Whitman, as Printed

‹ Leaves of Grass, 1855

Concordance

The 7,190 different words in the first edition of Leaves of Grass, A to Z, with each line they appear in. Where his spelling differs from ours, today’s is beside it. Each line opens in the book.

V

vacant 1

  1. p. 78, line 12The wrestle of wrestlers . . two apprentice-boys, quite grown, lusty, goodnatured, nativeborn, out on the vacant lot at sundown after work,

vacuums 3

  1. p. xi, line 83[…] turn the old spots and lights into dead vacuums. The companion of him beholds the birth and progress of […]
  2. p. 25, line 26That months are vacuums and the ground but wallow and filth,
  3. p. 60, line 28The most renowned poems would be ashes . . . . orations and plays would be vacuums.

vague 2

  1. p. v, line 69[…] is unlikely? what is impossible or baseless or vague? after you have once just opened the space of a […]
  2. p. 88, line 11Vague as the night, draped interminably, head front and form in scarlet folds,

vagueness 1

  1. p. xi, line 40[…] of time, and rises up from its inconceivable vagueness and infiniteness in the swimming shape of today, and is […]

vain 11

  1. p. x, line 66[…] to add or subtract or divide is in vain. Little or big, learned or unlearned, white or black, legal […]
  2. p. 34, line 13In vain the speeding or shyness,
  3. p. 34, line 14In vain the plutonic rocks send their old heat against my approach,
  4. p. 34, line 15In vain the mastadon retreats beneath its own powdered bones,
  5. p. 34, line 16In vain objects stand leagues off and assume manifold shapes,
6 more lines
  1. p. 34, line 17In vain the ocean settling in hollows and the great monsters lying low,
  2. p. 34, line 18In vain the buzzard houses herself with the sky,
  3. p. 34, line 19In vain the snake slides through the creepers and logs,
  4. p. 34, line 20In vain the elk takes to the inner passes of the woods,
  5. p. 34, line 21In vain the razorbilled auk sails far north to Labrador,
  6. p. 86, line 12It is vain to skulk . . . . Do you hear that mocking and laughter? Do you hear the ironical echoes?

vale 1

  1. p. 23, line 28A Kentuckian walking the vale of the Elkhorn in my deerskin leggings,

value 3

  1. p. 59, line 8And send no agent or medium . . . . and offer no representative of value—but offer the value itself.
  2. p. 60, line 19The sum of all known value and respect I add up in you whoever you are;

valved 1

  1. p. 15, line 26Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice.

vapor 3

  1. p. 50, line 9Afar down I see the huge first Nothing, the vapor from the nostrils of death,
  2. p. 56, line 2It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.
  3. p. 79, line 16I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapor . . . . all falls aside but myself and it,

vapors 1

  1. p. 30, line 12Vapors lighting and shading my face it shall be you,

varied 3

  1. p. v, line 87[…] and the open air, all is an old varied sign of the unfailing perception of beauty and of a […]
  2. p. 78, line 17The natural perfect and varied attitudes . . . . the bent head, the curved neck, the counting:
  3. p. 95, line 4It cannot be varied by statutes any more than love or pride or the attraction of gravity can,

varieties 1

  1. p. ix, line 33[…] who can read the same through all the varieties of tongues and subjects and styles, and in whom they […]

variety 2

  1. p. 49, line 24Births have brought us richness and variety,
  2. p. 49, line 25And other births will bring us richness and variety.

