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if our colors were struck and the fighting done?

Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you my brother or my sister?

Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business?

and in them were the fathers of sons . . . and in them were the fathers of sons.

They were taught and exalted.

The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature.

The largeness of nature or the nation were monstrous without a corresponding largeness and generosity

—As if it were necessary to trot back generation after generation to the eastern records!

The American poets are to enclose old and new for America is the race of races.

For such the expression of the American poet is to be transcendant and new.

I have heard what the talkers were talking . . . . the talk of the beginning and the end, But I do not

If nothing lay more developed the quahaug and its callous shell were enough.

 . . . . the blocks and fallen architecture more than all the living cities of the globe.

if our colors were struck and the fighting done?

Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you my brother or my sister?

Were all educations practical and ornamental well displayed out of me, what would it amount to?

Were I as the head teacher or charitable proprietor or wise statesman, what would it amount to?

Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that satisfy you?

The Congress convenes every December for you, Laws, courts, the forming of states, the charters of cities

and mangers . . the mows and racks: Manufactures . . commerce . . engineering . . the building of cities

To think that the sun rose in the east . . . . that men and women were flexible and real and alive . 

. and act upon others as upon us now . . . . yet not act upon us; To think of all these wonders of city

Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business?

It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and father—it is to identify you, It is not

If I were to suspect death I should die now, Do you think I could walk pleasantly and well-suited toward

. . . . my clothes were stolen while I was abed, Now I am thrust forth, where shall I run?

they lie un- clothed unclothed ; The Asiatic and African are hand in hand . . . . the European and American

And whether those who defiled the living were as bad as they who defiled the dead?

and in them were the fathers of sons . . . and in them were the fathers of sons.

He was wise also, He was six feet tall . . . . he was over eighty years old  . . . . his sons were massive

from head to foot, It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction, I am drawn by its breath as if I were

one man . . . . he is the father of those who shall be fathers in their turns, In him the start of populous

I saw the rich ladies in full dress at the soiree, I heard what the run of poets were saying so long,

best farms. . . . . others toiling and planting, and he unavoidably reaps, The noblest and costliest cities

things in their attitudes, He puts today out of himself with plasticity and love, He places his own city

They live in other young men, O kings, They live in brothers, again ready to defy you: They were purified

They were taught and exalted.

and the barefoot negro boy and girl, And all the changes of city and country wherever he went.

city stands.

to American persons, pro- gresses progresses , cities? Chicago, Canada, Arkansas?

I loved well those cities, I loved well the stately and rapid river, The men and women I saw were all

They were purified by death—they were taught and exalted.

From the American Phrenological Journal. AN ENGLISH AND AN AMERICAN POET. LEAVES OF GRASS.

seemed the sterile and stingy nature, as if too much handiwork, or too much lymph in the temperament, were

I rubbed my eyes a little, to see if this sunbeam were no illusion; but the solid sense of the book is

have set for myself to do, to meet people and The States face to face, to confront them with an American

Their shadows are projected in employments, in books, in the cities, in trade; their feet are on the

The instincts of the American people are all perfect, and tend to make heroes.

First-rate American persons are to be supplied.

There are Thirty-Two States sketched—the population thirty millions.

WE have before us one of the most extraordinary specimens of Yankee intelligence and American eccentricity

indelibly fix it and publish it, not for a model but an illustration, for the present and future of American

letters and American young men, for the south the same as the north, and for the Pacific and Mississippi

Of pure American breed, large and lusty—age thirty-six years, (1855,)—never once using medicine—never

, had fulfilled their tasks and gone to other spheres; and all that remained, with few exceptions, were

They stand, as it were, on clear mountains of intellectual elevation, and with keenest perception discern

He wears his strange garb, cut and made by himself, as gracefully as a South American cavalier his poncho

A portion of that thought, which broods over the American nation, is here seized and bodied forth by

does not prevail throughout the volume, for we learn on p. 29, that our poet is "Walt Whitman, an American

That he was an American, we knew before, for, aside from America, there is no quarter of the universe

he was one of the roughs was also tolerably plain; but that he was a kosmos, is a piece of news we were

Leaves of Grass (1856) From the American Phrenological Journal. AN ENGLISH AND AN AMERICAN POET.

