Whitman, as Printed

‹ Leaves of Grass, 1891–92

The lines with “it”

it 862 Back to I

  1. p. 9, line 16And menacing voice, What singest thou? it said,
  2. p. 9, line 20Be it so, then I answer'd,
  3. p. 10, line 25Bear forth to them folded my love, (dear mariners, for you I fold it here in every leaf;)
  4. p. 14, line 30But stop and loiter all the time to sing it in ecstatic songs.
  5. p. 16, line 2I was reserving it for some hero, speaker, or general,
  6. p. 17, line 2Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
  7. p. 17, line 22The words of my book nothing, the drift of it every thing,
  8. p. 18, line 8Leaving it to you to prove and define it,
  9. p. 20, line 17Why these are the children of the antique to justify it.
  10. p. 20, line 23I have perused it, own it is admirable, (moving awhile among it,)
  11. p. 20, line 24Think nothing can ever be greater, nothing can ever deserve more than it deserves,
  12. p. 20, line 25Regarding it all intently a long while, then dismissing it,
  13. p. 21, line 24I believe these are to found their own ideal of manly love, indicating it in me,
  14. p. 22, line 7(Or if there is I say it is just as important to you, to the land or to me, as any thing else.)
  15. p. 22, line 9(It may be I am destin'd to utter the loudest cries there, the winner's pealing shouts,
  16. p. 22, line 23Your ambition or business whatever it may be?
  17. p. 22, line 24It is well—against such I say not a word, I am their poet also,
  18. p. 23, line 3Dear son do you think it is love?
  19. p. 23, line 5It is a painful thing to love a man or woman to excess, and yet it satisfies, it is great,
  20. p. 23, line 6But there is something else very great, it makes the whole coincide,
  21. p. 23, line 7It, magnificent, beyond materials, with continuous hands sweeps and provides for all.
  22. p. 24, line 5And while I paus'd it came to me that what he really sang for was not there only,
  23. p. 24, line 17I will effuse egotism and show it underlying all, and I will be the bard of personality,
  24. p. 24, line 21And I will show that whatever happens to anybody it may be turn'd to beautiful results,
  25. p. 25, line 13Item for item it will elude the hands of the corpse-cleaners and pass to fitting spheres,
  26. p. 25, line 14Carrying what has accrued to it from the moment of birth to the moment of death.
  27. p. 25, line 19Whoever you are, how superb and how divine is your body, or any part of it!
  28. p. 28, line 16See, the strong and quick locomotive as it departs, panting, blowing the steam-whistle,
  29. p. 29, line 20I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it,
  30. p. 29, line 21The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.
  31. p. 29, line 22The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless,
  32. p. 29, line 23It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,
  33. p. 29, line 25I am mad for it to be in contact with me.
  34. p. 31, line 3To elaborate is no avail, learn'd and unlearn'd feel that it is so.
  35. p. 31, line 10Showing the best and dividing it from the worst age vexes age,
  36. p. 32, line 11Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it.
  37. p. 33, line 3A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
  38. p. 33, line 4How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
  39. p. 33, line 5I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.
  40. p. 33, line 6Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
  41. p. 33, line 10Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
  42. p. 33, line 11And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones,
  43. p. 33, line 14And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.
  44. p. 33, line 16It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
  45. p. 33, line 17It may be if I had known them I would have loved them,
  46. p. 33, line 18It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mothers' laps,
  47. p. 34, line 6And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it,
  48. p. 34, line 10Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
  49. p. 34, line 11I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.
  50. p. 34, line 20For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,
  51. p. 37, line 12The beards of the young men glisten'd with wet, it ran from their long hair,
  52. p. 37, line 15It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs.
  53. p. 38, line 12It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.
  54. p. 38, line 22Ya-honk he says, and sounds it down to me like an invitation,
  55. p. 38, line 23The pert may suppose it meaningless, but I listening close,
  56. p. 39, line 15Scattering it freely forever.
  57. p. 40, line 15The young sister holds out the skein while the elder sister winds it off in a ball, and stops now and then for the knots,
  58. p. 41, line 13Seasons pursuing each other the indescribable crowd is gather'd, it is the fourth of Seventh-month, (what salutes of cannon and small arms!)
  59. p. 42, line 1And such as it is to be of these more or less I am,
  60. p. 43, line 9Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?
  61. p. 43, line 10I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.
  62. p. 43, line 19It is for the wicked just the same as the righteous, I make appointments with all,
  63. p. 44, line 3Do you take it I would astonish?
  64. p. 44, line 9How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat?
  65. p. 44, line 11All I mark as my own you shall offset it with your own,
  66. p. 44, line 12Else it were time lost listening to me.
  67. p. 45, line 11I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait.
  68. p. 45, line 19And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
  69. p. 45, line 25It is a trifle, they will more than arrive there every one, and still pass on.
  70. p. 47, line 9There is no better than it and now.
  71. p. 47, line 15Here or henceforward it is all the same to me, I accept Time absolutely.
  72. p. 47, line 16It alone is without flaw, it alone rounds and completes all,
  73. p. 47, line 18I accept Reality and dare not question it,
  74. p. 49, line 6If I worship one thing more than another it shall be the spread of my own body, or any part of it,
  75. p. 49, line 7Translucent mould of me it shall be you!
  76. p. 49, line 8Shaded ledges and rests it shall be you!
  77. p. 49, line 9Firm masculine colter it shall be you!
  78. p. 49, line 10Whatever goes to the tilth of me it shall be you!
  79. p. 49, line 12Breast that presses against other breasts it shall be you!
  80. p. 49, line 13My brain it shall be your occult convolutions!
  81. p. 49, line 14Root of wash'd sweet-flag! timorous pond-snipe! nest of guarded duplicate eggs! it shall be you!
  82. p. 49, line 15Mix'd tussled hay of head, beard, brawn, it shall be you!
  83. p. 49, line 16Trickling sap of maple, fibre of manly wheat, it shall be you!
  84. p. 49, line 17Sun so generous it shall be you!
  85. p. 49, line 18Vapors lighting and shading my face it shall be you!
  86. p. 49, line 19You sweaty brooks and dews it shall be you!
  87. p. 49, line 20Winds whose soft-tickling genitals rub against me it shall be you!
  88. p. 49, line 21Broad muscular fields, branches of live oak, loving lounger in my winding paths, it shall be you!
  89. p. 49, line 22Hands I have taken, face I have kiss'd, mortal I have ever touch'd, it shall be you.
  90. p. 49, line 27That I walk up my stoop, I pause to consider if it really be,
  91. p. 50, line 14Speech is the twin of my vision, it is unequal to measure itself,
  92. p. 50, line 15It provokes me forever, it says sarcastically,
  93. p. 50, line 16Walt you contain enough, why don't you let it out then?
  94. p. 50, line 22My knowledge my live parts, it keeping tally with the meaning of all things,
  95. p. 51, line 2To accrue what I hear into this song, to let sounds contribute toward it.
  96. p. 51, line 16I hear the key'd cornet, it glides quickly in through my ears,
  97. p. 51, line 17It shakes mad-sweet pangs through my belly and breast.