vast 11

  1. p. iii, line 26[…] blind to particulars and details magnificently moving in vast masses. Here is the hospitality which forever indicates heroes . . . . Here […]
  2. p. iv, line 108[…] the spirit of peace, large, rich, thrifty, building vast and populous cities, encouraging agriculture and the arts and commerce […]
  3. p. viii, line 6[…] miracle of affairs or persons inadmissible in the vast clear scheme where every motion and every spear of grass […]
  4. p. viii, line 28[…] this life and doubtless afterward . . . . . . or less than vast stretches of time or the slow formation of density or […]
  5. p. x, line 90[…] enthusiasts scoffed at by their neighbors . . all the vast sweet love and precious suffering of mothers . . . all honest men […]
6 more lines
  1. p. xi, line 31[…] flood himself with the immediate age as with vast oceanic tides . . . . . and if he does not attract his own […]
  2. p. 21, line 15Me going in for my chances, spending for vast returns,
  3. p. 38, line 21Or we are entering by the suburbs some vast and ruined city . . . . the blocks and fallen architecture more than all the living cities of the globe.
  4. p. 50, line 21For it the nebula cohered to an orb . . . . the long slow strata piled to rest it on . . . . vast vegetables gave it sustenance,
  5. p. 74, line 27Now the vast dusk bulk that is the whale's bulk . . . . it seems mine,
  6. p. 94, line 22Great is the English brood . . . . What brood has so vast a destiny as the English?

vault 3

  1. p. 42, line 28What stills the traveler come to the vault at Mount Vernon,
  2. p. 64, line 10When the minted gold in the vault smiles like the nightwatchman's daughter,
  3. p. 89, line 29They shall get a grant from the Parliament, and go with a cart to the royal vault,

vedas 1

  1. p. 48, line 15Drinking mead from the skull-cup . . . . to shasta and vedas admirant . . . . minding the koran,

vegetables 3

  1. p. 50, line 21For it the nebula cohered to an orb . . . . the long slow strata piled to rest it on . . . . vast vegetables gave it sustenance,
  2. p. 69, line 22The vegetables and minerals are all perfect . . and the imponderable fluids are perfect;
  3. p. 69, line 25Animals and vegetables! if I realize you I have satisfaction,

vegetation 2

  1. p. 16, line 13Or I guess the grass is itself a child . . . . the produced babe of the vegetation.
  2. p. 80, line 23Do you think matter has cohered together from its diffused float, and the soil is on the surface and water runs and vegetation sprouts for you . . and not for him and her?

vehicles 2

  1. p. 66, line 14A hearse and stages . . . . other vehicles give place,
  2. p. 91, line 16Vehicles . . teams . . the tiered wharves, and the huge crossing at the ferries;

veil 2

  1. p. 29, line 23Voices of sexes and lusts . . . . voices veiled, and I remove the veil,
  2. p. 36, line 23Under Niagara, the cataract falling like a veil over my countenance;

veiled 2

  1. p. 29, line 23Voices of sexes and lusts . . . . voices veiled, and I remove the veil,
  2. p. 80, line 4She is all things duly veiled . . . . she is both passive and active . . . . she is to conceive daughters as well as sons and sons as well as daughters.

veins 4

  1. p. iv, line 93Of all nations the United States with veins full of poetical stuff most need poets and will doubtless […]
  2. p. x, line 48[…] privacy of the onanist . . not of the putrid veins of gluttons or rumdrinkers . . . not peculation or cunning or betrayal […]
  3. p. 32, line 27Flames and ether making a rush for my veins,
  4. p. 83, line 19Its veins down the neck distend . . . . its eyes roll till they show nothing but their whites,

velocity 2

  1. p. x, line 25[…] immense features it spreads and spreads with such velocity before the reached kisses of the soul . . . Still the right […]
  2. p. 34, line 36Gathering and showing more always and with velocity,

veneer 1

  1. p. 63, line 1The veneer and gluepot . . the confectioner's ornaments . . the decanter and glasses . . the shears and flatiron;

venerate 1

  1. p. 25, line 30Shall I pray? Shall I venerate and be ceremonious?

veneration 1

  1. p. 83, line 1The face of an amour . . . . the face of veneration,

venereal 1

  1. p. x, line 47[…] one name of word or deed . . not of venereal sores or discolorations . . not the privacy of the onanist . . not […]

venerealee 2

  1. p. 25, line 7The keptwoman and sponger and thief are hereby invited . . . . the heavy-lipped slave is invited . . . . the venerealee is invited,
  2. p. 76, line 8The child of the glutton or venerealee waits long, and the child of the drunkard waits long, and the drunkard himself waits long,

venture 1

  1. p. 93, line 15Great the daring and venture of sailors on new explorations.

