Youth Pertains to Me 477

  Race of Veterans 478

  World Take Good Notice 479

  O Tan-Faced Prairie-Boy 480

  Look Down Fair Moon 481

  Reconciliation 482

  How Solemn As One by One 483

  As I Lay with My Head in Your Lap Camerado 484

  Delicate Cluster 485

  To a Certain Civilian 486

  Lo, Victress on the Peaks 487

  Spirit Whose Work Is Done 488

  Adieu to a Soldier 490

  Turn O Libertad 491

  To the Leaven’d Soil They Trod 492

  BOOK XXII 493

  When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d 494

  O Captain! My Captain! 504

  Hush’d Be the Camps To-Day 505

  This Dust Was Once the Man 506

  BOOK XXIII 507

  By Blue Ontario’s Shore 508

  Reversals 526

  BOOK XXIV 527

  The Return of the Heroes 529

  There Was a Child Went Forth 536

  Old Ireland 539

  The City Dead-House 540

  This Compost 542

  To a Foil’d European Revolutionaire 545

  Unnamed Land 547

  Song of Prudence 549

  The Singer in the Prison 553

  Warble for Lilac-Time 556

  Outlines for a Tomb 558

  Out from Behind This Mask 561

  Vocalism 563

  To Him That Was Crucified 565

  You Felons on Trial in Courts 566

  Laws for Creations 567

  To a Common Prostitute 568

  I Was Looking a Long While 569

  Thought 570

  Miracles 571

  Sparkles from the Wheel 573

  To a Pupil 574

  Unfolded out of the Folds 575

  What Am I After All 576

  Kosmos 577

  Others May Praise What They Like 578

  Who Learns My Lesson Complete? 579

  Tests 581

  The Torch 582

  O Star of France 583

  The Ox-Tamer 585

  An Old Man’s Thought of School 587

  Wandering at Morn 589

  With All Thy Gifts 591

  My Picture-Gallery 592

  The Prairie States 593

  BOOK XXV 594

  Proud Music of the Storm 595

  BOOK XXVI 603

  Passage to India 604

  BOOK XXVII 615

  Prayer of Columbus 616

  BOOK XXVIII 619

  The Sleepers 620

  Transpositions 630

  BOOK XXIX 631

  To Think of Time 632

  BOOK XXX. 639

  Darest Thou Now O Soul 640

  Whispers of Heavenly Death 641

  Chanting the Square Deific 642

  Of Him I Love Day and Night 645

  Yet, Yet, Ye Downcast Hours 646

  As If a Phantom Caress’d Me 647

  Assurances 648

  Quicksand Years 650

  That Music Always Round Me 651

  What Ship Puzzled at Sea 652

  A Noiseless Patient Spider 653

  O Living Always, Always Dying 654

  To One Shortly to Die 655

  Night on the Prairies 656

  Thought 657

  The Last Invocation 658

  As I Watch the Ploughman Ploughing 659

  Pensive and Faltering 660

  BOOK XXXI 661

  Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood 662

  A Paumanok Picture 669

  BOOK XXXII. 670

  Faces 672

  The Mystic Trumpeter 677

  To a Locomotive in Winter 681

  O Magnet-South 683

  Mannahatta 685

  All Is Truth 687

  A Riddle Song 689

  Excelsior 691

  Ah Poverties, Wincings, and Sulky Retreats 692

  Thoughts 693

  Mediums 694

  Weave in, My Hardy Life 695

  Spain, 1873-74 696

  By Broad Potomac’s Shore 697

  From Far Dakota’s Canyons 698

  Old War-Dreams 700

  Thick-Sprinkled Bunting 701

  As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days 703

  A Clear Midnight 705

  BOOK XXXIII. 706

  As the Time Draws Nigh 707

  Years of the Modern 708

  Ashes of Soldiers 710

  Thoughts 712

  Song at Sunset 715

  As at Thy Portals Also Death 718

  My Legacy 719

  Pensive on Her Dead Gazing 720

  Camps of Green 722

  The Sobbing of the Bells 724

  As They Draw to a Close 725

  Joy, Shipmate, Joy! 726

  The Untold Want 727

  Portals 728

  These Carols 729

  Now Finale to the Shore 730

  So Long! 731

  BOOK XXXIV. 735

  Mannahatta 736

  Paumanok 737

  From Montauk Point 738

  To Those Who’ve Fail’d 739

  A Carol Closing Sixty-Nine 740

  The Bravest Soldiers 741

  A Font of Type 742

  As I Sit Writing Here 743

  My Canary Bird 744

  Queries to My Seventieth Year 745

  The Wallabout Martyrs 746

  The First Dandelion 747

  America 748

  Memories 749

  To-Day and Thee 750

  After the Dazzle of Day 751

  Abraham Lincoln, Born Feb. 12, 1809 752

  Out of May’s Shows Selected 753

  Halcyon Days 754

  FANCIES AT NAVESINK 755

  Election Day, November, 1884 759

