by Walt Whitman
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