Whitman, as Printed

‹ Leaves of Grass, 1855

The lines with “be”

be 215 Back to B

  1. p. iii, line 14[…] wellshaped heir who approaches . . . and that he shall be fittest for his days […]
  2. p. iii, line 36[…] of the summer and winter, and need never be bankrupt while corn grows from the ground or the orchards […]
  3. p. iv, line 6[…] of races. Of them a bard is to be commensurate with a people. To him the other continents arrive […]
  4. p. iv, line 82[…] the expression of the American poet is to be transcendant and new. It is to be indirect and not direct or descriptive or epic. Its quality […]
  5. p. iv, line 85[…] Let the age and wars of other nations be chanted and their eras and characters be illustrated and that […]
  6. p. iv, line 86[…] nations be chanted and their eras and characters be illustrated and that finish the verse. Not so the great […]
  7. p. iv, line 96[…] use them the greatest. Their Presidents shall not be their common referee so much as their poets shall. Of […]
  8. p. v, line 36[…] certainty how one not a great artist may be just as sacred and perfect as the greatest artist. . . . . . The […]
  9. p. v, line 49[…] necessity of hell . . . . . and no man thenceforward shall be degraded for ignorance or weakness or sin […]
  10. p. v, line 90[…] the poetic in outdoor people. They can never be assisted by poets to perceive . . . some may but they never […]
  11. p. vi, line 14[…] your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only […]
  12. p. vi, line 68[…] and balance . . . one part does not need to be thrust above another. The best singer is not the one […]
  13. p. vi, line 78[…] follow time. What is the purpose must surely be there and the clue of it must be there . . . . and […]
  14. p. vi, line 79[…] be there and the clue of it must be there . . . . and the faintest indication is the indication of the […]
  15. p. vi, line 85[…] poet forms the consistence of what is to be from what has been and is. He drags the dead […]
  16. p. vi, line 99[…] of parting the one that sees it shall be encouraged or terrified afterward for many years. The greatest poet […]
  17. p. vii, line 22[…] He swears to his art, I will not be meddlesome, I will not have in my writing any elegance […]
  18. p. vii, line 28[…] as health or heat or snow has and be as regardless of observation. What I experience or portray shall […]
  19. p. vii, line 36[…] blood and stainless gentility of great poets will be proved by their unconstraint. A heroic person walks at his […]
  20. p. vii, line 54[…] you may enjoy. Did you suppose there could be only one Supreme? We affirm there can be unnumbered Supremes […]
  21. p. vii, line 55[…] be only one Supreme? We affirm there can be unnumbered Supremes, and that one does not countervail another any […]
  22. p. vii, line 58[…] one eyesight countervails another . . and that men can be good or grand only of the consciousness of their supremacy […]
  23. p. vii, line 70The American bards shall be marked for generosity and affection and for encouraging competitors . . They […]
  24. p. vii, line 72[…] and affection and for encouraging competitors . . They shall be kosmos . . without monopoly or secresy . . glad to pass any thing […]
  25. p. vii, line 74[…] for equals night and day. They shall not be careful of riches and privilege . . . . they shall be riches and […]
  26. p. vii, line 75[…] be careful of riches and privilege . . . . they shall be riches and privilege . . . . they shall perceive who the most affluent […]
  27. p. vii, line 84[…] soul most nor the body most . . . . and not be for the eastern states more than the western or the […]
  28. p. vii, line 102[…] proofs of souls . . . . . always of their fatherstuff must be begotten the sinewy races of bards. If there shall be […]
  29. p. vii, line 105[…] the sinewy races of bards. If there shall be love and content between the father and the son and […]
  30. p. vii, line 107[…] of the greatness of the father there shall be love between the poet and the man of demonstrable science […]
  31. p. viii, line 4[…] any case and for all cases . . . none to be hurried or retarded . . . . any miracle of affairs or persons inadmissible […]
  32. p. viii, line 15[…] earth and all upon it are simply to be taken as they are, and the investigation of their past […]
  33. p. viii, line 16[…] of their past and present and future shall be unintermitted and shall be done with perfect candor. Upon this […]
  34. p. viii, line 17[…] present and future shall be unintermitted and shall be done with perfect candor. Upon this basis philosophy speculates ever […]
