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  • 1860 172
Search : of captain, my captain!
Year : 1860

172 results

William Wilde Thayer to Walt Whitman, 5 June 1860

  • Date: June 5, 1860
  • Creator(s): William Wilde Thayer
Text:

My wife was indignant , and I should not wonder if she wrote a reply to it. W. W.

Wilhelmina Walton to Walt Whitman, 16 August 1860

  • Date: August 16, 1860
  • Creator(s): Wilhelmina Walton
Text:

—I reached out my hand to feel the life-blood thrill beneath my fingers—I was faint with transport.

arms above my head to catch the stray sunbeams;—hugged it to my bosom transported with extatic emotion

;—yet never came before my vision sensual forms or thought found place in my imagination;—Was I passionless

—the warm, sympathetic tears that crept from beneath my eyelids and rolled lovingly down my bosom, soothing

my beating heart?

Slavery

  • Date: Between 1850 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

—What seek you do you want among my haughty and jealous democracies of the north?

woman, or my flesh and blood.

—There are my officers and my courts.—At the Capitol is my Legislature.

—It is foreign to my usages, as to my eyes and ears.—Go back to the power that sent you.

free cities, or my teeming country towns, or along my rivers, or sea shore.— 19 But why do I babble

9th av.

  • Date: Between 1854 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

O my body, that gives me identity! O my organs !

Underfoot, the divine soil— Overhead, the sun.— Afford foothold to my poems, you Nourish my poems, Earth

In Poem The earth, that is my model of poems model ?

The body of a man, is my model—I do not reject what I find in my body—I am not ashamed—Why should I be

My Darling (Now I am maternal— a child bearer— bea have from my womb borne a child, and observe it For

I know a rich capitalist

  • Date: Between about 1854 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

first poem of the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass , later called "Song of Myself": "I do not trouble my

The first several lines of the notebook (not including this line) were revised and published as "My Picture-Gallery

just granting his request, with great commiseration, when an old lady from the gallery cries out "O my

women

  • Date: Between about 1854 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

O laugh when my eyes settle the land The imagery and phrasing of these lines bears some resemblance to

similarity to the following line in the poem eventually titled "I Sing the Body Electric": "As I see my

and dwells serenely behind it.— When out of a feast I eat bread only corn and roast potatoes fo for my

dinner, through my own voluntary choice it is very well and I much content, but if some arrogant head

inspiration . . . . the beating of my heart . . . . the passing of blood and air through my lungs.

Poemet

  • Date: 4 February 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Annotations Text:

This poem later appeared as "Calamus No. 40," Leaves of Grass (1860); as "That Shadow My Likeness," Leaves

Isaac Joseph Stephen Jesse

  • Date: Between 1850 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Isaac v Joseph Stephen & Jesse (my grandfather) sons of Nehemiah Whitman Phebe daughters Hannah Brush

Of Ownership

  • Date: About 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

giving others the same chances and rights as myself— As if it were not indis‑ indispensable pensable to my

The most perfect wonders of

  • Date: 1850s
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Annotations Text:

See, for instance: "I take my place among you as much as among any," (1855, p. 48); "Nor do I understand

Remember how many pass their

  • Date: Between 1850 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Annotations Text:

.; TThis manuscript bears some similarity in subject to the poem that became "Who Learns My Lesson Complete

I subject all the teachings

  • Date: Between 1854 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

4 To me I subject all the teachings of the schools, and all dicta and authority, to my the tests of myself

And myself,—and I encourage you to subject the same to the tests of yourself—and to subject me and my

City of my walks and joys

  • Date: Late 1850s
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Calamus 18. p 363 City of my walks and joys!

little you h You city : what do y you repay me for my daily walks joys Not these your crowded rows of

delicious athletic love fresh as nature's air and herbage— —offering me full repa respon ds se equal of my

my own, These repay me—Lovers, continual Lovers continu only repay me.— This manuscript is a draft of