  98. p. 51, line 18I hear the chorus, it is a grand opera,
  99. p. 51, line 24It wrenches such ardors from me I did not know I possess'd them,
  100. p. 51, line 25It sails me, I dab with bare feet, they are lick'd by the indolent waves,
  101. p. 52, line 9They seize every object and lead it harmlessly through me.
  102. p. 53, line 5Did it make you ache so, leaving me?
  103. p. 53, line 11They neither hasten their own delivery nor resist it,
  104. p. 53, line 23And they are to branch boundlessly out of that lesson until it becomes omnific,
  105. p. 54, line 9But call any thing back again when I desire it.
  106. p. 55, line 15Space and Time! now I see it is true, what I guess'd at,
  107. p. 56, line 6Over the dusky green of the rye as it ripples and shades in the breeze;
  108. p. 56, line 16Where the pear-shaped balloon is floating aloft, (floating in it myself and looking composedly down,)
  109. p. 56, line 18Where the she-whale swims with her calf and never forsakes it,
  110. p. 59, line 2We sail the arctic sea, it is plenty light enough,
  111. p. 59, line 17How the skipper saw the crowded and rudderless wreck of the steam-ship, and Death chasing it up and down the storm,
  112. p. 59, line 20How he follow'd with them and tack'd with them three days and would not give it up,
  113. p. 59, line 24All this I swallow, it tastes good, I like it well, it becomes mine,
  114. p. 61, line 22The second First-day morning they were brought out in squads and massacred, it was beautiful early summer,
  115. p. 62, line 9List to the yarn, as my grandmother's father the sailor told it to me.
  116. p. 63, line 8One of the pumps has been shot away, it is generally thought we are sinking.
  117. p. 64, line 9It is I let out in the morning and barr'd at night.
  118. p. 65, line 3The grave of rock multiplies what has been confided to it, or to any graves,
  119. p. 65, line 12Is he waiting for civilization, or past it and mastering it?
  120. p. 66, line 1And might tell what it is in me and what it is in you, but cannot,
  121. p. 67, line 2Heard it and heard it of several thousand years;
  122. p. 67, line 3It is middling well as far as it goes—but is that all?
  123. p. 70, line 16But I know it will in its turn prove sufficient, and cannot fail.
  124. p. 70, line 17Each who passes is consider'd, each who stops is consider'd, not a single one can it fail.
  125. p. 70, line 18It cannot fail the young man who died and was buried,
  126. p. 70, line 21Nor the old man who has lived without purpose, and feels it with bitterness worse than gall,
  127. p. 71, line 3It is time to explain myself—let us stand up.
  128. p. 72, line 5My embryo has never been torpid, nothing could overlay it.
  129. p. 72, line 6For it the nebula cohered to an orb,
  130. p. 72, line 7The long slow strata piled to rest it on,
  131. p. 72, line 8Vast vegetables gave it sustenance,
  132. p. 72, line 9Monstrous sauroids transported it in their mouths and deposited it with care.
  133. p. 72, line 23Every condition promulges not only itself, it promulges what grows after and out of itself,
  134. p. 73, line 5If I, you, and the worlds, and all beneath or upon their surfaces, were this moment reduced back to a pallid float, it would not avail in the long run,
  135. p. 73, line 8A few quadrillions of eras, a few octillions of cubic leagues, do not hazard the span or make it impatient,
  136. p. 73, line 12My rendezvous is appointed, it is certain,
  137. p. 73, line 25You must travel it for yourself.
  138. p. 73, line 26It is not far, it is within reach,
  139. p. 73, line 27Perhaps you have been on it since you were born and did not know,
  140. p. 73, line 28Perhaps it is everywhere on water and on land.
  141. p. 74, line 22He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher.
  142. p. 75, line 11(It is you talking just as much as myself, I act as the tongue of you,
  143. p. 75, line 12Tied in your mouth, in mine it begins to be loosen'd.)
  144. p. 75, line 26On that solemn night (it may be their last) those that know me seek me.
  145. p. 76, line 12And there is no trade or employment but the young man following it may become a hero,
  146. p. 76, line 13And there is no object so soft but it makes a hub for the wheel'd universe,
  147. p. 77, line 1And as to you Death, and you bitter hug of mortality, it is idle to try to alarm me.
  148. p. 77, line 21There is that in me—I do not know what it is—but I know it is in me.
  149. p. 77, line 24I do not know it—it is without name—it is a word unsaid,
  150. p. 77, line 25It is not in any dictionary, utterance, symbol.
  151. p. 77, line 26Something it swings on more than the earth I swing on,
  152. p. 77, line 27To it the creation is the friend whose embracing awakes me.
  153. p. 78, line 3It is not chaos or death—it is form, union, plan—it is eternal life—it is Happiness.
  154. p. 78, line 20It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds,
  155. p. 78, line 21It coaxes me to the vapor and the dusk.
  156. p. 78, line 23I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
  157. p. 80, line 1O for you whoever you are your correlative body! O it, more than all else, you delighting!)
  158. p. 80, line 4Seeking something yet unfound though I have diligently sought it many a long year,
  159. p. 80, line 16The face, the limbs, the index from head to foot, and what it arouses,
  160. p. 80, line 25O let me be lost if it must be so!
  161. p. 80, line 26O you and I! what is it to us what the rest do or think?
  162. p. 80, line 27What is all else to us? only that we enjoy each other and exhaust each other if it must be so;)
  163. p. 80, line 30From time the programme hastening, (I have loiter'd too long as it is,)
  164. p. 81, line 20Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves?
  165. p. 82, line 1It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists,
  166. p. 82, line 2It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist and knees, dress does not hide him,
  167. p. 83, line 15I do not ask any more delight, I swim in it as in a sea.
  168. p. 83, line 19A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to foot,
  169. p. 83, line 20It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction,
  170. p. 83, line 21I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more than a helpless vapor, all falls aside but myself and it,
  171. p. 84, line 1Mad filaments, ungovernable shoots play out of it, the response likewise ungovernable,
  172. p. 84, line 25Knowledge becomes him, he likes it always, he brings every thing to the test of himself,
  173. p. 85, line 4No matter who it is, it is sacred—is it the meanest one in the laborers' gang?
  174. p. 85, line 5Is it one of the dull-faced immigrants just landed on the wharf?
  175. p. 85, line 18Whatever the bids of the bidders they cannot be high enough for it,
  176. p. 85, line 19For it the globe lay preparing quintillions of years without one animal or plant,
  177. p. 85, line 20For it the revolving cycles truly and steadily roll'd.
  178. p. 85, line 22In it and below it the makings of heroes.
  179. p. 87, line 29The circling rivers the breath, and breathing it in and out,
  180. p. 89, line 6It is I, you women, I make my way,
  181. p. 90, line 15The hubb'd sting of myself, stinging me as much as it ever can any one,
  182. p. 91, line 11It has done its work—I toss it carelessly to fall where it may.
  183. p. 92, line 9To be lost if it must be so!
  184. p. 93, line 12We are two resplendent suns, we it is who balance ourselves orbic and stellar, we are as two comets,
  185. p. 93, line 23Is it because if you continued beyond the swift moment you would soon certainly kill me?
