Leaves of Grass cover

Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Original en 121712 words First published 1855 United States

Whitman spent thirty-seven years growing this book, folding each new poem into an ever-larger single work he called his language experiment. Out of its free, unrhymed lines came modern American poetry. The book is a hymn to the open road, the body, the city, the Civil War hospital ward, and above all the democratic 'I' that contains multitudes and refuses to apologize. 'Song of Myself' remains its center of gravity: fifty-two sections of catalogue, chant and extravagance that begin 'I celebrate myself, and sing myself.' Emerson asked for exactly this poet; almost no one else in 1855 was ready for him.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

Table of Contents

  1. 001 LEAVES OF GRASS By Walt Whitman Come, said my soul, Such verses for… 2507 words
  2. 002 I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future, I but… 2693 words
  3. 003 15 With me with firm holding, yet haste, haste on. 2575 words
  4. 004 9 The big doors of the country barn stand open and ready, The dried… 2523 words
  5. 005 Have you heard that it was good to gain the day? 2528 words
  6. 006 I hear the violoncello, (’tis the young man’s heart’s complaint,) I… 2547 words
  7. 007 I am a free companion, I bivouac by invading watchfires, I turn the… 2710 words
  8. 008 42 A call in the midst of the crowd, My own voice, orotund sweeping and final. 2518 words
  9. 009 48 I have said that the soul is not more than the body, And I have… 2614 words
  10. 010 This the nucleus--after the child is born of woman, man is born of… 2542 words
  11. 011 O something unprov’d! something in a trance! To escape utterly from… 2779 words
  12. 012 Not Heaving from My Ribb’d Breast Only Not heaving from my ribb’d… 2509 words
  13. 013 A Promise to California A promise to California, Or inland to the… 2567 words
  14. 014 I see the steppes of Asia, I see the tumuli of Mongolia, I see the… 2514 words
  15. 015 Here rises the fluid and attaching character, The fluid and attaching… 2588 words
  16. 016 7 Closer yet I approach you, What thought you have of me now, I had… 3302 words
  17. 017 BOOK XI A Song of Joys O to make the most jubilant song! 3024 words
  18. 018 4 Muscle and pluck forever! 2509 words
  19. 019 5 We do not blame thee elder World, nor really separate ourselves… 2598 words
  20. 020 3 But more in you than these, lands of the Western shore, (These but… 2514 words
  21. 021 The earth does not withhold, it is generous enough, The truths of the… 2512 words
  22. 022 Has the night descended? Was the road of late so toilsome? did we… 2530 words
  23. 023 2 Superb-faced Manhattan! 2570 words
  24. 024 I perceive I have not really understood any thing, not a single… 2507 words
  25. 025 Then in their power not for all these did the blows strike revenge… 2527 words
  26. 026 And you lady of ships, you Mannahatta, Old matron of this proud… 2661 words
  27. 027 3 Thunder on! stride on, Democracy! strike with vengeful stroke! And… 2809 words
  28. 028 A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown A march in the… 2517 words
  29. 029 These shall tie you and band you stronger than hoops of iron, I, ecstatic, O partners! 2584 words
  30. 030 6 Coffin that passes through lanes and streets, Through day and night… 2504 words
  31. 031 All comes by the body, only health puts you rapport with the universe. 2649 words
  32. 032 (Say O Mother, have I not to your thought been faithful? 2604 words
  33. 033 There Was a Child Went Forth There was a child went forth every day… 2511 words
  34. 034 Singly, wholly, to affect now, affected their time, will forever… 2549 words
  35. 035 What do you suppose creation is? 2572 words
  36. 036 An Old Man’s Thought of School [For the Inauguration of a Public… 2534 words
  37. 037 In one again, different, (yet thine, all thine, O soul, the same,) I… 2513 words
  38. 038 The wretched features of ennuyes, the white features of corpses, the… 2613 words
  39. 039 The living look upon the corpse with their eyesight, But without… 2766 words
  40. 040 Quicksand Years Quicksand years that whirl me I know not whither… 2542 words
  41. 041 A Paumanok Picture Two boats with nets lying off the sea-beach, quite… 2656 words
  42. 042 Mannahatta I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city, Whereupon lo! 2551 words
  43. 043 I see the ships, (they will last a few years,) The vast factories… 2518 words
  44. 044 Camps of Green Nor alone those camps of white, old comrades of the… 2562 words
  45. 045 [IV] Last of Ebb, and Daylight Waning Last of ebb, and daylight… 2500 words
  46. 046 And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower, Which, strange… 2612 words
  47. 047 Old Chants An ancient song, reciting, ending, Once gazing toward… 2078 words