by Walt Whitman
[There Was a Child Went Forth]
There Was a Child Went Forth
There was a child went forth every day
There was a child went forth every day
These Carols
These carols sung to cheer my passage through the world I see
These I Singing in Spring
These I singing in spring collect for lovers
They shall arise in the States
Thick-sprinkled Bunting
Thick sprinkled bunting! flag of stars!
Think of the Soul
This breast which now alternate burns
This Compost
This Day, O Soul
This day, O Soul, I give you a wondrous mirror;
This Dust Was Once the Man
This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless
This latent mine—these unlaunch’d voices—passionate powers
This moment yearning and thoughtful sitting alone
This Moment Yearning and Thoughtful
Thither as I look I see each result and glory retracing itself and nestling close, always obligated
Thou hast slept all night upon the storm
Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood
Thou Orb Aloft Full-Dazzling
Thou orb aloft full-dazzling! thou hot October noon!
Thou reader throbbest life and pride and love the same as
Thou Reader
Thought
Thought
Thought
Thought
Thought
Thought
Thought of Columbus, A
Thoughts
Thoughts
Thoughts
Thoughts.
Thoughts.
Thoughts.
Thoughts, suggestions, aspirations, pictures
Through the ample open door of the peaceful country barn
Through the soft evening air enwinding all
Time to Come
To a Certain Cantatrice
To a Certain Civilian
To a Common Prostitute
To a Foil’d European Revolutionaire
To a Historian
To a Locomotive in Winter
To a President
To a Pupil
To a Stranger
To a Western Boy
To Be at All
To be at all—what is better than that?
To conclude, I announce what comes after me.
To Foreign Lands
To get betimes in Boston town I rose this morning early
To Get the Final Lilt of Songs
To Him That Was Crucified
To Old Age
To One Shortly to Die
To Rich Givers
To Soar in Freedom and in Fullness of Power
To the East and to the West
To the Garden the World
To the garden the world anew ascending
To the Leaven’d Soil They Trod
To the leaven’d soil they trod calling I sing for the last
To the Man-of-War-Bird
To the Pending Year
To the Reader at Parting
To the States
To the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist much, obey little
To the States, To Identify the 16th, 17th, or 18th Presidentiad
To the Sun-set Breeze
To Thee Old Cause
[To Think of Time]
To Think of Time
To think of time—of all that retrospection
To think of Time ....to think through the retrospection
To Those Who’ve Fail‘d
To those who’ve fail‘d, in aspiration vast
To You
To You
To You
To-day a rude brief recitative
To-day and Thee
To-day, from each and all, a breath of prayer—a pulse of thought
To-day, with bending head and eyes, thou, too, Columbia
Torch, The
Transpositions
Trickle Drops
Trickle drops! My blue veins leaving!
True Conquerors
Turn O Libertad
Turn O libertad, for the war is over
Twenty Years
Twilight
Twilight Song, A
Two Rivulets
Two Rivulets side by side
U
Unexpress‘d, The
Unfolded Out of the Folds
Unfolded out of the folds of the woman man comes unfolded, and is always to come unfolded
Unnamed Lands
United States to Old World Critics, The
Unseen Buds
Unseen buds, infinite, hidden well
Untold Want, The
Upon the ocean’s wave-worn shore
Upon this scene, this show
V
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night
Virginia-The West
Visor‘d
Vocalism
Vocalism, measure, concentration, determination, and the divine power to speak words
Voice from Death, A
Voice of the Rain, The
W
Wallabout Martyrs, The
Wandering at Morn
Warble for Lilac-Time
Warble me now for joy of lilac-time, (returning in reminiscence,)
Washington’s Monument, February 1885
We All Shall Rest at Last
We are all docile dough-faces
We Two Boys Together Clinging
We Two, How Long We Were Fool’d
Weapon shapely, naked, wan
Weave In, My Hardy Life
Weave in, weave in, my hardy life
Welcome, Brazilian brother—thy ample place is ready;
What a fair and happy place
What Am I After All
What am I after all but a child, pleas’d with the sound of my own name? repeating it over and over
What are those of the known but to ascend and enter the Unknown?
What Best I See in Thee
What General has a good army in himself, has a good army:
What hurrying human tides, or day or night!
What may we chant, O thou within this tomb?
What Place Is Besieged?
What place is besieged, and vainly tries to raise the siege?