Thus what very properly fits a subject of the British crown may fit very ill an American freeman.

Sure as the heavens envelop the earth, if the Americans want a race of bards worthy of 1855, and of the

Poetry, to Tennyson and his British and American eleves, is a gentleman of the first degree, boating,

Do you think city and country are to fall before the vehement egotism of your recitative of yourself?

the name of this erratic and newest wonder; but at page 29 we find that he is — Walt Whitman, an American

The words "an American" are a surplusage, "one of the roughs" too painfully apparent; but what is intended

unless it means a man who thinks that the fine essence of poetry consists in writing a book which an American

The chance of this might be formidable were it not ridiculous.

The American critics are, in the main, pleased with this man because he is self-reliant, and because

Emerson in the printed letter sent to us—"I rubbed my eyes a little, to see if this sunbeam were no illusion

No illusion truly is Walt Whitman, the new American prodigy, who, as he is himself candid enough to intimate

On the other hand, according to an American review that flatters Walt Whitman, this kosmos is "a compound

maddened by this course of reading, and fancying himself not only an Emerson but a Carlyle and an American

Does he mention the American country, he feels bound thereupon to draw up a list of barns, waggons, wilds

Here our latter-day poets are apt to whine over the times, as if heaven were perpetually betraying the

the most amazing, one of the most startling, one of the most perplexing creations of the modern American

We were attracted by the very singular title of the work, to seek the work itself, and what we thought

Criterion says: "It is impossible to imagine how any man's fancy could have conceived it, unless he were

Poem of Walt Whitman, an American. 1 — Poem of Walt Whitman, an American.

I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the beginning and the end, But I do not talk

If nothing lay more developed, the quahaug in its callous shell were enough.

if our colors were struck and the fighting done?

Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you, my brother, my sister?

see the tracks of the rail-roads of the earth, I see them welding state to state, county to county, city

to city, through North America, I see them in Great Britain, I see them in Eu- rope Europe , I see them

I see the cities of the earth, and make myself a part of them, I am a real Londoner, Parisian, Viennese

ward northward in Christiana or Stockholm—or in some street in Iceland, I descend upon all those cities

What cities the light or warmth penetrates, I penetrate those cities myself, All islands to which birds

Were all educations practical and ornamental well displayed out of me, what would it amount to?

6 Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor, wise statesman, what would it amount to?

Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that satisfy you?

, the bins, mangers, mows, racks, Manufactures, commerce, engineering, the build- ing building of cities

, the trottoirs of a city when thousands of well-dressed people walk up and down, The cotton, woolen,

the greatest city in the whole world.

Where the city stands with the brawniest breed of orators and bards, Where the city stands that is beloved

city of the healthiest fathers stands, Where the city of the best-bodied mothers stands, There the greatest

city stands.

Were those your vast and solid?

And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?

I knew a man, he was a common farmer, he was the father of five sons, and in them were the fathers of

sons, and in them were the fathers of sons.

and visit him to see—he was wise also, He was six feet tall, he was over eighty years old—his sons were

from head to foot, It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction, I am drawn by its breath as if I were

incomparable love, Plunging his semitic muscle into its merits and demerits, Making its geography, cities

, The superior marine, free commerce, fisheries, whaling, gold-digging, Wharf-hemm'd cities, railroad

to American persons, pro- gresses progresses , cities? Chicago, Canada, Arkansas?

Men, women, cities, nations, are only beautiful from nativity.

I will make cities and civilizations defer to me! I will confront these shows of the day and night!