  186. p. 95, line 11And why is it yet unfound?)
  187. p. 96, line 21O I think it is not for life I am chanting here my chant of lovers, I think it must be for death,
  188. p. 96, line 22For how calm, how solemn it grows to ascend to the atmosphere of lovers,
  189. p. 97, line 6I will raise with it immortal reverberations through the States,
  190. p. 97, line 9Give me your tone therefore O death, that I may accord with it,
  191. p. 97, line 12For now it is convey'd to me that you are the purports essential,
  192. p. 97, line 18That may-be you are what it is all for, but it does not last so very long,
  193. p. 98, line 22For it is not for what I have put into it that I have written this book,
  194. p. 98, line 23Nor is it by reading it you will acquire it,
  195. p. 100, line 1Here, out of my pocket, some moss which I pull'd off a live-oak in Florida as it hung trailing down,
  196. p. 100, line 6Interchange it youths with each other! let none render it back!)
  197. p. 100, line 13I will give of it, but only to them that love as I myself am capable of loving.
  198. p. 102, line 13Who was not proud of his songs, but of the measureless ocean of love within him, and freely pour'd it forth,
  199. p. 102, line 19WHEN I heard at the close of the day how my name had been receiv'd with plaudits in the capitol, still it was not a happy night for me that follow'd,
  200. p. 103, line 15Do you think it so easy to have me become your lover?
  201. p. 103, line 20Have you no thought O dreamer that it may be all maya, illusion?
  202. p. 105, line 4Let it all be seen in your light, blushing drops.
  203. p. 105, line 22All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,
  204. p. 105, line 23Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark green,
  205. p. 105, line 25But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone there without its friend near, for I knew I could not,
  206. p. 106, line 1And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it, and twined around it a little moss,
  207. p. 106, line 2And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room,
  208. p. 106, line 3It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,
  209. p. 106, line 5Yet it remains to me a curious token, it makes me think of manly love;
  210. p. 106, line 10You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me as of a dream,)
  211. p. 106, line 18I am to see to it that I do not lose you.
  212. p. 106, line 20It seems to me there are other men in other lands yearning and thoughtful,
  213. p. 106, line 21It seems to me I can look over and behold them in Germany, Italy, France, Spain,
  214. p. 106, line 23And it seems to me if I could know those men I should become attached to them as I do to men in my own lands,
  215. p. 107, line 1I HEAR it was charged against me that I sought to destroy institutions,
  216. p. 107, line 9I demand of it the spiritual corresponding,
  217. p. 107, line 20But when I hear of the brotherhood of lovers, how it was with them,
  218. p. 109, line 11I wish to infuse myself among you till I see it common for you to walk hand in hand.
  219. p. 109, line 18I dare not tell it in words, not even in these songs.
  220. p. 109, line 21Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest,
  221. p. 109, line 22It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city,
  222. p. 110, line 13Because I perceive it waits, and has been always waiting, latent in all men.
  223. p. 110, line 21Of what use is it that you seek to become eleve of mine?
  224. p. 111, line 18How often I find myself standing and looking at it where it flits,
  225. p. 112, line 4Now it is you, compact, visible, realizing my poems, seeking me,
  226. p. 112, line 6Be it as if I were with you. (Be not too certain but I am now with you.)
  227. p. 112, line 24Within me is the longest day, the sun wheels in slanting rings, it does not set for months,
  228. p. 121, line 11I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
  229. p. 122, line 10The music falling in where it is wanted, and stopping where it is not wanted,
  230. p. 123, line 10Whoever denies me it shall not trouble me,
  231. p. 123, line 12Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear it would not amaze me,
  232. p. 123, line 13Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women appear'd it would not astonish me.
  233. p. 123, line 15It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.
  234. p. 123, line 18Its effusion of strength and will overwhelms law and mocks all authority and all argument against it.)
  235. p. 123, line 21Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it to another not having it,
  236. p. 123, line 25Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the soul.
  237. p. 124, line 7Here is adhesiveness, it is not previously fashion'd, it is apropos;
  238. p. 124, line 8Do you know what it is as you pass to be loved by strangers?
  239. p. 124, line 17What is it I interchange so suddenly with strangers?
  240. p. 124, line 22I think it pervades the open air, waiting at all times,
  241. p. 124, line 23Now it flows unto us, we are rightly charged.
  242. p. 124, line 26(The herbs of the morning sprout no fresher and sweeter every day out of the roots of themselves, than it sprouts fresh and sweet continually out of itself.)
  243. p. 125, line 2From it falls distill'd the charm that mocks beauty and attainments,
  244. p. 125, line 3Toward it heaves the shuddering longing ache of contact.
  245. p. 125, line 13However welcome the hospitality that surrounds us we are permitted to receive it but a little while.
  246. p. 126, line 21Journeyers over consecutive seasons, over the years, the curious years each emerging from that which preceded it,
  247. p. 127, line 1Allons! to that which is endless as it was beginningless,
  248. p. 127, line 5To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach it and pass it,
  249. p. 127, line 6To conceive no time, however distant, but what you may reach it and pass it,
  250. p. 127, line 7To look up or down no road but it stretches and waits for you, however long but it stretches and waits for you,
  251. p. 127, line 9To see no possession but you may possess it, enjoying all without labor or purchase, abstracting the feast yet not abstracting one particle of it,
  252. p. 128, line 2You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house, though you built it, or though it has been built for you.
  253. p. 128, line 4It is useless to protest, I know all and expose it.
  254. p. 128, line 10Another self, a duplicate of every one, skulking and hiding it goes,
  255. p. 128, line 22Now understand me well—it is provided in the essence of things that from any fruition of success, no matter what, shall come forth something to make a greater struggle necessary.
  256. p. 128, line 27It is safe—I have tried it—my own feet have tried it well—be not detain'd!
  257. p. 130, line 7It avails not, time nor place—distance avails not,
  258. p. 130, line 22Look'd on the vapor as it flew in fleeces tinged with violet,
  259. p. 131, line 13What is it then between us?
  260. p. 131, line 15Whatever it is, it avails not—distance avails not, and place avails not,
  261. p. 131, line 17I too walk'd the streets of Manhattan island, and bathed in the waters around it,
  262. p. 131, line 24It is not upon you alone the dark patches fall,
  263. p. 132, line 3Nor is it you alone who know what it is to be evil,
  264. p. 132, line 4I am he who knew what it was to be evil,
  265. p. 132, line 18The same old role, the role that is what we make it, as great as we like,
  266. p. 133, line 5What I promis'd without mentioning it, have you not accepted?
  267. p. 133, line 6What the study could not teach—what the preaching could not accomplish is accomplish'd, is it not?
  268. p. 133, line 17Play the old role, the role that is great or small according as one makes it!
  269. p. 133, line 21Receive the summer sky, you water, and faithfully hold it till all downcast eyes have time to take it from you!
  270. p. 135, line 12What can be answer'd he answers, and what cannot be answer'd he shows how it cannot be answer'd.
