The Walt Whitman Archive
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About this Item
Title: Life
Creator: Walt Whitman
Date: April 15, 1888
Whitman Archive ID: per.00083
Source: New York Herald 15 April 1888: 16. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm copy of an original issue. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the periodical poems, see our statement of editorial policy.
Contributors to digital file: Elizabeth Lorang, April Lambert, and Susan Belasco
 image 1 |  cropped image 1 |
LIFE.1
Ever, the undiscouraged, resolute struggling
soul of man;
soul of man;
Have former armies failed? Then we send fresh
armies—and fresh again2
armies—and fresh again2
Ever the grappled mystery of all earth's ages
old or new;
old or new;
Ever the eager eyes, hurrahs, the welcome-clap-
ping hands, the loud applause;
ping hands, the loud applause;
Ever the soul dissatisfied, curious, unconvinced
at last;
at last;
Struggling to-day the same—battling the same.
WALT WHITMAN.
Notes:
1. Reprinted in the "Sands at Seventy" annex to Leaves of Grass (1888). [back]
2. The "Sands at Seventy" version of the poem includes parentheses around the second line. [back]