  With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea! 760

  Death of General Grant 762

  Red Jacket (From Aloft) 763

  Washington’s Monument February, 1885 764

  Of That Blithe Throat of Thine 765

  Broadway 766

  To Get the Final Lilt of Songs 767

  Old Salt Kossabone 768

  The Dead Tenor 769

  Continuities 770

  Yonnondio 771

  Life 772

  “Going Somewhere” 773

  Small the Theme of My Chant 774

  True Conquerors 775

  The United States to Old World Critics 776

  The Calming Thought of All 777

  Thanks in Old Age 778

  Life and Death 779

  The Voice of the Rain 780

  Soon Shall the Winter’s Foil Be Here 781

  While Not the Past Forgetting 782

  The Dying Veteran 783

  Stronger Lessons 784

  A Prairie Sunset 785

  Twenty Years 786

  Orange Buds by Mail from Florida 787

  Twilight 788

  You Lingering Sparse Leaves of Me 789

  Not Meagre, Latent Boughs Alone 790

  The Dead Emperor 791

  As the Greek’s Signal Flame 792

  The Dismantled Ship 793

  Now Precedent Songs, Farewell 794

  An Evening Lull 795

  Old Age’s Lambent Peaks 796

  After the Supper and Talk 797

  BOOK XXXV. 798

  Sail out for Good, Eidolon Yacht! 799

  Lingering Last Drops 800

  Good-Bye My Fancy 801

  On, on the Same, Ye Jocund Twain! 802

  My 71st Year 803

  Apparitions 804

  The Pallid Wreath 805

  An Ended Day 806

  Old Age’s Ship & Crafty Death’s 807

  To the Pending Year 808

  Shakspere-Bacon’s Cipher 809

  Long, Long Hence 810

  Bravo, Paris Exposition! 811

  Interpolation Sounds 812

  To the Sun-Set Breeze 813

  Old Chants 81
4

  A Christmas Greeting 816

  Sounds of the Winter 817

  A Twilight Song 818

  When the Full-Grown Poet Came 819

  Osceola 820

  A Voice from Death 821

  A Persian Lesson 823

  The Commonplace 824

  “The Rounded Catalogue Divine Complete” 825

  Mirages 826

  L. of G.’s Purport 827

  The Unexpress’d 828

  Grand Is the Seen 829

  Unseen Buds 830

  Good-Bye My Fancy! 831

  DRUM-TAPS 836

  FIRST O SONGS FOR A PRELUDE 847

  EIGHTEEN SIXTY-ONE 850

  BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS! 851

  FROM PAUMANOK STARTING I FLY LIKE A BIRD 853

  SONG OF THE BANNER AT DAYBREAK 854

  RISE O DAYS FROM YOUR FATHOMLESS DEEPS 862

  VIRGINIA—THE WEST 865

  CITY OF SHIPS 866

  THE CENTENARIAN’S STORY 867

  CAVALRY CROSSING A FORD 873

  BIVOUAC ON A MOUNTAIN SIDE 874

  AN ARMY CORPS ON THE MARCH 875

  BY THE BIVOUAC’S FITFUL FLAME 876

  COME UP FROM THE FIELDS FATHER 877

  VIGIL STRANGE I KEPT ON THE FIELD ONE NIGHT 879

  A MARCH IN THE RANKS HARD-PREST, AND THE ROAD UNKNOWN 881

  A SIGHT IN CAMP IN THE DAYBREAK GRAY AND DIM 883

  AS TOILSOME I WANDER’D VIRGINIA’S WOODS 884

  NOT THE PILOT 885

  YEAR THAT TREMBLED AND REEL’D BENEATH ME 886

  THE WOUND-DRESSER 887

  LONG, TOO LONG AMERICA 891

  GIVE ME THE SPLENDID SILENT SUN 892

  DIRGE FOR TWO VETERANS 895

  OVER THE CARNAGE ROSE PROPHETIC A VOICE 897

  I SAW OLD GENERAL AT BAY 899

  THE ARTILLERYMAN’S VISION 900

  ETHIOPIA SALUTING THE COLOURS 902

  NOT YOUTH PERTAINS TO ME 903

  RACE OF VETERANS 904

  WORLD TAKE GOOD NOTICE 905

  O TAN-FACED PRAIRIE-BOY 906

  LOOK DOWN FAIR MOON 907

  RECONCILIATION 908

  HOW SOLEMN AS ONE BY ONE 909

  AS I LAY WITH MY HEAD IN YOUR LAP CAMERADO 910

  DELICATE CLUSTER 911

  TO A CERTAIN CIVILIAN 912

  LO, VICTRESS ON THE PEAKS 913

  SPIRIT WHOSE WORK IS DONE 914

  ADIEU TO A SOLDIER 916

  TURN O LIBERTAD 917

  TO THE LEAVEN’D SOIL THEY TROD 918

  THE WOUND DRESSER 919

  PREFACE 921

  THE GREAT ARMY OF THE WOUNDED 923

  LIFE AMONG FIFTY THOUSAND SOLDIERS 930

  HOSPITAL VISITS 936

  LETTERS OF 1862-3 953

  LETTERS OF 1864 1017

  THE LETTERS OF ANNE GILCHRIST AND WALT WHITMAN 1057

  PREFACE 1058

  INTRODUCTION 1061

  A WOMAN’S ESTIMATE OF WALT WHITMAN 1073

  A CONFESSION OF FAITH 1088

  LETTER I 1114

  LETTER II 1116

  LETTER III 1122

  LETTER IV 1124

  LETTER V 1125

  LETTER VI 1128

  LETTER VII 1131

  LETTER VIII 1132

  LETTER IX 1135

  LETTER X 1138

  LETTER XI 1141

  LETTER XII 1142

  LETTER XIII 1144

  LETTER XIV 1146

  LETTER XV 1149

  LETTER XVI 1151

  LETTER XVII 1153