verge 2

  1. p. vi, line 96[…] beyond . . . . he glows a moment on the extremest verge. He is most wonderful in his last half-hidden smile or […]
  2. p. 43, line 17I discover myself on a verge of the usual mistake.

vermin 1

  1. p. 83, line 22This face is bitten by vermin and worms,

Vermont 1

  1. p. 23, line 33At home on the hills of Vermont or in the woods of Maine or the Texan ranch,

Vernon 1

  1. p. 42, line 28What stills the traveler come to the vault at Mount Vernon,

verse 1

  1. p. iv, line 86[…] and characters be illustrated and that finish the verse. Not so the great psalm of the republic. Here the […]

verses 3

  1. p. 87, line 16You think it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses,
  2. p. 87, line 17Well it would be good to be the writer of melodious verses;
  3. p. 87, line 18But what are verses beyond the flowing character you could have? . . . . or beyond beautiful manners and behaviour?

very 9

  1. p. vi, line 13[…] dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest […]
  2. p. vii, line 3[…] subjects their articulations are powers neither common nor very uncommon. But to speak in literature with the perfect rectitude […]
  3. p. 16, line 24This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old mothers,
  4. p. 55, line 20Very well then . . . . I contradict myself;
  5. p. 61, line 24The currycomb . . the horse-cloth . . the halter and bridle and bits . . the very wisps of straw,
4 more lines
  1. p. 62, line 11The paper I write on or you write on . . and every word we write . . and every cross and twirl of the pen . . and the curious way we write what we think . . . . yet very faintly;
  2. p. 76, line 11The sleepers are very beautiful as they lie unclothed,
  3. p. 81, line 7Examine these limbs, red black or white . . . . they are very cunning in tendon and nerve;
  4. p. 92, line 12I cannot say to any person what I hear . . . . I cannot say it to myself . . . . it is very wonderful.

vessel 1

  1. p. 42, line 12Our vessel riddled and slowly sinking . . . . preparations to pass to the one we had conquered,

vessels 3

  1. p. iv, line 51[…] mines—the tribes of red aborigines—the weatherbeaten vessels entering new ports or making landings on rocky coasts—the […]
  2. p. 53, line 23In vessels that sail my words must sail . . . . I go with fishermen and seamen, and love them,
  3. p. 64, line 8When the sacred vessels or the bits of the eucharist, or the lath and plast, procreate as effectually as the young silversmiths or bakers, or the masons in their overalls,

vestige 1

  1. p. v, line 45[…] see after him! there is not left any vestige of despair or misanthropy or cunning or exclusiveness or the […]

vests 1

  1. p. 78, line 13The coats vests and caps thrown down . . the embrace of love and resistance,

vexer's 1

  1. p. 47, line 6Ever the vexer's hoot! hoot! till we find where the sly one hides and bring him forth;

vexes 1

  1. p. 14, line 26Showing the best and dividing it from the worst, age vexes age,

vials 1

  1. p. 62, line 13The ring on your finger . . the lady's wristlet . . the hammers of stonebreakers or coppersmiths . . the druggist's vials and jars;

vibrating 1

  1. p. 18, line 12What living and buried speech is always vibrating here . . . . what howls restrained by decorum,

vice 1

  1. p. 28, line 2What blurt is it about virtue and about vice?

victorious 1

  1. p. 84, line 13I hear victorious drums.

victors 1

  1. p. 24, line 27I play not a march for victors only . . . . I play great marches for conquered and slain persons.

victory 1

  1. p. iv, line 1[…] all the magnitude of geography orshows of exterior victory to enjoy the breed of fullsized men or one fullsized […]

view 1

  1. p. 17, line 30I peeringly view them from the top.

views 1

  1. p. 22, line 6The woollypates hoe in the sugarfield, the overseer views them from his saddle;

vigor 1

  1. p. 78, line 21This man was of wonderful vigor and calmness and beauty of person;

vigorous 3

  1. p. ix, line 58[…] will be revenged in human physiology. Clean and vigorous children are jetted and conceived only in those communities where […]
  2. p. x, line 70[…] that a male or female does that is vigorous and benevolent and clean is so much sure profit to […]
  3. p. 79, line 4When he went with his five sons and many grandsons to hunt or fish you would pick him out as the most beautiful and vigorous of the gang,

vile 2

  1. p. 14, line 29Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest.
  2. p. 87, line 15They are not vile any more . . . . they hardly know themselves, they are so grown.

