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I have just changed my quarters—I moved to-day back again to the same house Mrs.

Benedict— I have not got my old-room but a room right over it—it is in the attic, it is true, but I think

is, as well as one is apt to like any quarters here in Washington—I will write you how I like it in my

stomach, just in the waist—last Saturday he had an operation & had it extracted—it was in, the length of my

I were nothing; From what I am determin'd to make illustrious, even if I stand sole among men; From my

The oath of the inseparableness of two together—of the woman that loves me, and whom I love more than my

warp and from the woof; (To talk to the perfect girl who understands me, To waft to her these from my

own lips—to effuse them from my own body;) From privacy—from frequent repinings alone; From plenty of

the right person not near; From the soft sliding of hands over me, and thrusting of fingers through my

is sunday Sunday and no word nor letter have i got yet i am very confidant confident you have sent my

would hardly stop long enoughf enough for me to say any thing to him) all he said its it's none of my

fault none of my fault in A quick way and hurried on you have undoubtably undoubtedly got the letter

would get one or two common gowns sh e would stich stitch them for me and i was going to get one out of my

indifferent , but trembling with age and your unheal'd wounds, you mounted the scaffold;) I would sing in my

know not why, but I loved you…(and so go forth little song, Far over sea speed like an arrow, carrying my

love, and drop these lines at his feet;) —Nor forget I to sing of the wonder, the ship as she swam up my

bay, Well-shaped and stately the Great Eastern swam up my bay, she was 600 feet long, Her moving swiftly

if that were not the resumé; Of Histories—As if such, however complete, were not less complete than my

poems; As if the shreds, the records of nations, could possibly be as lasting as my poems; As if here

love, spit their salutes; When the fire-flashing guns have fully alerted me— when heaven-clouds canopy my

See, my cantabile!

For I too, raising my voice, join the ranks of this pageant; I am the chanter—I chant aloud over the

pageant; I chant the world on my Western Sea; I chant, copious, the islands beyond, thick as stars in

chant, projected, a thousand blooming cities yet, in time, on those groups of sea-islands; I chant my

I call to the world to distrust the accounts of my friends, but listen to my enemies—as I myself do;

WHO learns my lesson complete?

as every one is immortal; I know it is wonderful—but my eye-sight is equally wonderful, and how I was

And that my Soul embraces you this hour, and we affect each other without ever seeing each other, and

Whoever you are, now I place my hand upon you, that you be my poem; I whisper with my lips close to your

Oct 17th My dear Walt 1867 the post man has gone bye by and no letters, and its being thursday Thursday

i feel worried very much for fear it is gone as i dident didn't get it yesterday my usuall usual day

letter is gone i have been waching the letter man and he s he's past and no letter i feel real bad my

For that we live, my brethren—that is the mission of Poets.

Have you studied out my land, its idioms and men?

What is this you bring my America? Is it uniform with my country?

rapt song, my charm—mock me not!

You, by my charm, I invoke!

And so will some one, when I am dead and gone, write my life?

(As if any man really knew aught of my life; As if you, O cunning Soul, did not keep your secret well

. ; my personal washing amounts to just 4 pieces a week, with a pair of stocking and two or three handkerchiefs

She is too thoroughly selfish—There has been a proposition also for my absence—a few short months, run

down my place more than I would like to recover—So I shall rent the house—It is but a shelter since,

I was sick; she deliberately turned the key on me, and I had to stay at my room all night—comment is

Deliriate, thus prelude what is generated, offering these, offering myself, Bathing myself, bathing my

songs in Sex, Offspring of my loins.

March 27, 1867 My dear friend, Although your letter I see has the N.

My impression is, there is little or no chance of getting Congress to pass, at this time, a special resolution

thing does — Still, I will try what I can do—I will see a few of the members, forthwith—I have one in my

Then separate, as disembodied, or another born, Ethereal, the last athletic reality, my consolation;

I ascend—I float in the regions of your love, O man, O sharer of my roving life.

the sisters Death and Night, incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world: …For my

where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin—I draw near; I bend down and touch lightly with my

Whoever you are, now I place my hand upon you, that you be my poem; I whisper with my lips close to your

O I have been dilatory and dumb; I should have made my way straight to you long ago; I should have blabb'd

paint myriads of heads, but paint no head with- out without its nimbus of gold-color'd light; From my

What do my shouts amid lightnings and raging winds mean?)

