Leaves of Grass: First and Death-Bed Editions Read online

  Table of Contents

  FROM THE PAGES OF LEAVES OF GRASS

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  WALT WHITMAN

  THE WORLD OF WALT WHITMAN AND LEAVES OF GRASS

  Introduction

  Leaves of Grass - Brooklyn, New York : 1855.

  INTRODUCTION TO FIRST EDITION

  [PREFACE]

  [Song of Myself]

  [A Song for Occupations]

  [To Think of Time]

  [The Sleepers]

  [I Sing the Body Electric]

  [Faces]

  [Song of the Answerer]

  [Europe, The 72d and 73d Years of These States]

  [A Boston Ballad]

  [There Was a Child Went Forth]

  [Who Learns My Lesson Complete]

  [Great Are the Myths]

  Leaves of Grass

  INTRODUCTION - TO “DEATH-BED” EDITION

  INSCRIPTIONS

  ONE‘S-SELF I SING

  AS I PONDER’D IN SILENCE

  IN CABIN’D SHIPS AT SEA

  TO FOREIGN LANDS

  TO A HISTORIAN

  TO THEE OLD CAUSE

  EIDÓLONS

  FOR HIM I SING

  WHEN I READ THE BOOK

  BEGINNING MY STUDIES

  BEGINNERS

  TO THE STATES

  ON JOURNEYS THROUGH THE STATES

  TO A CERTAIN CANTATRICE

  ME IMPERTURBE

  SAVANTISM

  THE SHIP STARTING

  I HEAR AMERICA SINGING

  WHAT PLACE IS BESIEGED?

  STILL THOUGH THE ONE I SING

  SHUT NOT YOUR DOORS

  POETS TO COME

  TO YOU

  THOU READER

  STARTING FROM PAUMANOK

  SONG OF MYSELF

  CHILDREN OF ADAM

  TO THE GARDEN THE WORLD

  FROM PENT-UP ACHING RIVERS

  I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC

  A WOMAN WAITS FOR ME

  SPONTANEOUS ME

  ONE HOUR TO MADNESS AND JOY

  OUT OF THE ROLLING OCEAN THE CROWD

  AGES AND AGES RETURNING AT INTERVALS

  WE TWO, HOW LONG WE WERE FOOL’D

  O HYMEN! O HYMENEE!

  I AM HE THAT ACHES WITH LOVE

  NATIVE MOMENTS

  ONCE I PASS’D THROUGH A POPULOUS CITY

  I HEARD YOU SOLEMN-SWEET PIPES OF THE ORGAN

  FACING WEST FROM CALIFORNIA’S SHORES

  AS ADAM EARLY IN THE MORNING

  CALAMUS

  IN PATHS UNTRODDEN

  SCENTED HERBAGE OF MY BREAST

  WHOEVER YOU ARE HOLDING ME NOW IN HAND

  FOR YOU O DEMOCRACY

  THESE I SINGING IN SPRING

  NOT HEAVING FROM MY RIBB’D BREAST ONLY

  OF THE TERRIBLE DOUBT OF APPEARANCES

  THE BASE OF ALL METAPHYSICS

  RECORDERS AGES HENCE

  WHEN I HEARD AT THE CLOSE OF THE DAY

  ARE YOU THE NEW PERSON DRAWN TOWARD ME?

  ROOTS AND LEAVES THEMSELVES ALONE

  NOT HEAT FLAMES UP AND CONSUMES

  TRICKLE DROPS

  CITY OF ORGIES

  BEHOLD THIS SWARTHY FACE

  I SAW IN LOUISIANA A LIVE-OAK GROWING

  TO A STRANGER

  THIS MOMENT YEARNING AND THOUGHTFUL

  I HEAR IT WAS CHARGED AGAINST ME

  THE PRAIRIE-GRASS DIVIDING

  WHEN I PERUSE THE CONQUER’D FAME

  WE TWO BOYS TOGETHER CLINGING

  A PROMISE TO CALIFORNIA

  HERE THE FRAILEST LEAVES OF ME

  NO LABOR-SAVING MACHINE

  A GLIMPSE

  A LEAF FOR HAND IN HAND

  EARTH, MY LIKENESS

  I DREAM’D IN A DREAM

  WHAT THINK YOU I TAKE MY PEN IN HAND?