What Ship Puzzled at Sea
What ship puzzled at sea, cons for the true reckoning?
What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand?
What you give me I cheerfully accept
When his hour for death had come
When I Heard at the Close of the Day
When I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv’d with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for me that follow‘d
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
When I Peruse the Conquer’d Fame
When I peruse the conquer’d fame of heroes and the victories of mighty generals, I do not envy the generals
When I Read the Book
When I read the book, the biography famous
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom‘d
When old Grimes died, he left a son
When painfully athwart my brain
When the Full-Grown Poet Came
When, staunchly entering port
Where the city’s ceaseless crowd moves on the livelong day
While Behind All Firm and Erect
While behind all, firm and erect as ever
While my wife at my side lies slumbering, and the wars are over long
While Not the Past Forgetting
Whispers of heavenly death murmur‘d I hear
WHISPERS OF HEAVENLY DEATH
Whispers of Heavenly Death
Who are you dusky woman, so ancient hardly human
Who has gone farthest? for I would go farther
Who includes diversity and is Nature
&nb
sp; Who is reading this?
[Who Learns My Lesson Complete]
Who Learns My Lesson Complete?
Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand
Whoever you are, I fear you are walking the walks of dreams
Why reclining, interrogating? why myself and all drowsing?
Why, who makes much of a miracle?
Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
With All Thy Gifts
With all thy gifts America
With Antecedents
With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea!
With its cloud of skirmishers in advance
Woman Waits for Me, A
Women sit or move to and fro, some old, some young
Word over all, beautiful as the sky
World Below the Brine, The
World Take Good Notice
World take good notice, silver stars fading
Wound-Dresser, The
Y
Year of Meteors (1859-60)
Year of meteors! brooding year!
Year That Trembled and Reel’d Beneath Me
Years of the Modern
Years of the modern! years of the unperform‘d!
Yet, Yet, Ye Downcast Hours
Yet, yet, ye downcast hours, I know ye also
Yonnondio
You Felons on Trial in Courts
You just maturing youth! You male or female!
You lingering sparse leaves of me on winter-nearing boughs
You Lingering Sparse Leaves of Me
You Tides with Ceaseless Swell
You tides with ceaseless swell! you power that does this work!
You who celebrate bygones
Young Grimes
Youth, Day, Old Age and Night
Youth, large, lusty, loving—youth full of grace, force, fascination
a
Titles of First Edition poems are presented in brackets. Whitman did not title the twelve poems in the First Edition but gave them titles as he included them in subsequent editions (see “Publication Information”).
b
In Whitman’s time, New York City was divided into sections called wards; the
“Bloody Sixth” ward was the most infamous.
c
Whitman lists different types of people, from Kanucks (French Canadians) to Tuckahoes (coastal Virginians) to congressmen to Cuffs (African day-name for a male born on a Friday).
d
Possibly a reference to Whitman’s brother Jeff, who was mentally ill and confined to an asylum.
e
Nicknames for people from Indiana, Wisconsin, and Ohio.
f
Mouthpieces of wind instruments; also, in the singular, the shape the mouth
makes when blowing. The term is derived from the French word of the same
spelling that means “mouth” or “mouthpiece.” Whitman was fond of using foreign
terminology (particularly French expressions) in his work—a seeming irony for this
self-declared “American Adam” of poetry.
g
That is, a curlicue; a writerly flourish.
h
Friends; another example of Whitman’s fondness for French expressions.
i
Tubercular swelling of the neck glands; an example of the poet’s interest in med
icine and medical terminology, to be tested and expanded during his years as a
Civil War nurse.
j
Whitman is describing the making of an elixir, as an example of “positive sci
ence”; stonecrop is a plant used in curative medicines.
k
An ancient Egyptian ornamental figure, typically oval or oblong, that carries a design, inscription, or name; Whitman developed his knowledge of Egyptian culture during years of visiting the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities on Broadway.
l
Inspiration.
m
That is, the male genitals; the coulter is the prong that directs a plow into the turf. In this section, Whitman mixes references to farming and nature with descriptions of male genitals and sexuality.
n
Cultivation.
o
A clam; note in the next line Whitman’s segue from the clam shell to the “shell” of the human body.
p
Ant.
q
A camp, often temporary, out in the open.
r
Another instance of Whitman’s use of French, this time the word for “pupil.”
s
Reference to African witchcraft practiced in the New World.
t
Member of an ascetic ancient Hindu sect; gymnosophists did not wear clothing
and practiced meditation.