(I bequeath them to you, my children, I tell them to you, for reasons, O bridegroom and bride.)

To rise thither with my inebriate Soul! To be lost, if it must be so!

BEHOLD this swarthy face, this unrefined face—these gray eyes, This beard—the white wool, unclipt upon my

neck, My brown hands, and the silent manner of me, with- out without charm; Yet comes one, a Manhattanese

good as such-like, visible here or anywhere, stand provided for in a handful of space, which I extend my

arm and half enclose with my hand; That contains the start of each and all—the virtue, the germs of

stiff with them—the Bullards I mean the people that are going to move in—the d—m cusses shant have my

water pipe unless the[y] behave decent—yet I suppose the Park people are mean enough to prevent my taking

I had the Times of Friday while eating my Breakfast on Sunday—that is pretty well isnt it.

stay here long—I begin to like the city better—Yet it dont come up to B[rooklyn] by a long chalk— Give my

I exclude you; Not till the waters refuse to glisten for you, and the leaves to rustle for you, do my

My girl, I appoint with you an appointment—and I charge you that you make preparation to be worthy to

Oberlin Ohio Aug 9th 1867 Mr Whitman Dr Dear sir I take this opportunity to inform you that I have made my

trip to Wisconsin and returned here yesterday, and will soon be in Washington and hope my orders will

Attorney Gen'l , has gone on to Philadelphia with wife & child, to spend three or four days—I like my

new boarding place very well, take it altogether — Mother, I am writing this at my table, by the big

Jeff don't say whether you got my last Tuesday's letter, (March 5,) with the envelopes, &c.

very tired, when I arrived home—We don't have dinner till 5 o'clock—but I always take a good lunch in my

please—then I am getting many books for the Library (our office Library) that I have long wanted to read at my

ever had such a bad coughf cough before i know how i should have got the meals if he had been home my

is somewhat better to day i have had mustard plasters acrost across my chest and i think it has done

me good i feel the soreness of the mustard but the soreness and distress in my side is much better)

last winter for all it was so very cold on the park i had to cover up my head to keep my ears from freezing

old days if i had none i believe i cant can't wr ite any more to night good bie walter dear my love

nor the bright win- dows windows , with goods in them; Nor to converse with learn'd persons, or bear my

your fre- quent frequent and swift flash of eyes offering me love, Offering response to my own—these

27 Feb '67 februy February 27 my dear walt i feel as if i must write a few lines every time i get a letter

write every week but if i dont don't it seems as if i had something to doo do that i had neglected my

midling well sometimes i think im I'm real sick but it goes over i have been troubled with a pain in my

have had a mustard plaister plaster on part of the time i thought it helpt helped me some but i feel my

Thomas Jefferson "Jeff" Whitman wrote that Mason "used to be in my party on the Water Works" (see his

it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself—As if it were not indispensable to my

AS I sit with others, at a great feast, suddenly, while the music is playing, To my mind, (whence it

if that were not the resumé; Of Histories—As if such, however complete, were not less complete than my

poems; As if the shreds, the records of nations, could possibly be as lasting as my poems; As if here

smoke; By these, crowds, groups of forms, vaguely I see, on the floor, some in the pews laid down; At my

staunch the blood temporarily, (the youngster's face is white as a lily;) Then before I depart I sweep my

resume as I chant—I see again the forms, I smell the odor; Then hear outside the orders given, Fall in, my

My Dear Walt— I got your pleasant letter, and thank you for the attention you paid my note through Mr

I feared over aggressiveness (perhaps my mulishness) on the 20 percent and other mooted questions had

Brooklyn September 21, 1867 My dear friend, As you see by the date, &c.

I am home, on a visit to my mother & the rest.

My brother George is very well, looks hearty & brown as ever—much like he used to, only more serious—Jeff

. 1 DESPAIRING cries float ceaselessly toward me, day and night, The sad voice of Death—the call of my

alarm'd, uncertain, The Sea I am quickly to sail, come tell me, Come tell me where I am speeding—tell me my

all—aplomb in the midst of irrational things, Imbued as they—passive, receptive, silent as they, Finding my

of any farm- life farm-life of These States, or of the coast, or the lakes, or Kanada, Me, wherever my

have satisfied myself that no copy was delivered here—had such been the case it would have come under my

notice—I therefore sent your order to Mr Gray and have received from him a copy for which you have my

All I mark as my own, you shall offset it with your own, Else it were time lost listening to me.