village 1

  1. p. 91, line 17The village on the highland seen from afar at sunset . . . . the river between,

villain 1

  1. p. 33, line 12You villain touch! what are you doing? . . . . my breath is tight in its throat;

vindicate 1

  1. p. 26, line 12I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood,

vine 1

  1. p. 13, line 14Echos, ripples, and buzzed whispers . . . . loveroot, silkthread, crotch and vine,

vines 2

  1. p. 50, line 30Calling my name from flowerbeds or vines or tangled underbrush,
  2. p. 61, line 22The plum-orchard and apple-orchard . . . . gardening . . seedlings, cuttings, flowers and vines,

violations 1

  1. p. ix, line 38[…] healthy and accomplished shall receive no pleasure from violations of natural models and must not permit them. In paintings […]

violently 1

  1. p. 39, line 20They taunt my dizzy ears . . . . they beat me violently over the head with their whip-stocks.

violet 1

  1. p. 20, line 26And consider the green and violet and the tufted crown intentional;

violincello 1 today: violoncello

  1. p. 32, line 5I hear the violincello or man's heart's complaint,

violins 1

  1. p. 61, line 4It is not the violins and the cornets . . . . it is not the oboe nor the beating drums— nor the notes of the baritone singer singing his sweet romanza . . . . nor those of the men's chorus, nor those of the women's chorus,

violoncello see violincello

Virginia 2

  1. p. iv, line 17[…] The blue breadth over the inland sea of Virginia and Maryland and the sea off Massachusetts and Maine and […]
  2. p. 43, line 25We walk the roads of Ohio and Massachusetts and Virginia and Wisconsin and New York and New Orleans and Texas and Montreal and San Francisco and Charleston and Savannah and Mexico,

virtue 1

  1. p. 28, line 2What blurt is it about virtue and about vice?

virtuous 2

  1. p. 53, line 2Wicked, rather than virtuous out of conformity or fear,
  2. p. 57, line 11The learned and virtuous and benevolent, and the usual terms;

visible 3

  1. p. vii, line 101[…] it . . . of them and by them stand the visible proofs of souls . . . . . always of their fatherstuff must be begotten […]
  2. p. 18, line 9The souls moving along . . . . are they invisible while the least atom of the stones is visible?
  3. p. 79, line 17Books, art, religion, time . . the visible and solid earth . . the atmosphere and the fringed clouds . . what was expected of heaven or feared of hell are now consumed,

vision 3

  1. p. 31, line 5Speech is the twin of my vision . . . . it is unequal to measure itself.
  2. p. 35, line 17I am afoot with my vision.
  3. p. 70, line 4I WANDER all night in my vision,

visit 2

  1. p. 38, line 6I visit the orchards of God and look at the spheric product,
  2. p. 78, line 23These I used to go and visit him to see . . . . He was wise also,

visitors 1

  1. p. xii, line 57[…] America prepares with composure and goodwill for the visitors that have sent word. It is not intellect that is […]

vista 1

  1. p. iv, line 88[…] republic. Here the theme is creative and has vista. Here comes one among the wellbeloved stonecutters and plans with […]

vital 6

  1. p. vi, line 109[…] has lain close betwixt both and they are vital in his style and thoughts […]
  2. p. viii, line 2[…] happens and whatever may or shall happen, the vital laws enclose all . . . . they are sufficient for any case and […]
  3. p. xii, line 52[…] will surely pass away. The expectation of the vital and great can only be satisfied by the demeanor of […]
  4. p. xii, line 53[…] only be satisfied by the demeanor of the vital and great. The swarms of the polished deprecating and reflectors […]
  5. p. 33, line 18Sprouts take and accumulate . . . . stand by the curb prolific and vital,
  6. p. 94, line 13The truth in man is no dictum . . . . it is vital as eyesight,

vitality 2

  1. p. ix, line 91[…] any stretch of abeyance or action afterward of vitality, nor in any process of formation or reformation anywhere, a […]
  2. p. 88, line 20Cold and motionless as they seem . . live elsewhere with unslaughter'd vitality.