City of my walks and joys

[l]oving every one I meet

  • Date: Between 1850 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

meet and drawing their love in Never losing old friends, or new ones; and finding new on every day of my

After death

  • Date: Mid-1850s
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

levee in life,— After death Now when I am looked back upon, I will I hold levee, after death, I lean on my

left elbow—I take ten thousand lovers, one after another, by my right hand.— I have all lives, all effects

Hear my fife

  • Date: Between 1850 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Hear my fife!—I am a recruiter Who Come, who will join my troop?

first several lines of "Pictures" (not including this line) were eventually revised and published as "My

Hear my fife

Annotations Text:

first several lines of "Pictures" (not including this line) were eventually revised and published as "My

of the poem (not including this line) were revised and published in The American in October 1880 as "My

In the garden

  • Date: Late 1850s
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

In a the garden, the world, I, a new Adam, again wander, Curious, here behold my resurrection after ages

is wondrous—I am myself most wondrous, The All is I have con I exist, I peer and penetrate still, By my

In the gymnasium

  • Date: Between 1850 and 1860
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

first several lines of "Pictures" (not including these lines) were eventually revised and published as "My

Annotations Text:

first several lines of "Pictures" (not including these lines) were eventually revised and published as "My

The first several lines of "Pictures" (not including this line) were revised and published as "My Picture-Gallery

To a Foiled Revolter or Revoltress

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

my brother or my sister! Keep on!

To Him That Was Crucified

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

MY spirit to yours, dear brother, Do not mind because many, sounding your name, do not understand you

I do not sound your name, but I understand you, (there are others also;) I specify you with joy, O my

divisions, jealousies, recriminations on every side, They close peremptorily upon us, to surround us, my

To One Shortly to Die

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Softly I lay my right hand upon you—you just feel it, I do not argue—I bend my head close, and half-

To a Common Prostitute

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

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

To Rich Givers

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

cheerfully accept, A little sustenance, a hut and garden, a little money —these as I rendezvous with my

To a Cantatrice

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

who should serve the good old cause, the prog- ress progress and freedom of the race, the cause of my

To Other Lands

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

for something to repre- sent represent the new race, our self-poised Democracy, Therefore I send you my

Mannahatta

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

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

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

France, the 18th Year of These States

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

I walked the shores of my Eastern Sea, Heard over the waves the little voice, Saw the divine infant,

and cogent, I maintain the bequeath'd cause, as for all lands, And I send these words to Paris, with my

Thoughts 4

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

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

Thoughts 5

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

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

Thoughts 6

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

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

Unnamed Lands

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

that was not the end of those nations, or any person of them, any more than this shall be the end of my

Savantism

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Thither every-day life, speech, utensils, politics, per- sons persons , estates, Thither we also, I with my

Debris 5

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Debris 5 DESPAIRING cries float ceaselessly toward me, day and night, The sad voice of Death—the call of my

alarmed, uncertain, This sea I am quickly to sail, come tell me, Come tell me where I am speeding—tell me my

Sleep-Chasings

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

Receive me and my lover too—he will not let me go without him.

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

I descend my western course, my sinews are flaccid, Perfume and youth course through me, and I am their

carefully darn my grandson's stockings.

How he informs against my brother and sister, and takes pay for their blood!

Burial

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

How perfect is my Soul! How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!

My Soul! if I realize you, I have satisfaction, Animals and vegetables!

I cannot define my satisfaction, yet it is so, I cannot define my life, yet it is so.

To My Soul

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

To My Soul TO MY SOUL.

The States—but I cannot tell whither or how long; Perhaps soon, some day or night while I am singing, my

Then all may arrive to but this; The glances of my eyes, that swept the daylight, The unspeakable love

I interchanged with women, My joys in the open air—my walks through the Man- nahatta Manahatta , The

of my mouth, rude, ignorant, arrogant— my many faults and derelictions, 38* The light touches, on my

So Long!