  35. p. viii, line 39[…] To the perfect shape comes common ground. To be under the general law is great for that is to […]
  36. p. viii, line 44[…] children and bring them up well . . . that to be is just as great as to perceive or tell […]
  37. p. viii, line 110[…] offices or no . . . . when it is better to be a bound booby and rogue in office at a high […]
  38. p. ix, line 1[…] oppression on a largescale or small scale can be tried on without its own punishment following duly after in […]
  39. p. ix, line 6[…] earth—then only shall the instinct of liberty be discharged from that part of the earth […]
  40. p. ix, line 50[…] especially it is so great it must never be made ridiculous. Of ornaments to a work nothing outre can […]
  41. p. ix, line 51[…] Of ornaments to a work nothing outre can be allowed . . but those ornaments can be allowed that conform to […]
  42. p. ix, line 52[…] outre can be allowed . . but those ornaments can be allowed that conform to the perfect facts of the open […]
  43. p. ix, line 57[…] works are most beautiful without ornament. . . Exaggerations will be revenged in human physiology. Clean and vigorous children are jetted […]
  44. p. ix, line 61[…] and the people of these states must never be demeaned to romances. As soon as histories are properly told […]
  45. p. ix, line 64The great poets are also to be known by the absence in them of tricks and by […]
  46. p. ix, line 70[…] brains: How beautiful is candor! All faults may be forgiven of him who has perfect candor. Henceforth let no […]
  47. p. ix, line 79[…] of states a sneak or sly person shall be discovered and despised . . . . and that the soul has never been […]
  48. p. ix, line 81[…] has never been once fooled and never can be fooled . . . . and thrift without the loving nod of the soul […]
  49. p. ix, line 100[…] float of the brain of the world to be parts of the greatest poet from his birth out of […]
  50. p. x, line 26[…] the soul . . . Still the right explanation remains to be made about prudence. The prudence of the mere wealth and […]
  51. p. x, line 60[…] people upon themselves . . . ever is or ever can be stamped on the programme but it is duly realized and […]
  52. p. x, line 63[…] the push of charity or personal force ever be any thing else than the profoundest reason, whether it bring […]
  53. p. x, line 107[…] we are here . . or that is henceforth to be well thought or done by you whoever you are, or […]
  54. p. xi, line 29The direct trial of him who would be the greatest poet is today. If he does not flood […]
  55. p. xi, line 35[…] into its merits and demerits . . . and if he be not himself the age transfigured . . . . and if to him is […]
  56. p. xi, line 43[…] the passage from what was to what shall be, and commits itself to the representation of this wave of […]
  57. p. xi, line 53[…] and the direction of genius to similar points be satisfactory now? Has no new discovery in science or arrival […]
  58. p. xi, line 56[…] fixed him or his so that either can be looked down upon? Have the marches of tens and hundreds […]
  59. p. xi, line 74[…] and rest satisfied with explanations and realize and be content and full? To no such terminus does the greatest […]
  60. p. xi, line 86[…] learns one of the meanings. Now there shall be a man cohered out of tumult and chaos . . . . the elder […]
  61. p. xi, line 91[…] sweeps through the ceaseless rings and shall never be quiet again […]
  62. p. xi, line 92There will soon be no more priests. Their work is done. They may wait […]
  63. p. xi, line 97[…] A new order shall arise and they shall be the priests of man, and every man shall be his […]
  64. p. xi, line 98[…] the priests of man, and every man shall be his own priest. The churches built under their umbrage shall […]
  65. p. xi, line 99[…] priest. The churches built under their umbrage shall be the churches of men and women. Through the divinity of […]
  66. p. xi, line 101[…] the kosmos and the new breed of poets be interpreters of men and women and of all events and […]
  67. p. xi, line 109[…] the soul. They shall arise in America and be responded to from the remainder of the earth […]
  68. p. xii, line 40[…] goodshaped and wellhung man, and a woman to be his perfect and independent mate? Does it improve manners? Is […]
  69. p. xii, line 52[…] expectation of the vital and great can only be satisfied by the demeanor of the vital and great. The […]
  70. p. xii, line 58[…] word. It is not intellect that is to be their warrant and welcome. The talented, the artist, the ingenious […]
  71. p. 13, line 12I am mad for it to be in contact with me.