  TO THE EAST AND TO THE WEST

  SOMETIMES WITH ONE I LOVE

  TO A WESTERN BOY

  FAST-ANCHOR’D ETERNAL O LOVE!

  AMONG THE MULTITUDE

  O YOU WHOM I OFTEN AND SILENTLY COME

  THAT SHADOW MY LIKENESS

  FULL OF LIFE NOW

  SALUT AU MONDE!

  SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD

  CROSSING BROOKLYN FERRY

  SONG OF THE ANSWERER

  OUR OLD FEUILLAGE

  A SONG OF JOYS

  SONG OF THE BROAD-AXE

  SONG OF THE EXPOSITION

  SONG OF THE REDWOOD-TREE

  A SONG FOR OCCUPATIONS

  A SONG OF THE ROLLING EARTH

  YOUTH, DAY, OLD AGE AND NIGHT

  BIRDS OF PASSAGE

  SONG OF THE UNIVERSAL

  PIONEERS! O PIONEERS!

  TO YOU

  FRANCE, THE 18TH YEAR OF THESE STATES

  MYSELF AND MINE

  YEAR OF METEORS (1859-60)

  A BROADWAY PAGEANT

  SEA-DRIFT

  OUT OF THE CRADLE ENDLESSLY ROCKING

  AS I EBB’D WITH THE OCEAN OF LIFE

  TEARS

  TO THE MAN-OF-WAR-BIRD

  ABOARD AT A SHIP’S HELM

  ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT

  THE WORLD BELOW THE BRINE

  ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE

  SONG FOR ALL SEAS, ALL SHIPS

  PATROLING BARNEGAT

  AFTER THE SEA-SHIP

  BY THE ROADSIDE

  A BOSTON BALLAD (1854)

  EUROPE, THE 72D AND 73D YEARS OF THESE STATES

  A HAND-MIRROR

  GODS

  GERMS

  THOUGHTS

  WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN’D ASTRONOMER

  PERFECTIONS

  O ME! O LIFE!

  TO A PRESIDENT

  I SIT AND LOOK OUT

  TO RICH GIVERS

  THE DALLIANCE OF THE EAGLES

  ROAMING IN THOUGHT

  A FARM PICTURE

  A CHILD’S AMAZE

  THE RUNNER

  BEAUTIFUL WOMEN

  MOTHER AND BABE

  THOUGHT

  VISOR’D

  THOUGHT

  GLIDING O‘ER ALL

  HAST NEVER COME TO THEE AN HOUR

  THOUGHT

  TO OLD AGE

  LOCATIONS AND TIMES

  OFFERINGS

  TO THE STATES, TO IDENTIFY THE 16TH, 17TH, OR 18TH PRESIDENTIAD

  DRUM-TAPS

  FIRST O SONGS FOR A PRELUDE

  EIGHTEEN SIXTY-ONE

  BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS!