I know I am august; I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself, or be understood; I see that the

My foothold is tenon'd and mortis'd in granite; I laugh at what you call dissolution; And I know the

My feet strike an apex of the apices of the stairs; On every step bunches of ages, and larger bunches

Before I was born out of my mother, generations guided me; My embryo has never been torpid—nothing could

I WAS asking for something specific and perfect for my city, Whereupon, lo!

there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly, musical, self-sufficient; I see that the word of my

my city! The city of such women, I am mad to be with them!

making Appropriations for the current and Contingent Expenses of the Indian Bureau," by which it is made my

examination and to state that what proceedings, &c. relative to said stocks and investments, are in my

My dear friend, I find my mother in excellent spirits & fair health & strength, considering her age,

Show John this letter—I send him my love—William, I have not yet rec'd any letters—when any come, send

My sister Mat & her children are here. Farewell.

vulgarity and meanness, and described an encounter with her which he came out of with "the back of my

"Henry Clapp," Walt Whitman said to Horace Traubel, "stepped out from the crowd of hooters—was my friend

So I know beforehand that my pamphlet comes to you at a disadvantage" (Charles E.

Whitman referred to Rossetti's edition as a "horrible dismemberment of my book" in his August 12, 1871

O lips of my soul, already becoming powerless! O ample and grand Presidentiads! New history!

(I must not venture—the ground under my feet men- aces menaces me—it will not support me;) O present!

13 April 1867 April 13th My dear Walt it is saturday Saturday afternoon and martha is gone away and hattie

the bustle I have lived in the country so long it seemed quite strange i suppose Walt you have got my

waiting to take the letter i am about the same some days i feel very well then again i feel quite spry my

Features of my equals, would you trick me with your creas'd and cadaverous march?

I saw the face of the most smear'd and slobbering idiot they had at the asylum; And I knew for my consolation

what they knew not; I knew of the agents that emptied and broke my brother, The same wait to clear the

pickets, Come here, she blushingly cries—Come nigh to me, lim-ber-hipp'dlimber-hipp'd man, Stand at my

upon you, Fill me with albescent honey, bend down to me, Rub to me with your chafing beard, rub to my

1 COME, my tan-faced children, Follow well in order, get your weapons ready; Have you your pistols?

2 For we cannot tarry here, We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger, We, the youthful

O my breast aches with tender love for all!

12 See, my children, resolute children, By those swarms upon our rear, we must never yield or falter,

18 I too with my soul and body, We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our way, Through these shores

Then my realities; What else is so real as mine?

done and gone, we remain; There is no final reliance but upon us; Democracy rests finally upon us, (I, my

FIRST, O songs, for a prelude, Lightly strike on the stretch'd tympanum, pride and joy in my city, How

O Manhattan, my own, my peerless! O strongest you in the hour of danger, in crisis!

Forty years had I in my city seen soldiers parading; Forty years as a pageant—till unawares, the Lady

My dear Walt: I duly got your letter of May 5th and was very glad to hear from you.

Part of it is about my coming upon the Times —a sort of hankering treatment of the subject, but no offer

, which of course he couldn't well make, not knowing exactly how useful or available my talent would

Give my loving remembrance to all, especially your mother.

Let me have my own way; Let others promulge the laws—I will make no account of the laws; Let others praise

I call to the world to distrust the accounts of my friends, but listen to my enemies—as I myself do;

WITH antecedents; With my fathers and mothers, and the accumulations of past ages; With all which, had

In the name of These States, and in your and my name, the Past, And in the name of These States, and

in your and my name, the Present time.

and other imaginary trobles troubles , or as I once heard a young Baptist deacon Say—"I won't have my

my dear friend, there is no investment that will pay like this. Do you See it?

In looking over if find I have rather neglected female young America in my Asylum remarks; Altho' she

Sir: I have the honor herewith to transmit my opinion as to the proper course to be taken in reference

Tapara, which you have brought to my notice since that opinion was prepared, does not seem to me to authorize

or a girl with me, I ate with you, and slept with you—your body has become not yours only, nor left my

body mine only, You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass—you take of my beard,