  72. p. 14, line 13And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
  73. p. 14, line 29Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest.
  74. p. 15, line 23And you must not be abased to the other.
  75. p. 16, line 9I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.
  76. p. 16, line 20It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
  77. p. 16, line 21It may be if I had known them I would have loved them;
  78. p. 16, line 22It may be you are from old people and from women, and from offspring taken soon out of their mothers' laps,
  79. p. 16, line 24This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,
  80. p. 17, line 9Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
  81. p. 17, line 19For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,
  82. p. 17, line 23Who need be afraid of the merge?
  83. p. 17, line 26And am around, tenacious, acquisitive, tireless . . . . and can never be shaken away.
  84. p. 23, line 20And such as it is to be of these more or less I am.
  85. p. 25, line 8There shall be no difference between them and the rest.
  86. p. 25, line 30Shall I pray? Shall I venerate and be ceremonious?
  87. p. 26, line 9I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass,
  88. p. 26, line 12I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood,
  89. p. 26, line 16If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
  90. p. 26, line 17And if each and all be aware I sit content.
  91. p. 26, line 29And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
  92. p. 27, line 36And am not the poet of goodness only . . . . I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also.
  93. p. 28, line 7Did you guess the celestial laws are yet to be worked over and rectified?
  94. p. 28, line 15The wonder is always and always how there can be a mean man or an infidel.
  95. p. 30, line 1If I worship any particular thing it shall be some of the spread of my body;
  96. p. 30, line 2Translucent mould of me it shall be you,
  97. p. 30, line 3Shaded ledges and rests, firm masculine coulter, it shall be you,
  98. p. 30, line 4Whatever goes to the tilth of me it shall be you,
  99. p. 30, line 6Breast that presses against other breasts it shall be you,
  100. p. 30, line 7My brain it shall be your occult convolutions,
  101. p. 30, line 8Root of washed sweet-flag, timorous pond-snipe, nest of guarded duplicate eggs, it shall be you,
  102. p. 30, line 9Mixed tussled hay of head and beard and brawn it shall be you,
  103. p. 30, line 10Trickling sap of maple, fibre of manly wheat, it shall be you;
  104. p. 30, line 11Sun so generous it shall be you,
  105. p. 30, line 12Vapors lighting and shading my face it shall be you,
  106. p. 30, line 13You sweaty brooks and dews it shall be you,
  107. p. 30, line 14Winds whose soft-tickling genitals rub against me it shall be you,
  108. p. 30, line 15Broad muscular fields, branches of liveoak, loving lounger in my winding paths, it shall be you,
  109. p. 30, line 16Hands I have taken, face I have kissed, mortal I have ever touched, it shall be you.
  110. p. 30, line 21To walk up my stoop is unaccountable . . . . I pause to consider if it really be,
  111. p. 30, line 33The mocking taunt, See then whether you shall be master!
  112. p. 31, line 8Come now I will not be tantalized . . . . you conceive too much of articulation.
  113. p. 32, line 19To be in any form, what is that?
