Search Results

Joel Myerson (New York: Garland, 1993), 1:121; Major American Authors on CD-Rom: Walt Whitman (Westport

Joel Myerson (New York: Garland, 1993), 1:121; Major American Authors on CD-Rom: Walt Whitman (Westport

original loins, perfectly sweet, I, chanter of Adamic songs, Through the new garden the West, the great cities

First—for being born just when you were , 2 nd for having the courage and manhood to write and "cast

world, politics, produce, The announcements of recognized things, science, The approved growth of cities

But I too announce solid things, Science, ships, politics, cities, factories, are not nothing, Like a

what life, what joy and pride, With all the perils were yours.)

Jersey City, Aug. 19th. 1891. Mr Walt. Whitman, Camden, N.J.

Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as "Good-Bye my Fancy" in Leaves of Grass (1891–1892

attraction of friend to friend, Of the well-married husband and wife, of children and parents, Of city

for city and land for land.

Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets; Are beds prepared for sleepers at

the crossing of the street or on the ship's deck give a kiss in return, We observe that salute of American

Fred Woods would like one of those portraits where you appear with (as it were) storm tossed beard, your

Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as "Good-Bye my Fancy" in Leaves of Grass (1891–1892

equilibrium in the pure hearted Mother, have given the dear little baby girl such a start in life as I wish were

the man, shown by his taking a stand in opposition to his friends even, when conscience required it, were

New York must seem to him a very inhospitable place for his train was run into just as the city was reached

in which he recalls a day spent with you in the hospitals and expresses his appreciation of all you were

Franklin Johnston became the president and publisher of the trade publication American Exporter and a

a well-known American political theorist and revolutionary.

the start of the American Revolution, inspiring patriots to call for independence from Great Britain

Moncure Daniel Conway (1832–1907) was an American abolitionist, minister, and frequent correspondent

Traubel (1858–1919) was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher.

The hours in the open air were too precious.

Katherine had at least six siblings, four of whom were older and two that were younger.

Brave, brave were the soldiers (high named to-day) who lived through the fight; But the bravest press'd

To us, my city, Where our tall-topt marble and iron beauties range on opposite sides, to walk in the

from your Western golden shores, The countries there with their populations, the millions en-masse are

Were the children straying westward so long? so wide the tramping?

Were the precedent dim ages debouching westward from Paradise so long?

Were the centuries steadily footing it that way, all the while unknown, for you, for reasons?

neck with incomparable love, Plunging his seminal muscle into its merits and demerits, Making its cities

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

What does it mean to American persons, progresses, cities?

Underneath all, individuals, I swear nothing is good to me now that ignores individuals, The American

by irrational things, I will penetrate what it is in them that is sarcastic upon me, I will make cities

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

You are in the great cities, in the midst of multitudes, of the endless processions.

I see the cities of the earth, and make myself at random a part of them, I am a real Parisian, a habitan

I see in Bob the noblest specimen—American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving, demanding

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was an American author, poet, and abolitionist best known for writing

Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) was an American educator, abolitionist, and father of Louisa May Alcott

.—1860–1" 455.

All of Green's references are poems published in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass.

Yr. song is for Americans, & this one here like most good Englishmen today feel America more than a cousin

On July 12, 1874, he wrote for the first time to Whitman: "Because you have, as it were, given me a ground

shines down, Green the midsummer verdure and fresh blows the dallying breeze, O'er proud and peaceful cities

not with terror, But suddenly pouring about me here on every side, And below there where the boys were

Twenty thousand were brought against us, A veteran force furnish'd with good artillery.

close together, very compact, their flag flying in the middle, But O from the hills how the cannon were

day, But the night of that, mist lifting, rain ceasing, Silent as a ghost while they thought they were

touching, including God, including Saviour and Satan, Ethereal, pervading all, (for without me what were

what were God?)

actions, such threads of thought and notions of life as prevailed at or before the authors time or were

Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as "Good-Bye my Fancy" in Leaves of Grass (1891–1892

Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835–1894) was an American poet and short story writer.

The daughter of a Maine lighthouse keeper and hotelier, Thaxter's stories are often set in the American

For more information, see Joseph Flibbert's entry on Thaxter in Encylopedia of American Literature of

published in Progress as "Thou who hast slept all night upon the storm"; see The Cambridge History of American

Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as "Good-Bye my Fancy" in Leaves of Grass (1891–1892

1884, when George and Louisa moved to a farm outside of Camden and Whitman decided to stay in the city

1884, when George and Louisa moved to a farm outside of Camden and Whitman decided to stay in the city

Haslam (1842–1892), called "Lou" or "Loo," married George Washington Whitman in spring 1871, and they were

Han has been as it were failing day.

dollars—also—when the postman came, Han was prostrate on the floor, unable to help herself—her symptoms were

1884, when George and Louisa moved to a farm outside of Camden and Whitman decided to stay in the city

1884, when George and Louisa moved to a farm outside of Camden and Whitman decided to stay in the city

His earlier pieces were a little Foreign to the English idiom.

Traubel (1858–1919) was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher.

Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of the series, the final two of which were

The City Dead-House. THE CITY DEAD-HOUSE.

BY the city dead-house by the gate, As idly sauntering wending my way from the clangor, I curious pause

City of Orgies. CITY OF ORGIES.

CITY of orgies, walks and joys, City whom that I have lived and sung in your midst will one day make

City of Ships. CITY OF SHIPS. CITY of ships! (O the black ships! O the fierce ships!