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

I remember I said to myself at the winter-close, before my leaves sprang at all, that I would become

a candid and unloosed summer-poet, I said I would raise my voice jocund and strong, with reference to

what was promised, When each part is peopled with free people, When there is no city on earth to lead my

I have pressed through in my own right, I have offered my style to every one—I have jour- neyed journeyed

Remember my words—I love you—I depart from materials, I am as one disembodied, triumphant, dead.

Leaves of Grass (1860–1861)

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

my Soul!

We closed with him—the yards entangled—the cannon touched, My captain lashed fast with his own hands.

I laughed content when I heard the voice of my little captain, We have not struck, he composedly cried

O the real life of my senses and flesh, transcending my senses and flesh; O my body, done with materials—my

my brother or my sister! Keep on!

Cluster: Leaves of Grass. (1860)

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

body to meet my lover the sea, I will not touch my flesh to the earth, as to other flesh, to renew me

and which are my miracles?

friends, but listen to my enemies—as I my- self myself do; I charge you, too, forever, reject those

WHO learns my lesson complete?

Me, ruthless and devilish as any, that my wrists are not chained with iron, or my ankles with iron?

Cluster: Enfans D'adam. (1860)

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

O MY children! O mates!

O my body!

, Or that touches my face, or leans against me.)

songs in sex, Offspring of my loins. 13.

voice—approach, Touch me—touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass, Be not afraid of my body.

Cluster: Calamus. (1860)

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

O blossoms of my blood!

face—from my forehead and lips, From my breast—from within where I was con- cealed concealed —Press

CITY of my walks and joys!

my likeness!

, Here I shade down and hide my thoughts—I do not expose them, And yet they expose me more than all my

Cluster: Messenger Leaves. (1860)

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

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 blabbed

paint myriads of heads, but paint no head with- out without its nimbus of gold-colored light, From my

my brother or my sister! Keep on!

Softly I lay my right hand upon you—you just feel it, I do not argue—I bend my head close, and half-

Cluster: Thoughts. (1860)

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

it harmed 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

Cluster: Debris. (1860)

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

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

alarmed, uncertain, This sea I am quickly to sail, come tell me, Come tell me where I am speeding—tell me my

Proto-Leaf

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

home in Kanuck woods, Or wandering and hunting, my drink water, my diet meat, Or withdrawn to muse and

In the Year 80 of The States, My tongue, every atom of my blood, formed from this soil, this air, Born

Take my leaves, America!

My comrade!

steamers steaming through my poems!

Walt Whitman

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

, My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs

my bare-stript heart, And reached till you felt my beard, and reached till you held my feet.

my Soul!

We closed with him—the yards entangled—the cannon touched, My captain lashed fast with his own hands.

I laughed content when I heard the voice of my little captain, We have not struck, he composedly cried

Apostroph

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

O longings for my dear home! O soft and sunny airs! O pensive!

O my Soul! O lips becoming tremulous, powerless! O centuries, centuries yet ahead!

Chants Democratic and Native American 1

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

myself make the only growth by which I can be appreciated, I reject none, accept all, reproduce all in my

Have you studied out MY LAND, its idioms and men?

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

Will it absorb into me as I absorb food, air, nobility, meanness—to appear again in my strength, gait

own Soul or defiled my body, I have claimed nothing to myself which I have not carefully claimed for

Chants Democratic

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

untrodden and mouldy—I see no longer any axe upon it, I see the mighty and friendly emblem of the power of my

I do not vaunt my love for you, I have what I have. The axe leaps!

response, Take what I have then, (saying fain,) take the pay you approached for, Take the white tears of my

Chants Democratic

  • Date: 1860–1861
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
Text:

COME closer to me, Push closer, my lovers, and take the best I possess, Yield closer and closer, and

Neither a servant nor a master am I, I take no sooner a large price than a small price— I will have my

become so for your sake, If you remember your foolish and outlawed deeds, do you think I cannot remember my

are, I am this day just as much in love with them as you, Then I am in love with you, and with all my

friendly companions, I intend to reach them my hand, and make as much of them as I do of men and women

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