  114. p. 35, line 3Picking out here one that shall be my amie,
  115. p. 38, line 19We are about approaching some great battlefield in which we are soon to be engaged,
  116. p. 39, line 3And chalked in large letters on a board, Be of good cheer, We will not desert you;
  117. p. 41, line 12His was the English pluck, and there is no tougher or truer, and never was, and never will be;
  118. p. 42, line 16The flames spite of all that could be done flickering aloft and below,
  119. p. 44, line 27I am not to be denied . . . . I compel . . . . I have stores plenty and to spare,
  120. p. 45, line 2You can do nothing and be nothing but what I will infold you.
  121. p. 46, line 16The supernatural of no account . . . . myself waiting my time to be one of the supremes,
  122. p. 46, line 17The day getting ready for me when I shall do as much good as the best, and be as prodigious,
  123. p. 48, line 30Be at peace bloody flukes of doubters and sullen mopers,
  124. p. 50, line 4I am an acme of things accomplished, and I an encloser of things to be.
  125. p. 51, line 3Noiselessly passing handfuls out of their hearts and giving them to be mine.
  126. p. 51, line 14There is no stoppage, and never can be stoppage;
  127. p. 51, line 22Our rendezvous is fitly appointed . . . . God will be there and wait till we come.
  128. p. 51, line 23I know I have the best of time and space—and that I was never measured, and never will be measured.
  129. p. 52, line 15And I said to my spirit, When we become the enfolders of those orbs and the pleasure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be filled and satisfied then?
  130. p. 52, line 26Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
  131. p. 53, line 12It was tied in your mouth . . . . in mine it begins to be loosened.
  132. p. 54, line 6And I call to mankind, Be not curious about God,
  133. p. 54, line 10Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.
  134. p. 55, line 23Who has done his day's work and will soonest be through with his supper?
  135. p. 56, line 8But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
  136. p. 57, line 15I will be even with you, and you shall be even with me.
  137. p. 57, line 18If your lover or husband or wife is welcome by day or night, I must be personally as welcome;
  138. p. 59, line 11It is not to be put in a book . . . . it is not in this book,
  139. p. 59, line 21And that it is not something which by luck may turn out well for us, and without luck must be a failure for us,
  140. p. 59, line 22And not something which may yet be retracted in a certain contingency.
  141. p. 60, line 2Have you reckoned the landscape took substance and form that it might be painted in a picture?
  142. p. 60, line 3Or men and women that they might be written of, and songs sung?
  143. p. 60, line 6Or the stars to be put in constellations and named fancy names?
  144. p. 60, line 27If you were not breathing and walking here where would they all be?
  145. p. 60, line 28The most renowned poems would be ashes . . . . orations and plays would be vacuums.
  146. p. 65, line 4Have you feared the future would be nothing to you?
  147. p. 66, line 6To think others shall be just as eager . . and we quite indifferent.
  148. p. 66, line 10He that was President was buried, and he that is now President shall surely be buried.
  149. p. 66, line 25Had known what it was to be flush . . grew lowspirited toward the last . . sickened . . was helped by a contribution,
  150. p. 67, line 15To think there will still be farms and profits and crops . . yet for you of what avail?
  151. p. 67, line 16What will be will be well—for what is is well,
  152. p. 67, line 17To take interest is well, and not to take interest shall be well.
  153. p. 67, line 18The sky continues beautiful . . . . the pleasure of men with women shall never be sated . . nor the pleasure of women with men . . nor the pleasure from poems;
  154. p. 68, line 2It is not that you should be undecided, but that you should be decided;
  155. p. 68, line 9He is one of those who are beautiful and happy . . . . he is one of those that to look upon and be with is enough.
  156. p. 68, line 10The law of the past cannot be eluded,
  157. p. 68, line 11The law of the present and future cannot be eluded,
  158. p. 68, line 12The law of the living cannot be eluded . . . . it is eternal,
  159. p. 68, line 13The law of promotion and transformation cannot be eluded,
  160. p. 68, line 14The law of heroes and good-doers cannot be eluded,
  161. p. 68, line 15The law of drunkards and informers and mean persons cannot be eluded.