These and all else were to me the same as they are to you, I project myself a moment to tell you—also

I loved well those cities, I loved well the stately and rapid river, The men and women I saw were all

I had done seemed to me blank and sus- picious suspicious , My great thoughts, as I supposed them, were

had as much of you—I laid in my stores in advance, I considered long and seriously of you before you were

Thrive, cities! Bring your freight, bring your shows, ample and sufficient rivers!

You flagged walks of the cities! you strong curbs at the edges! You ferries!

I think heroic deeds were all conceived in the open air, I think I could stop here myself, and do miracles

Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear, it would not amaze me, Now if a thousand beautiful forms

to which you were destined—you hardly settle yourself to satis- faction satisfaction , before you are

To take to your use out of the compact cities as you pass through!

A WOMAN waits for me—she contains all, nothing is lacking, Yet all were lacking, if sex were lacking,

or if the moisture of the right man were lacking.

The best farms, others toiling and planting, and he unavoidably reaps, The noblest and costliest cities

things in their attitudes, He puts today out of himself, with plasticity and love, He places his own city

They were purified by death—they were taught and exalted.

For I think I have reason to be the proudest son alive—for I am the son of the brawny and tall-topt city

ALL day I have walked the city and talked with my friends, and thought of prudence, Of time, space, reality—of

ment atonement , Knows that the young man who composedly periled his life and lost it, has done exceeding

doubt that shallowness, meanness, malig- nance malignance , are provided for; I do not doubt that cities

and the tidy and fresh-cheeked girls, and the bare-foot negro boy and girl, And all the changes of city

my clothes were stolen while I was abed, Now I am thrust forth, where shall I run?

from east to west as they lie unclothed, The Asiatic and African are hand in hand, the European and American

I saw the rich ladies in full dress at the soiree, I heard what the singers were singing so long, Heard

Let those that were prisoners take the keys! (Say!

Let the Asiatic, the African, the European, the American and the Australian, go armed against the murderous

Let there be immense cities—but through any of them, not a single poet, saviour, knower, lover!

Were you thinking that those were the words — those upright lines? those curves, angles, dots?

Were you thinking that those were the words — those delicious sounds out of your friends' mouths?

with them—my qualities interpenetrate with theirs—my name is noth- ing nothing to them, Though it were

echo the tones of souls, and the phrases of souls; If they did not echo the phrases of souls, what were

If they had not reference to you in especial, what were they then?

that men and women were flexible, real, alive! that every thing was alive!

To think of all these wonders of city and country, and others taking great interest in them—and we taking

Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business?

It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and father—it is to identify you, 15 It is

The threads that were spun are gathered, the weft crosses the warp, the pattern is systematic.

Leaves of Grass Imprints (1860) Leaves of Grass Imprints (1860) Walt Whitman, 1819-1892 Ed Folsom Kenneth

this publication only. ppp.01860 Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass Imprints Boston Thayer and Eldridge 1860

University of Iowa Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives PS3238 .L35 1860, copy 1 updated

TO The States, or any one of them, or any city of The States, Resist much, obey little, Once unquestioning

obedience, once fully enslaved, Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city, of this earth, ever afterward

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

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

ice in the river, passing along, up or down, with the flood-tide or ebb-tide; The mechanics of the city

The beautiful city! the city of hurried and sparkling waters! the city of spires and masts!

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

herself; Of Equality—As if it harmed me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself—As if it were

OF what I write from myself—As 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 were not the amount of all nations, and of all the lives of heroes.

ages, that men and women like us grew up and travelled their course, and passed on; What vast-built cities—What

and phrenology, What of liberty and slavery among them—What they thought of death and the Soul, Who were

O I know that those men and women were not for nothing, any more than we are for nothing, I know that

Do their lives, cities, arts, rest only with us? Did they achieve nothing for good, for themselves?

the theory of the earth, and of his or her body, understands by subtle analogies, the theory of a city