Walt Whitman
1819–1892
Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist from Long Island, New York. He worked as a printer, teacher and newspaper editor before publishing Leaves of Grass in 1855, a book he expanded and revised for the rest of his life.
Whitman broke with rhyme and regular metre, writing long free-verse lines that celebrate democracy, the body, nature and the individual self. During the Civil War he nursed wounded soldiers in Washington, and his elegies for Abraham Lincoln, “O Captain! My Captain!” and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, are among his best-known works, together with “Song of Myself”.
Best-known poems
-
O Captain! My Captain!
O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, … -
Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking
Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight, … -
Mannahatta
I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name.
Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly, musical, self-sufficient, … -
After an Interval
After an interval, reading, here in the midnight,
With the great stars looking on—all the stars of Orion looking,
And the silent Pleiades—and the duo looking of Saturn and ruddy Mars; …
All poems (26)
- A Sight in Camp in the Day-Break Gray and DimAs from my tent I emerge so early sleepless,
- After an IntervalAfter an interval, reading, here in the midnight,
- BeginnersHow they are provided for upon the earth (appearing at intervals),
- Bivouac on a Mountain SideI see before me now a travelling army halting,
- Cavalry Crossing a FordA line in long array where they wind betwixt green islands,
- Darest Thou Now O SoulWalk out with me toward the unknown region,
- From "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"Ah, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than mast-hemmed Manhattan?
- From "The Song of Myself"Myself
- from I Sing the Body Electric1
- Give Me the Splendid Silent SunGive me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling,
- MannahattaI was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,
- MyselfI celebrate myself, and sing myself,
- O Captain! My Captain!O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
- Out of the Cradle Endlessly RockingOut of the mocking-bird’s throat, the musical shuttle,
- Still Though the One I Sing(One, yet of contradictions made) I dedicate to Nationality,
- The Dalliance of the EaglesSkirting the river road (my forenoon walk, my rest),
- The Imprisoned SoulAt the last, tenderly,
- To the Man-of-War-BirdThou who hast slept all night upon the storm,
- What is the Grass?From “The Song of Myself”
- “O Captain! my Captain!”O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
- “Out from behind this mask”To Confront His Own Portrait for “The Wound Dresser” in “Leaves of Grass”
- “When lilacs last in the door-yard bloomed”[The Death of Lincoln.]
In French 4
- En commençant mes étudesEn commençant mes études le premier pas m’a plu si fort,
- J’entends chanter l’AmériqueJ’entends chanter l’Amérique, j’entends ses diverses chansons,
- Ô Capitaine ! Mon Capitaine !Ô Capitaine ! mon Capitaine ! fini notre effrayant voyage,
- Une femme m’attendUne femme m’attend, elle contient tout, rien ne fait défaut,