  271. p. 135, line 14(It is vain to skulk—do you hear that mocking and laughter? do you hear the ironical echoes?)
  272. p. 136, line 1He resolves all tongues into his own and bestows it upon men, and any man translates, and any man translates himself also,
  273. p. 136, line 12No matter what the work is, that he is the one to follow it or has follow'd it,
  274. p. 141, line 13O lands! all so dear to me—what you are, (whatever it is,) I putting it at random in these songs, become a part of that, whatever it is,
  275. p. 142, line 16O the joy of my spirit—it is uncaged—it darts like lightning!
  276. p. 142, line 17It is not enough to have this globe or a certain time,
  277. p. 146, line 13Proved to me this day beyond cavil that it is not my material eyes which finally see,
  278. p. 147, line 29How it is I know not—yet behold! the something which obeys none of the rest,
  279. p. 147, line 30It is offensive, never defensive—yet how magnetic it draws.
  280. p. 149, line 12The log at the wood-pile, the axe supported by it,
  281. p. 149, line 20The voyage of those who sought a New England and found it, the outset anywhere,
  282. p. 150, line 21The swing of their axes on the square-hew'd log shaping it toward the shape of a mast,
  283. p. 151, line 9The one who clean-shapes the handle and sets it firmly in the socket;
  284. p. 152, line 12If it be a few ragged huts it is still the greatest city in the whole world.
  285. p. 153, line 20What is your money-making now? what can it do now?
  286. p. 154, line 1Than this nothing has better served, it has served all,
  287. p. 155, line 3I see the scaffold untrodden and mouldy, I see no longer any axe upon it,
  288. p. 155, line 23Cutters down of wood and haulers of it to the Penobscot or Kennebec,
  289. p. 157, line 13She is the best belov'd, it is without exception, she has no reason to fear and she does not fear,
  290. p. 158, line 2To give it our own identity, average, limitless, free,
  291. p. 159, line 20I say I see, my friends, if you do not, the illustrious emigré, (having it is true in her day, although the same, changed, journey'd considerable,)
  292. p. 160, line 20E'en while I chant I see it rise, I scan and prophesy outside and in,
  293. p. 162, line 23For every man to see to it that he really do something, for every woman too;
  294. p. 162, line 28And hold it no disgrace to take a hand at them themselves.
  295. p. 163, line 3Food and its preservation, chemistry applied to it,
  296. p. 164, line 31Delicate beauty, a word to thee, (it may be salutary,)
  297. p. 165, line 15(For the blood of the children, what is it, only the blood maternal?
  298. p. 165, line 17While we rehearse our measureless wealth, it is for thee, dear Mother,
  299. p. 165, line 18We own it all and several to-day indissoluble in thee;
  300. p. 165, line 19Think not our chant, our show, merely for products gross or lucre—it is for thee, the soul in thee, electric, spiritual!
  301. p. 167, line 22You that, sometimes known, oftener unknown, really shape and mould the New World, adjusting it to Time and Space,
  302. p. 169, line 16Were all educations practical and ornamental well display'd out of me, what would it amount to?
  303. p. 169, line 17Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor, wise statesman, what would it amount to?
  304. p. 170, line 9Is it you then that thought yourself less?
  305. p. 170, line 10Is it you that thought the President greater than you?
  306. p. 170, line 16Souls of men and women! it is not you I call unseen, unheard, untouchable and untouching,
  307. p. 170, line 17It is not you I go argue pro and con about, and to settle whether you are alive or no,
  308. p. 171, line 7It is not what is printed, preach'd, discussed, it eludes discussion and print,
  309. p. 171, line 8It is not to be put in a book, it is not in this book,
  310. p. 171, line 9It is for you whoever you are, it is no farther from you than your hearing and sight are from you,
  311. p. 171, line 10It is hinted by nearest, commonest, readiest, it is ever provoked by them.
  312. p. 171, line 11You may read in many languages, yet read nothing about it,
  313. p. 171, line 12You may read the President's message and read nothing about it there,
  314. p. 171, line 16The apple-shaped earth and we upon it, surely the drift of them is something grand,
  315. p. 171, line 17I do not know what it is except that it is grand, and that it is happiness,
  316. p. 171, line 19And that it is not something which by luck may turn out well for us, and without luck must be a failure for us,
  317. p. 172, line 3Have you reckon'd that the landscape took substance and form that it might be painted in a picture?
  318. p. 172, line 18It is not they who give the life, it is you who give the life,
  319. p. 172, line 21The President is there in the White House for you, it is not you who are here for him,
  320. p. 173, line 7All architecture is what you do to it when you look upon it,
  321. p. 173, line 8(Did you think it was in the white or gray stone? or the lines of the arches and cornices?)
  322. p. 173, line 10It is not the violins and the cornets, it is not the oboe nor the beating drums, nor the score of the baritone singer singing his sweet romanza, nor that of the men's chorus, nor that of the women's chorus,
  323. p. 173, line 11It is nearer and farther than they.
  324. p. 176, line 12Though it were told in the three thousand languages, what would air, soil, water, fire, know of my name?
  325. p. 176, line 19It has all attributes, growths, effects, latent in itself from the jump,
  326. p. 176, line 20It is not half beautiful only, defects and excrescences show just as much as perfections show.
  327. p. 176, line 21The earth does not withhold, it is generous enough,
  328. p. 177, line 14Of all the powers, objects, states, it notifies, shuts none out.
  329. p. 177, line 29Holding up in her hand what has the character of a mirror, while her eyes glance back from it,
  330. p. 179, line 4The gift is to the giver, and comes back most to him—it cannot fail,
  331. p. 179, line 10There can be no theory of any account unless it corroborate the theory of the earth,
  332. p. 179, line 11No politics, song, religion, behavior, or what not, is of account, unless it compare with the amplitude of the earth,
  333. p. 179, line 12Unless it face the exactness, vitality, impartiality, rectitude of the earth.
  334. p. 179, line 14It is that which contains itself, which never invites and never refuses.
  335. p. 179, line 20It is always to leave the best untold.
  336. p. 180, line 2It is not what you anticipated, it is cheaper, easier, nearer,
  337. p. 180, line 4The earth is just as positive and direct as it was before,
  338. p. 180, line 6But the soul is also real, it too is positive and direct,
  339. p. 180, line 7No reasoning, no proof has establish'd it,
  340. p. 180, line 8Undeniable growth has establish'd it.
  341. p. 180, line 17It may have to wait long, but it will certainly come in use,
  342. p. 181, line 9None born but it is born, conceal'd or unconceal'd the seed is waiting.
  343. p. 181, line 14For it has history gather'd like husks around the globe,
  344. p. 181, line 15For it the entire star-myriads roll through the sky.
  345. p. 181, line 18For it the partial to the permanent flowing,
  346. p. 181, line 19For it the real to the ideal tends.
  347. p. 181, line 20For it the mystic evolution,
  348. p. 183, line 1Is it a dream?
  349. p. 183, line 2Nay but the lack of it the dream,
  350. p. 183, line 3And failing it life's lore and wealth a dream,
  351. p. 186, line 6Far, far off the daybreak call—hark! how loud and clear I hear it wind,
  352. p. 187, line 4From my hand from the brain of every man and woman it streams, effulgently flowing forever.