City of the world!

city of hurried and glittering tides!

City of wharves and stores—city of tall façades of marble and iron!

Proud and passionate city—mettlesome, mad, extravagant city!

And the tidy and fresh-cheek'd girls, and the barefoot negro boy and girl, And all the changes of city

THE CITY DEAD-HOUSE.

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?

A NEWER garden of creation, no primal solitude, Dense, joyous, modern, populous millions, cities and

the scaffold;) I would sing in my copious song your census returns of the States, The tables of population

that the old accounts, bibles, genealogies, are true, without exception, I assert that all past days were

what they must have been, And that they could no-how have been better than they were, And that to-day

They live in brothers again ready to defy you, They were purified by death, they were taught and exalted

The stars themselves, some shaped, others unshaped, Wonders as of those countries, the soil, trees, cities

WHEN I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,

of the questions of these recurring, Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill'd with the

OF Equality—as if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself—as if it were not

for city and land for land.

CITY OF ORGIES.

CITY of orgies, walks and joys, City whom that I have lived and sung in your midst will one day make

Or the vaunted glory and growth of the great city spread around me?

if I could be with you and become your comrade; Be it as if I were with you.

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

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

WE TWO, HOW LONG WE WERE FOOL'D.

ONCE I PASS'D THROUGH A POPULOUS CITY.

ONCE I pass'd through a populous city imprinting my brain for future use with its shows, architecture

CITY OF SHIPS. CITY of ships! (O the black ships! O the fierce ships!

City of the world!

City of wharves and stores—city of tall façades of marble and iron!

Proud and passionate city—mettlesome, mad, extravagant city!

(Washington City, 1865.)

holds at the high, with bosom broad outswelling, All throbs, dilates—the farms, woods, streets of cities—workmen

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

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

people—manners free and superb—open voices— hospitality—the most courageous and friendly young men, City

city of spires and masts! City nested in bays! my city! ALL IS TRUTH.

But I too announce solid things, Science, ships, politics, cities, factories, are not nothing, Like a

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 after

We dwell a while in every city and town, We pass through Kanada Canada , the North-east, the vast valley

wast not granted to sing thou would'st surely die.) 5 Over the breast of the spring, the land, amid cities

day and night with the great cloud darkening the land, With the pomp of the inloop'd flags with the cities

not what kept me from sleep,) As the night advanced, and I saw on the rim of the west how full you were

and there, With ranging hills on the banks, with many a line against the sky, and shadows, And the city

men, I saw them, I saw the debris and debris of all the slain soldiers of the war, But I saw they were

barefoot, Down from the shower'd halo, Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as if they were

what joys were thine! ABOARD AT A SHIP'S HELM.

what life, what joy and pride, With all the perils were yours.)

How the great cities appear—how the Democratic masses, turbu- lent turbulent , wilful, as I love them

sloping down there where the fresh free giver the mother, the Mississippi flows, Of mighty inland cities

respond within their breasts, their brains, the sad reverberations,) The passionate toll and clang—city

to city, joining, sounding, passing, Those heart-beats of a Nation in the night.

touching, including God, including Saviour and Satan, Ethereal, pervading all, (for without me what were

what were God?)

burial-places to find him, And I found that every place was a burial-place; The houses full of life were

streets, the shipping, the places of amusement, the Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, the Mannahatta, were

now I am willing to disregard burial-places and dispense with them, And if the memorials of the dead were

Smell you the buckwheat where the bees were lately buzzing?)

Ah now the single figure to me, Amid all teeming and wealthy Ohio with all its cities and farms, Sickly

Look'd toward the lower bay to notice the vessels arriving, Saw their approach, saw aboard those that were

and yellow light over the tops of houses, and down into the clefts of streets. 4 These and all else were

to me the same as they are to you, I loved well those cities, loved well the stately and rapid river

, The men and women I saw were all near to me, Others the same—others who look back on me because I look'd

also, The best I had done seem'd to me blank and suspicious, My great thoughts as I supposed them, were

Heaped round the chair, in some places knee-deep, were masses of old letters, papers, manuscript, the

On another table, just behind the chair, were heaps of dust-sprinkled papers and a package of letters

The three windows were all on the same side, each to each. The blinds were closed.

White curtains were drawn part way down.

Sir Edwin Arnold's visit to the aged bard flooded the American's soul with joy.

I see a sad procession, And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles, All the channels of the city

Glad to hear that you were then "nothing worse at any rate" & that you find the talk & atmosphere of

Traubel (1858–1919) was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher.

Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of the series, the final two of which were

June 18 th reached me on the evening of June 29 while J.W.W —who had dropped & had tea with me—& I were

—& for the good spirits in which you evidently were at the time of writing & to which the presence of

day when they are grown up they will perhaps think so & be able to tell their little boys that they were

We rejoice to hear that you were "emerging as before" from the prostration of those "fearful, unprecedented

so often the topic of talk on board & you were my chief object of desire for so many days; thinking

Fritzinger and his brother Harry were the sons of Henry Whireman Fritzinger (about 1828–1881), a former

Traubel (1858–1919) was an American essayist, poet, and magazine publisher.

Traubel left behind enough manuscripts for six more volumes of the series, the final two of which were

Thirty-one poems from the book were later printed as "Good-Bye my Fancy 2d Annex" to Leaves of Grass