vitreous 1

  1. p. 27, line 11Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!

vivas 1

  1. p. 25, line 2Vivas to those who have failed, and to those whose war-vessels sank in the sea, and those themselves who sank in the sea,

voice 16

  1. p. vi, line 53[…] the hearing proceeds another hearing and from the voice proceeds another voice eternally curious of the harmony of things […]
  2. p. vi, line 54[…] another hearing and from the voice proceeds another voice eternally curious of the harmony of things with man. To […]
  3. p. viii, line 50[…] rest more than from poets. They are the voice and exposition of liberty. They out of ages are worthy […]
  4. p. ix, line 68[…] echo a new cheap joy and a divine voice leaping from their brains: How beautiful is candor! All faults […]
  5. p. 13, line 17The sound of the belched words of my voice . . . . words loosed to the eddies of the wind,
10 more lines
  1. p. 15, line 26Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice.
  2. p. 31, line 3My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,
  3. p. 31, line 24I hear the sound of the human voice . . . . a sound I love,
  4. p. 38, line 25My voice is the wife's voice, the screech by the rail of the stairs,
  5. p. 41, line 23I laughed content when I heard the voice of my little captain,
  6. p. 42, line 7He was not hurried . . . . his voice was neither high nor low,
  7. p. 46, line 22My own voice, orotund sweeping and final.
  8. p. 53, line 22The farmboy ploughing in the field feels good at the sound of my voice,
  9. p. 74, line 9Her step was free and elastic . . . . her voice sounded exquisitely as she spoke.
  10. p. 94, line 17Sound your voice! I scale mountains or dive in the sea after you.

voices 11

  1. p. 29, line 13Through me many long dumb voices,
  2. p. 29, line 14Voices of the interminable generations of slaves,
  3. p. 29, line 15Voices of prostitutes and of deformed persons,
  4. p. 29, line 16Voices of the diseased and despairing, and of thieves and dwarfs,
  5. p. 29, line 17Voices of cycles of preparation and accretion,
5 more lines
  1. p. 29, line 22Through me forbidden voices,
  2. p. 29, line 23Voices of sexes and lusts . . . . voices veiled, and I remove the veil,
  3. p. 29, line 24Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigured.
  4. p. 42, line 17The husky voices of the two or three officers yet fit for duty,
  5. p. 46, line 7Minding their voices peal through the crash of destruction,

volatile 1

  1. p. ix, line 13[…] with light . . . . the daylight is lit with more volatile light . . . . also the deep between the setting and rising sun […]

volition 2

  1. p. 81, line 9Exquisite senses, lifelit eyes, pluck, volition,
  2. p. 94, line 15If there be equilibrium or volition there is truth . . . . if there be things at all upon the earth there is truth.

volumes 1

  1. p. 31, line 4With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of worlds.

voluptuous 2

  1. p. 19, line 4She had long eyelashes . . . . her head was bare . . . . her coarse straight locks descended upon her voluptuous limbs and reached to her feet.
  2. p. 27, line 8Smile O voluptuous coolbreathed earth!

vote 1

  1. p. 59, line 2The naive . . . . the simple and hardy . . . . he going to the polls to vote . . . . he who has a good time, and he who has a bad time;

voter 2

  1. p. 71, line 25I am the actor and the actress . . . . the voter . . the politician,
  2. p. 75, line 15The affectionate boy, the husband and wife, the voter, the nominee that is chosen and the nominee that has failed,

voyage 1

  1. p. 75, line 8The Dutchman voyages home, and the Scotchman and Welchman voyage home . . and the native of the Mediterranean voyages home;

voyages 2

  1. p. 75, line 8The Dutchman voyages home, and the Scotchman and Welchman voyage home . . and the native of the Mediterranean voyages home;

voyaging 1

  1. p. 37, line 27Voyaging to every port to dicker and adventure;

vulgar 1

  1. p. 67, line 6The vulgar and the refined . . . . what you call sin and what you call goodness . . to think how wide a difference;