  353. p. 189, line 5For I guess there is latent music yet in France, floods of it,
  354. p. 189, line 8It reaches hither, it swells me to joyful madness,
  355. p. 189, line 9I will run transpose it in words, to justify it,
  356. p. 191, line 13(A moment, a moment long it sail'd its balls of unearthly light over our heads,
  357. p. 191, line 22With all which, had it not been, I would not now be here, as I am,
  358. p. 192, line 11O but it is not the years—it is I, it is You,
  359. p. 192, line 28And that to-day is what it must be, and that America is,
  360. p. 194, line 18As it moves changing, a kaleidoscope divine it moves changing before us.
  361. p. 194, line 25Geography, the world, is in it,
  362. p. 195, line 16I chant the new empire grander than any before, as in a vision it comes to me,
  363. p. 195, line 22Lives, works resumed—the object I know not—but the old, the Asiatic renew'd as it must be,
  364. p. 196, line 10Were the centuries steadily footing it that way, all the while unknown, for you, for reasons?
  365. p. 198, line 28Low hangs the moon, it rose late,
  366. p. 198, line 29It is lagging—O I think it is heavy with love, with love.
  367. p. 199, line 6O it is the shape, the shape of my mate!
  368. p. 199, line 34That is the whistle of the wind, it is not my voice,
  369. p. 200, line 29Is it indeed toward your mate you sing? or is it really to me?
  370. p. 201, line 9O give me the clew! (it lurks in the night here somewhere,)
  371. p. 201, line 11A word then, (for I will conquer it,)
  372. p. 201, line 13Subtle, sent up—what is it?—I listen;
  373. p. 201, line 14Are you whispering it, and have been all the time, you sea-waves?
  374. p. 201, line 15Is that it from your liquid rims and wet sands?
  375. p. 204, line 28(Burst the wild storm? above it thou ascended'st,
  376. p. 210, line 5Why this is indeed a show—it has called the dead out of the earth!
  377. p. 210, line 17Worse and worse—can't you stand it? are you retreating?
  378. p. 210, line 22But there is one thing that belongs here—shall I tell you what it is, gentlemen of Boston?
  379. p. 210, line 23I will whisper it to the Mayor, he shall send a committee to England,
  380. p. 211, line 4Fetch home the roarers from Congress, make another procession, guard it with foot and dragoons.
  381. p. 211, line 13Like lightning it le'pt forth half startled at itself,
  382. p. 212, line 23But it stalks invisibly over the earth, whispering, counseling, cautioning.
  383. p. 213, line 1HOLD it up sternly—see this it sends back, (who is it? is it you?)
  384. p. 217, line 19As if it might be this thing or that thing, according to decisions.
  385. p. 218, line 10OF Equality—as if it harm'd me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself—as if it were not indispensable to my own rights that others possess the same.
  386. p. 218, line 11I SEE in you the estuary that enlarges and spreads itself grandly as it pours in the great sea.
  387. p. 218, line 12LOCATIONS and times—what is it in me that meets them all, whenever and wherever, and makes me at home?
  388. p. 218, line 13Forms, colors, densities, odors—what is it in me that corresponds with them?
  389. p. 219, line 23A shock electric, the night sustain'd it,
  390. p. 221, line 2War! be it weeks, months, or years, an arm'd race is advancing to welcome it.
  391. p. 221, line 3Mannahatta a-march—and it's O to sing it well!
  392. p. 224, line 4And what does it say to me all the while?
  393. p. 224, line 6And nothing at all to you it says—but look you my babe,
  394. p. 224, line 25O father it is alive—it is full of people—it has children,
  395. p. 224, line 26O now it seems to me it is talking to its children,
  396. p. 224, line 27I hear it—it talks to me—O it is wonderful!
  397. p. 224, line 28O it stretches—it spreads and runs so fast—O my father,
  398. p. 224, line 29It is so broad it covers the whole sky.
  399. p. 225, line 2What you are saying is sorrowful to me, much it displeases me;
  400. p. 226, line 1Runs swiftly up indicating war and defiance—and now the halyards have rais'd it,
  401. p. 226, line 24Little you know what it is this day, and after this day, forever,
  402. p. 226, line 25It is to gain nothing, but risk and defy every thing,
  403. p. 228, line 11I too leave the rest—great as it is, it is nothing—houses, machines are nothing—I see them not,
  404. p. 229, line 2Heard the continuous thunder as it bellow'd after the lightning,
  405. p. 229, line 19How it climbs with daring feet and hands—how it dashes!
  406. p. 230, line 6I refresh'd myself with it only, I could relish it only,
  407. p. 232, line 6When I clutch'd your hand it was not with terror,
  408. p. 232, line 13But a battle which I took part in myself—aye, long ago as it is, I took part in it,
  409. p. 232, line 16My blind eyes even as I speak behold it re-peopled from graves,
  410. p. 232, line 21Here we lay encamp'd, it was this time in summer also.
  411. p. 232, line 23It was read here, the whole army paraded, it was read to us here,
  412. p. 232, line 25It glitter'd in the sun in full sight of the army.
  413. p. 233, line 3Of that brigade I tell, and how steadily it march'd,
  414. p. 233, line 4And how long and well it stood confronting death.
  415. p. 233, line 6It was the brigade of the youngest men, two thousand strong,
  416. p. 233, line 16It sickens me yet, that slaughter!
  417. p. 233, line 23Our foe advancing, steadily getting the best of it, push'd us back to the works on this hill,
  418. p. 234, line 2No women looking on nor sunshine to bask in, it did not conclude with applause,
  419. p. 234, line 14And then, (it was just ere sunrise,) these eyes rested on him for the last time.
  420. p. 234, line 26I must copy the story, and send it eastward and westward,
  421. p. 234, line 27I must preserve that look as it beam'd on you rivers of Brooklyn.
  422. p. 234, line 29It is the 27th of August and the British have landed,
  423. p. 235, line 12Behold the silvery river, in it the splashing horses loitering stop to drink,
  424. p. 238, line 20Folded the blanket well, tucking it carefully over head and carefully under feet,
  425. p. 239, line 13Then before I depart I sweep my eyes o'er the scene fain to absorb it all,
  426. p. 243, line 13And has not yet look'd on it.
  427. p. 245, line 5I see my own soul trampling down what it ask'd for.)
  428. p. 246, line 3On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
  429. p. 247, line 14It shall be customary in the houses and streets to see manly affection,
  430. p. 249, line 17What is it fateful woman, so blear, hardly human?
  431. p. 254, line 8From it and all henceforth expanding, doubting no more, resolute, sweeping the world,
  432. p. 256, line 17Carrying a corpse to where it shall rest in the grave,
  433. p. 260, line 24Then I chant it for thee, I glorify thee above all,
  434. p. 260, line 27When it is so, when thou hast taken them I joyously sing the dead,
  435. p. 263, line 5It is some dream that on the deck,
  436. p. 263, line 23Sing of the love we bore him—because you, dweller in camps, know it truly.