‡Shastras (“shastas” is a misspelling) and Vedas are sacred Hindu texts; the Koran
is the holy book of Muslims.
§Aztec temples.
u
Slang for a native of Sumatra.
v
Midwife (French); two lines below, “exquisite flexible doors” have been interpreted
to mean the vaginal canal. See also the poem “Unfolded Out of the Folds” (p. 533).
w
Whitman takes liberties with spellings in this passage: Esquimaux is his plural of “Eskimo”; Bedowee designates “Bedouin”; and tabounschik is a slang term for Middle Eastern nomads.
x
Masturbators (from the biblical tale of Onan in Genesis 38).
y
Plural of “sweetness” (French).
z
Hiding place.
aa
Victim of a skin disease called erysipelas.
ab
Common name for an African-American laborer.
ac
Nickname for a Yankee or New Englander.
ad
Titles of First Edition poems are presented in brackets. Whitman did not title the twelve poems in the First Edition but gave them titles as he included them in subsequent editions (see “Publication Information”).
ae
Like English poet William Blake (1757-1827), Whitman often made up words and
spellings. “Habitan” is his variant of “inhabitant”; he also personalized the spelling
of the Alleghenies, America’s oldest mountain range.
af
Images (Greek); as Whitman explains in his manuscript “Notebook on Words” (lo
cated in the Feinberg Collection at the New York Public Library): “Ei-dó-lon (Gr)
phantom—the image of a Helen of Troy instead of a real flesh and blood woman.”
ag
The title, which looks like Latin but isn‘t, is another example of Whitman’s indi
vidualized use of language. The meaning is “I am imperturbable.”
ah
Algonquian name for Manhattan Island. Whitman’s favorite brother, Thomas Jef
ferson Whitman, named his daughter Manahatta [sic]; she was born in 1860, the
same year “Me Imperturbe” was first included in Leaves of Grass.
‡Whitman’s term for the gifted vision of a seer-prophet.
ai
“Paumanok” is the Algonquian name for Long Island, where Whitman indeed got
his start: He was born in Huntington, Suffolk County, and his birthplace is now a
state historic site.
aj
Quaker designation for May. Whitman was proud of his family’s Quaker ties; he wrote essays on Quakers Elias Hicks and George Fox for his prose miscellany November Boughs (1888).
ak
Musical terms, from the Italian, for “sweet” and “sentimental, affected person.”
al
That is, one who waits.
am
Siberian seaport; more commonly spelled Okhotsk.
an
Slave caravan.
ao
In the previous four lines, the poet tours mountain ranges in
China, Siberia,
India, Austria, Italy, and Iceland.
ap
The poet “sees” Druids at the groves of Mona, an ancient sacred site in Anglesey, an island off the coast of northwestern Wales; the plants mistletoe and vervain are associated with practices of the Druids.
aq
Depending upon the time of year, the poet is looking on a late-afternoon or an
early-evening sky—in other words, he is returning home to Brooklyn after a day’s
labor in Manhattan. The poem’s original title was “Sun-down Poem,” and Whitman
sets this scene by placing the sun “there”—that is, in the west—“half an hour high.”
ar
The poet sees his reflection illuminated by the sun behind him, causing the “halo effect” described here.
as
The French word for “foliage”—yet another reference to “leaves.”
at
Ancient name for Egypt.
au
Minor Roman officials who cleared the way for chief magistrates.
av
The structural supports (keelsons) of this ship are built from one of Whitman’s
most significant plant types, the live oak (see endnote 23 to the “Calamus” cluster).
The supports that bear strain (the knees) are made from the tamarack or American
larch tree.
aw
New York City’s Crystal Palace, a wonder itself and an exhibition area for the latest discoveries and inventions; it opened in 1853 and was destroyed by fire in 1858.
ax
The nine Muses, ancient sister goddesses who were guiding spirits for an array of
arts and sciences.
ay
Dryads and hamadryads are wood nymphs—in this case, the voices of the redwood trees of the title.
az
A rubber-like gum.
ba
Give birth! (French).
bb
“Whitman’s misused French, meaning ”emerge.“
bc
The mother, or “ma femme” (French for “my wife”) of the last lines, is Democracy personified; the newborn infant is liberated France.