  FROM PAUMANOK STARTING I FLY LIKE A BIRD

  SONG OF THE BANNER AT DAYBREAK

  RISE O DAYS FROM YOUR FATHOMLESS DEEPS

  THE CENTENARIAN’S STORY

  CAVALRY CROSSING A FORD

  BIVOUAC ON A MOUNTAIN SIDE

  AN ARMY CORPS ON THE MARCH

  BY THE BIVOUAC’S FITFUL FLAME

  COME UP FROM THE FIELDS FATHER

  VIGIL STRANGE I KEPT ON THE FIELD ONE NIGHT

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

  A SIGHT IN CAMP IN THE DAYBREAK GRAY AND DIM

  AS TOILSOME I WANDER’D VIRGINIA’S WOODS

  NOT THE PILOT

  YEAR THAT TREMBLED AND REEL’D BENEATH ME

  THE WOUND-DRESSER

  LONG, TOO LONG AMERICA

  GIVE ME THE SPLENDID SILENT SUN

  OVER THE CARNAGE ROSE PROPHETIC A VOICE

  I SAW OLD GENERAL AT BAY

  THE ARTILLERYMAN’S VISION

  ETHIOPIA SALUTING THE COLORS

  NOT YOUTH PERTAINS TO ME

  RACE OF VETERANS

  WORLD TAKE GOOD NOTICE

  O TAN-FACED PRAIRIE-BOY

  LOOK DOWN FAIR MOON

  REC
ONCILIATION

  HOW SOLEMN AS ONE BY ONE

  AS I LAY WITH MY HEAD IN YOUR LAP CAMERADO

  DELICATE CLUSTER

  TO A CERTAIN CIVILIAN

  LO, VICTRESS ON THE PEAKS

  SPIRIT WHOSE WORK IS DONE

  ADIEU TO A SOLDIER

  TURN O LIBERTAD

  TO THE LEAVEN’D SOIL THEY TROD

  MEMORIES OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN

  WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOORYARD BLOOM‘D

  O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!

  HUSH’D BE THE CAMPS TO-DAY

  THIS DUST WAS ONCE THE MAN

  BY BLUE ONTARIO’S SHORE

  REVERSALS

  AUTUMN RIVULETS

  AS CONSEQUENT, ETC.

  THE RETURN OF THE HEROES

  THERE WAS A CHILD WENT FORTH

  OLD IRELAND

  THE CITY DEAD-HOUSE

  THIS COMPOST

  TO A FOIL’D EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONAIRE

  UNNAMED LANDS

  SONG OF PRUDENCE

  THE SINGER IN THE PRISON

  WARBLE FOR LILAC-TIME

  OUTLINES FOR A TOMB

  OUT FROM BEHIND THIS MASK

  VOCALISM

  TO HIM THAT WAS CRUCIFIED

  YOU FELONS ON TRIAL IN COURTS

  LAWS FOR CREATIONS

  TO A COMMON PROSTITUTE

  I WAS LOOKING A LONG WHILE

  THOUGHT

  MIRACLES

  SPARKLES FROM THE WHEEL

  TO A PUPIL

  UNFOLDED OUT OF THE FOLDS

  WHAT AM I AFTER ALL

  KOSMOS

  OTHERS MAY PRAISE WHAT THEY LIKE

  WHO LEARNS MY LESSON COMPLETE?

  TESTS

  THE TORCH

  O STAR OF FRANCE (1870-71)

  THE OX-TAMER

  AN OLD MAN’S THOUGHT OF SCHOOL

  WANDERING AT MORN

  ITALIAN MUSIC IN DAKOTA

  WITH ALL THY GIFTS

  MY PICTURE-GALLERY

  THE PRAIRIE STATES

  PROUD MUSIC OF THE STORM

  PASSAGE TO INDIA

  PRAYER OF COLUMBUS

  THE SLEEPERS

  TRANSPOSITIONS

  TO THINK OF TIM

  WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH

  DAREST THOU NOW O SOUL

  WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH

  CHANTING THE SQUARE DEIFIC

  OF HIM I LOVE DAY AND NIGHT

  YET, YET, YE DOWNCAST HOURS

  AS IF A PHANTOM CARESS’D ME

  ASSURANCES

  QUICKSAND YEARS

  THAT MUSIC ALWAYS ROUND ME

  WHAT SHIP PUZZLED AT SEA

  A NOISELESS PATIENT SPIDER

  O LIVING ALWAYS, ALWAYS DYING

  TO ONE SHORTLY TO DIE

  NIGHT ON THE PRAIRIES

  THOUGHT

  THE LAST INVOCATION

  AS I WATCH’D THE PLOUGHMAN PLOUGHING

  PENSIVE AND FALTERING

  THOU MOTHER WITH THY EQUAL BROOD

  A PAUMANOK PICTURE

  FROM NOON TO STARRY NIGHT

  THOU ORB ALOFT FULL-DAZZLING

  FACES

  THE MYSTIC TRUMPETER

  TO A LOCOMOTIVE IN WINTER

  O MAGNET-SOUTH

  MANNAHATTA

  ALL IS TRUTH

  A RIDDLE SONG

  EXCELSIOR

  AH POVERTIES, WINCINGS, AND SULKY RETREATS