  162. p. 68, line 19The known leaders and inventors and the rich owners and pious and distinguished may be well,
  163. p. 69, line 1I have dreamed that we are not to be changed so much . . . . nor the law of us changed;
  164. p. 69, line 2I have dreamed that heroes and good-doers shall be under the present and past law,
  165. p. 69, line 3And that murderers and drunkards and liars shall be under the present and past law;
  166. p. 69, line 8We cannot be stopped at a given point . . . . that is no satisfaction;
  167. p. 71, line 1The murderer that is to be hung next day . . . . how does he sleep?
  168. p. 71, line 27He who has been famous, and he who shall be famous after today,
  169. p. 72, line 8Be careful, darkness . . . . already, what was it touched me?
  170. p. 73, line 1It seems to me that everything in the light and air ought to be happy;
  171. p. 74, line 32And have an unseen something to be in contact with them also.
  172. p. 76, line 10The diverse shall be no less diverse, but they shall flow and unite . . . . they unite now.
  173. p. 77, line 1Why should I be afraid to trust myself to you?
  174. p. 77, line 8Not the womb yields the babe in its time more surely than I shall be yielded from you in my time.
  175. p. 79, line 5You would wish long and long to be with him . . . . you would wish to sit by him in the boat that you and he might touch each other.
  176. p. 79, line 6I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough,
  177. p. 79, line 8To be surrounded by beautiful curious breathing laughing flesh is enough,
  178. p. 80, line 1Be not ashamed women . . your privilege encloses the rest . . it is the exit of the rest,
  179. p. 80, line 6I see the bearer of the great fruit which is immortality . . . . the good thereof is not tasted by roues, and never can be.
  180. p. 81, line 2Whatever the bids of the bidders they cannot be high enough for him,
  181. p. 81, line 8They shall be stript that you may see them.
  182. p. 81, line 15This is not only one man . . . . he is the father of those who shall be fathers in their turns,
  183. p. 81, line 22She is the bearer of them that shall grow and be mates to the mothers.
  184. p. 83, line 8Do you suppose I could be content with all if I thought them their own finale?
  185. p. 83, line 10Some abject louse asking leave to be . . cringing for it,
  186. p. 84, line 2You'll be unmuzzled . . . . you certainly will.
  187. p. 86, line 10What can be answered he answers, and what cannot be answered he shows how it cannot be answered.
  188. p. 87, line 3And the soldiers suppose him to be a captain . . . . and the sailors that he has followed the sea,
  189. p. 87, line 16You think it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses,
  190. p. 87, line 17Well it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses;
  191. p. 87, line 19Or beyond one manly or affectionate deed of an apprenticeboy? . . or old woman? . . or man that has been in prison or is likely to be in prison?
  192. p. 88, line 30Nevertheless be ready . . . . be not weary of watching,
  193. p. 89, line 20For shame old maniacs! . . . . Bring down those tossed arms, and let your white hair be;
  194. p. 91, line 11Affection that will not be gainsayed . . . . The sense of what is real . . . . the thought if after all it should prove unreal,
  195. p. 92, line 19Is it wonderful that I should be immortal? as every one is immortal,
  196. p. 92, line 25And that I can remind you, and you think them and know them to be true is just as wonderful,
  197. p. 94, line 4That anguish as hot as the hottest and contempt as cold as the coldest may be without words,
  198. p. 94, line 14If there be any soul there is truth . . . . if there be man or woman there is truth . . . . If there be physical or moral there is truth,
  199. p. 94, line 15If there be equilibrium or volition there is truth . . . . if there be things at all upon the earth there is truth.
  200. p. 94, line 25Great is the law . . . . Great are the old few landmarks of the law . . . . they are the same in all times and shall not be disturbed.
  201. p. 95, line 4It cannot be varied by statutes any more than love or pride or the attraction of gravity can,