1 I sing the body electric, The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them, They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them, And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul. Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies […]
To You by Walt Whitman
Stranger! if you, passing me, and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me? And why should I not speak to you?
Sometimes with One I Love by Walt Whitman
Sometimes with one I love, I fill myself with rage, for fear I effuse unreturn’d love; But now I think there is no unreturn’d love—the pay is certain, one way or another; (I loved a certain person ardently, and my love was not return’d; Yet out of that, I have written these songs.)
A Song of the Rolling Earth by Walt Whitman
1 A song of the rolling earth, and of words according, Were you thinking that those were the words, those upright lines? those curves, angles, dots? No, those are not the words, the substantial words are in the ground and sea, They are in the air, they are in you. Were you thinking that those […]
By Blue Ontario’s Shore by Walt Whitman
By blue Ontario’s shore, As I mused of these warlike days and of peace return’d, and the dead that return no more, A Phantom gigantic superb, with stern visage accosted me, Chant me the poem, it said, that comes from the soul of America, chant me the carol of victory, And strike up the marches […]
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry by Walt Whitman
1 FLOOD-TIDE below me! I watch you face to face; Clouds of the west! sun there half an hour high! I see you also face to face. Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes! how curious you are to me! On the ferry-boats, the hundreds and hundreds that cross, returning home, are […]
I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him […]
I Hear It Was Charged Against Me by Walt Whitman
I hear it was charged against me that I sought to destroy institutions, But really I am neither for nor against institutions, (What indeed have I in common with them? or what with the destruction of them?) Only I will establish in the Mannahatta and in every city of these States inland and seaboard, And […]
One’s Self I Sing by Walt Whitman
One’s-Self I sing, a simple separate person, Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse. Of physiology from top to toe I sing, Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say the Form complete is worthier far, The Female equally with the Male I sing. Of Life immense in passion, […]
A Song For Occupations by Walt Whitman
1 A song for occupations! In the labor of engines and trades and the labor of fields I find the developments, And find the eternal meanings. Workmen and Workwomen! Were all educations practical and ornamental well display’d out of me, what would it amount to? Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor, wise statesman, […]