  437. p. 264, line 4Chant me the poem, it said, that comes from the soul of America, chant me the carol of victory,
  438. p. 264, line 24It is by ourselves we go down to eternal night.)
  439. p. 266, line 4Perceives that it waits a little while in the door, that it was fittest for its days,
  440. p. 266, line 21Attracting it body and soul to himself, hanging on its neck with incomparable love,
  441. p. 267, line 17Responding their manners, speech, dress, friendships, the gait they have of persons who never knew how it felt to stand in the presence of superiors,
  442. p. 268, line 3Slavery—the murderous, treacherous conspiracy to raise it upon the ruins of all the rest,
  443. p. 268, line 4On and on to the grapple with it—Assassin! then your life or ours be the stake, and respite no more.
  444. p. 268, line 24But damn that which spends itself with no thought of the stain, pains, dismay, feebleness, it is bequeathing.)
  445. p. 271, line 16Is it uniform with my country?
  446. p. 271, line 17Is it not something that has been better told or done before?
  447. p. 271, line 18Have you not imported this or the spirit of it in some ship?
  448. p. 271, line 19Is it not a mere tale? a rhyme? a prettiness?—is the good old cause in it?
  449. p. 271, line 20Has it not dangled long at the heels of the poets, politicians, literats, of enemies' lands?
  450. p. 271, line 21Does it not assume that what is notoriously gone is still here?
  451. p. 271, line 22Does it answer universal needs? will it improve manners?
  452. p. 271, line 23Does it sound with trumpet-voice the proud victory of the Union in that secession war?
  453. p. 271, line 25Will it absorb into me as I absorb food, air, to appear again in my strength, gait, face?
  454. p. 271, line 26Have real employments contributed to it? original makers, not mere amanuenses?
  455. p. 271, line 27Does it meet modern discoveries, calibres, facts, face to face?
  456. p. 272, line 1What does it mean to American persons, progresses, cities? Chicago, Kanada, Arkansas?
  457. p. 272, line 2Does it see behind the apparent custodians the real custodians standing, menacing, silent, the mechanics, Manhattanese, Western men, Southerners, significant alike in their apathy, and in the promptness of their love?
  458. p. 272, line 3Does it see what finally befalls, and has always finally befallen, each temporizer, patcher, outsider, partialist, alarmist, infidel, who has ever ask'd any thing of America?
  459. p. 272, line 10America justifies itself, give it time, no disguise can deceive it or conceal from it, it is impassive enough,
  460. p. 272, line 11Only toward the likes of itself will it advance to meet them,
  461. p. 272, line 12If its poets appear it will in due time advance to meet them, there is no fear of mistake,
  462. p. 272, line 13(The proof of a poet shall be sternly deferr'd till his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorb'd it.)
  463. p. 273, line 21It is not the earth, it is not America who is so great,
  464. p. 273, line 22It is I who am great or to be great, it is You up there, or any one,
  465. p. 273, line 23It is to walk rapidly through civilizations, governments, theories,
  466. p. 274, line 4I swear I will stand by my own nativity, pious or impious so be it;
  467. p. 275, line 7I will penetrate what it is in them that is sarcastic upon me,
  468. p. 275, line 9This is what I have learnt from America—it is the amount, and it I teach again.
  469. p. 275, line 22America isolated yet embodying all, what is it finally except myself?
  470. p. 275, line 24I know now why the earth is gross, tantalizing, wicked, it is for my sake,
  471. p. 283, line 19Affection that will not be gainsay'd, the sense of what is real, the thought if after all it should prove unreal,
  472. p. 283, line 21Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all flashes and specks?
  473. p. 284, line 4The strata of color'd clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint away solitary by itself, the spread of purity it lies motionless in,
  474. p. 284, line 18It was an illusion, the son you love was not really dead,
  475. p. 284, line 22The winds favor'd and the sea sail'd it,
  476. p. 285, line 1Her corpse they deposit unclaim'd, it lies on the damp brick pavement,
  477. p. 285, line 2The divine woman, her body, I see the body, I look on it alone,
  478. p. 285, line 20O how can it be that the ground itself does not sicken?
  479. p. 286, line 2I do not see any of it upon you to-day, or perhaps I am deceiv'd,
  480. p. 286, line 3I will run a furrow with my plough, I will press my spade through the sod and turn it up underneath,
  481. p. 286, line 5Behold this compost! behold it well!
  482. p. 286, line 22That it is safe to allow it to lick my naked body all over with its tongues,
  483. p. 286, line 23That it will not endanger me with the fevers that have deposited themselves in it,
  484. p. 287, line 1Now I am terrified at the Earth, it is that calm and patient,
  485. p. 287, line 2It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions,
  486. p. 287, line 3It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless successions of diseas'd corpses,
  487. p. 287, line 4It distills such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor,
  488. p. 287, line 5It renews with such unwitting looks its prodigal, annual, sumptuous crops,
  489. p. 287, line 6It gives such divine materials to men, and accepts such leavings from them at last.
  490. p. 288, line 1When liberty goes out of a place it is not the first to go, nor the second or third to go,
  491. p. 288, line 2It waits for all the rest to go, it is the last.
  492. p. 288, line 10But I will search carefully for it even in being foil'd,
  493. p. 288, line 13So it is—but now it seems to me, when it cannot be help'd, that defeat is great,
  494. p. 289, line 1I know that they belong to the scheme of the world every bit as much as we now belong to it.
  495. p. 289, line 24All verges to it, all has reference to what ensues,
  496. p. 290, line 5The spirit receives from the body just as much as it gives to the body, if not more.
  497. p. 290, line 11In the unshakable order of the universe and through the whole scope of it forever.
  498. p. 290, line 13Savage, felon, President, judge, farmer, sailor, mechanic, literat, young, old, it is the same,
  499. p. 291, line 1All that was ever manfully begun, whether it succeeded or no,
  500. p. 291, line 21Knows that the young man who composedly peril'd his life and lost it has done exceedingly well for himself without doubt,
  501. p. 291, line 22That he who never peril'd his life, but retains it to old age in riches and ease, has probably achiev'd nothing for himself worth mentioning,
  502. p. 292, line 25It was not I that sinn'd the sin,
  503. p. 294, line 10For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in it and from it?
  504. p. 297, line 13After these and more, it is just possible there comes to a man, a woman, the divine power to speak words;
  505. p. 297, line 17O what is it in me that makes me tremble so at voices?
  506. p. 300, line 5For a clew to the history of the past for myself, and for these chants—and now I have found it,
  507. p. 300, line 6It is not in those paged fables in the libraries, (them I neither accept nor reject,)
  508. p. 300, line 7It is no more in the legends than in all else,
  509. p. 300, line 8It is in the present—it is this earth to-day,
  510. p. 300, line 9It is in Democracy—(the purport and aim of all the past,)
  511. p. 300, line 10It is the life of one man or one woman to-day—the average man of to-day,
  512. p. 300, line 11It is in languages, social customs, literatures, arts,
  513. p. 300, line 12It is in the broad show of artificial things, ships, machinery, politics, creeds, modern improvements, and the interchange of nations,
  514. p. 300, line 15(To me all that those persons have arrived at sinks away from them, except as it results to their bodies and souls,
  515. p. 301, line 28Bending over he carefully holds it to the stone, by foot and knee,
  516. p. 302, line 11IS reform needed? is it through you?
  517. p. 302, line 12The greater the reform needed, the greater the Personality you need to accomplish it.
  518. p. 302, line 13You! do you not see how it would serve to have eyes, blood, complexion, clean and sweet?
  519. p. 302, line 14Do you not see how it would serve to have such a body and soul that when you enter the crowd an atmosphere of desire and command enters with you, and every one is impress'd with your Personality?
  520. p. 303, line 9WHAT am I after all but a child, pleas'd with the sound of my own name? repeating it over and over;
  521. p. 303, line 10I stand apart to hear—it never tires me.
  522. p. 304, line 6Till it has well inhaled the atmosphere of this river, also the western prairie-scent,
  523. p. 304, line 7And exudes it all again.
  524. p. 304, line 12It is no lesson—it lets down the bars to a good lesson,
  525. p. 304, line 19I cannot say to any person what I hear—I cannot say it to myself—it is very wonderful.
  526. p. 304, line 20It is no small matter, this round and delicious globe moving so exactly in its orbit for ever and ever, without one jolt or the untruth of a single second,
  527. p. 304, line 21I do not think it was made in six days, nor in ten thousand years, nor ten billions of years,
  528. p. 305, line 4Is it wonderful that I should be immortal? as every one is immortal;
  529. p. 305, line 5I know it is wonderful, but my eyesight is equally wonderful, and how I was conceived in my mother's womb is equally wonderful,
  530. p. 305, line 16For all that, they have it forever in themselves to corroborate far and near without one exception.
  531. p. 307, line 24Now I marvel what it can be he appears to them, (books, politics, poems, depart—all else departs,)
  532. p. 308, line 14(As George Fox rais'd his warning cry, "Is it this pile of brick and mortar, these dead floors, windows, rails, you call the church?
  533. p. 310, line 1IN a little house keep I pictures suspended, it is not a fix'd house,
  534. p. 310, line 2It is round, it is only a few inches from one side to the other;
  535. p. 310, line 3Yet behold, it has room for all the shows of the world, all memories!
  536. p. 310, line 27Listen, lose not, it is toward thee they tend,
  537. p. 311, line 23And with it every instrument in multitudes,
  538. p. 314, line 19But now it seems to me sound leads o'er all the rest.)
  539. p. 318, line 12Now first it seems my thought begins to span thee.
  540. p. 318, line 21Who bind it to us? what is this separate Nature so unnatural?
  541. p. 320, line 13Enhuing it with gorgeous hues.
  542. p. 320, line 25Uprising in the night, it sprouts, blooms,
  543. p. 324, line 15The end I know not, it is all in Thee,
  544. p. 324, line 26For that O God, be it my latest word, here on my knees,
  545. p. 325, line 1Is it the prophet's thought I speak, or am I raving?
  546. p. 325, line 4Dim ever-shifting guesses of it spread before me,
  547. p. 326, line 14I saw that it was beautiful, and I see that what is not the earth is beautiful.
  548. p. 326, line 19I am the ever-laughing—it is new moon and twilight,
  549. p. 326, line 21Cache and cache again deep in the ground and sea, and where it is neither ground nor sea.
  550. p. 327, line 2My truant lover has come, and it is dark.
  551. p. 327, line 12Be careful darkness! already what was it touch'd me?
  552. p. 327, line 17It is my face yellow and wrinkled instead of the old woman's,
  553. p. 327, line 19It is I too, the sleepless widow looking out on the winter midnight,
  554. p. 327, line 22It is dark here under ground, it is not evil or pain here, it is blank here, for reasons.
  555. p. 327, line 23(It seems to me that every thing in the light and air ought to be happy,
  556. p. 328, line 10His beautiful body is borne in the circling eddies, it is continually bruis'd on rocks,
  557. p. 328, line 18I can but rush to the surf and let it drench me and freeze upon me.
  558. p. 330, line 14The Swiss foots it toward his hills, the Prussian goes his way, the Hungarian his way, and the Pole his way,
  559. p. 331, line 7The soul is always beautiful, it appears more or it appears less, it comes or it lags behind,
  560. p. 331, line 8It comes from its embower'd garden and looks pleasantly on itself and encloses the world,
  561. p. 333, line 21The corpse stretches on the bed and the living look upon it,
  562. p. 333, line 22It is palpable as the living are palpable.
  563. p. 334, line 17A minute—no one moves or speaks—it is done,
  564. p. 334, line 21Had known what it was to be flush, grew low-spirited toward the last, sicken'd, was help'd by a contribution,
  565. p. 335, line 21It is not to diffuse you that you were born of your mother and father, it is to identify you,
  566. p. 336, line 1It is not that you should be undecided, but that you should be decided,
  567. p. 336, line 11The law of the living cannot be eluded, it is eternal,
  568. p. 337, line 12Whither I walk I cannot define, but I know it is good,
  569. p. 337, line 13The whole universe indicates that it is good,
  570. p. 337, line 14The past and the present indicate that it is good.
  571. p. 337, line 16How perfect the earth, and the minutest thing upon it!
  572. p. 337, line 23That the exquisite scheme is for it, and the nebulous float is for it, and the cohering is for it!
  573. p. 337, line 24And all preparation is for it—and identity is for it—and life and materials are altogether for it!
  574. p. 338, line 7I know it not O soul,
  575. p. 338, line 20(Or is it the plashing of tears? the measureless waters of human tears?)
  576. p. 339, line 17All sorrow, labor, suffering, I, tallying it, absorb in myself,
  577. p. 340, line 7(Though it was thought I was baffled and dispel'd, and my wiles done, but that will never be,)
  578. p. 341, line 7Or if it be distributed to the winds I shall be satisfied.
  579. p. 343, line 15I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
  580. p. 343, line 17It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
  581. p. 344, line 10Softly I lay my right hand upon you, you just feel it,
  582. p. 344, line 11I do not argue, I bend my head close and half envelop it,
  583. p. 345, line 15To my mind, (whence it comes I know not,) spectral in mist of a wreck at sea,
  584. p. 347, line 3I'd show away ahead thy real Union, and how it may be accomplish'd.
  585. p. 348, line 9Thou carefully prepared by it so long—haply thou but unfoldest it, only maturest it,
  586. p. 348, line 10It to eventuate in thee—the essence of the by-gone time contain'd in thee,
  587. p. 349, line 6World of the soul, born by the world of the real alone, led to identity, body, by it alone,
  588. p. 350, line 20The general inner earth so long so sedulously draped over, now hence for what it is boldly laid bare,
  589. p. 353, line 18Some abject louse asking leave to be, cringing for it,
  590. p. 353, line 19Some milk-nosed maggot blessing what lets it wrig to its hole.
  591. p. 355, line 2This is the face commanding and bearded, it asks no odds of the rest,
  592. p. 355, line 8In each house is the ovum, it comes forth after a thousand years.
  593. p. 355, line 21It hangs low over the rows of trees by the fences,
  594. p. 355, line 22It hangs thin by the sassafras and wild-cherry and cat-brier under them.
  595. p. 356, line 2Her grandsons raised the flax, and her grand-daughters spun it with the distaff and the wheel.
  596. p. 358, line 6I feel the measureless shame and humiliation of my race, it becomes all mine,
  597. p. 361, line 23(This is curious and may not be realized immediately, but it must be realized,
  598. p. 362, line 2Is it upon the ground, or in water or fire? or in the spirit of man? or in the meat and blood?
  599. p. 362, line 5And that each thing exactly represents itself and what has preceded it,
  600. p. 362, line 24It and its radiations constantly glide.
  601. p. 362, line 30Two little breaths of words comprising it,
  602. p. 362, line 31Two words, yet all from first to last comprised in it.
  603. p. 363, line 1How ardently for it!
  604. p. 363, line 2How many ships have sail'd and sunk for it!
  605. p. 363, line 4How much of genius boldly staked and lost for it!
  606. p. 363, line 5What countless stores of beauty, love, ventur'd for it!
  607. p. 363, line 6How all superbest deeds since Time began are traceable to it—and shall be to the end!
  608. p. 363, line 7How all heroic martyrdoms to it!
  609. p. 363, line 8How, justified by it, the horrors, evils, battles of the earth!
  610. p. 363, line 9How the bright fascinating lambent flames of it, in every age and land, have drawn men's eyes,
  611. p. 363, line 12Haply God's riddle it, so vague and yet so certain,
  612. p. 363, line 13The soul for it, and all the visible universe for it,
  613. p. 363, line 14And heaven at last for it.
  614. p. 363, line 18And who has been happiest? O I think it is I—I think no one was ever happier than I,
  615. p. 363, line 23And who has receiv'd the love of the most friends? for I know what it is to receive the passionate love of many friends,
  616. p. 364, line 10It shall yet march forth o'ermastering, till all lies beneath me,
  617. p. 364, line 11It shall yet stand up the soldier of ultimate victory.
  618. p. 367, line 10(I bring no dirge for it or thee, I bring a glad triumphal sonnet,)
  619. p. 369, line 12And hear the indorsement of all, and do not object to it.
  620. p. 369, line 16They stand for realities—all is as it should be.
  621. p. 370, line 7Must we barely arrive at this beginning of us?—and yet it is enough, O soul;
  622. p. 370, line 10Your horizon rises, I see it parting away for more august dramas,
  623. p. 371, line 10Years prophetical! the space ahead as I walk, as I vainly try to pierce it, is full of phantoms,
  624. p. 374, line 13(O it lurks in me night and day—what is gain after all to savageness and freedom?)
  625. p. 375, line 19How the water sports and sings! (surely it is alive!)
  626. p. 378, line 8With a mystic army, (is it too order'd forward? is it too only halt ing awhile,
  627. p. 381, line 4I announce adhesiveness, I say it shall be limitless, unloosen'd,
  628. p. 381, line 14I foresee too much, it means more than I thought,
  629. p. 381, line 15It appears to me I am dying.
  630. p. 381, line 23Myself unknowing, my commission obeying, to question it never daring,
  631. p. 382, line 9(Is it night? are we here together alone?)
  632. p. 382, line 10It is I you hold and who holds you,
  633. p. 382, line 19I give it especially to you, do not forget me,
  634. p. 386, line 26Is it not just as great, O soul?
  635. p. 388, line 5Garner'd for now and thee—To think of it!
  636. p. 390, line 21Long it holds at the high, with bosom broad outswelling,
  637. p. 391, line 17(The heart of it not in the chosen—the act itself the main, the quadriennial choosing,)
  638. p. 391, line 23—Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify—while the heart pants, life glows:
  639. p. 393, line 3To admiration has it been enacted!
  640. p. 394, line 6For them thy faith, thy rule I take, and grave it to the last;
  641. p. 394, line 26Old age, and what it brings from all its past experiences.
  642. p. 397, line 6"Life, life an endless march, an endless army, (no halt, but it is duly over,)
  643. p. 399, line 8And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin, and make pure and beautify it;
  644. p. 400, line 4I heard it in my boyhood;)—More than a generation since,
  645. p. 407, line 5[…] as follow a long dusty journey, and witness it afterward? I have probably not been enough afraid of careless […]
  646. p. 407, line 16[…] not at all clear that, as here collated, it is worth printing (certainly I have nothing fresh to write […]
  647. p. 408, line 12[…] perfection here and now. I believe I have it in me perennially anyhow […]
  648. p. 408, line 14Then behind all, the deep-down consolation (it is a glum one, but I dare not be sorry […]
  649. p. 408, line 15[…] dare not be sorry for the fact of it in the past, nor refrain from dwelling, even vaunting here […]
  650. p. 409, line 4(I will not call it our concluding voyage,
  651. p. 410, line 9I chant from it the common bulk, the general average horde, (the best no sooner than the worst)—And now I chant old age,
  652. p. 411, line 1SOMEHOW I cannot let it go yet, funeral though it is,
  653. p. 411, line 2Let it remain back there on its nail suspended,
  654. p. 411, line 11It is not yet dead to me, nor even pallid.
  655. p. 411, line 34[…] around Washington, I form'd the habit, and continued it to the end, whenever the ebb or flood tide began […]
  656. p. 412, line 16I DOUBT it not—then more, far more;
  657. p. 413, line 1ADD to your show, before you close it, France,
  658. p. 413, line 37[…] out of the now dead soldier's example as it passes my mind, is worth taking notice of. If the […]
  659. p. 415, line 17(Let the future care for itself, where it reveals its troubles, impedimentas,
  660. p. 419, line 8"It is the central urge in every atom,
  661. p. 420, line 5(Account for it or not—credit or not—it is all true,
  662. p. 420, line 6And my mate there could tell you the like—we have often confab'd about it,)
  663. p. 420, line 25I end it here in sickness, poverty, and old age.
  664. p. 421, line 1HOW dare one say it?
  665. p. 422, line 16May-be it is yourself now really ushering me to the true songs, (who knows?)
  666. p. 422, line 17May-be it is you the mortal knob really undoing, turning—so now finally,
  667. p. 425, line 12[…] glances over our travel'd road. After completing, as it were, the journey—(a varied jaunt of years, with many […]
  668. p. 425, line 33[…] on the book and myself as author of it yet shows mark'd anger and contempt more than anything else […]
  669. p. 426, line 2[…] K., Boston, May 28,1884)—And that solely for publishing it I have been the object of two or three pretty […]
  670. p. 426, line 13[…] my say entirely my own way, and put it unerringly on record—the value thereof to be decided by […]
  671. p. 426, line 25[…] and has remain'd throughout, the main object. Now it seems to be achiev'd, I am certainly contented to waive […]
  672. p. 426, line 29[…] were creditable—and I accept the result, whatever it may be […]
  673. p. 427, line 7[…] doubtless self-will'd record. In the midst of all, it gives one man's—the author's—identity, ardors, observations, faiths, and […]
  674. p. 427, line 16[…] and myths of the past. As I see it now (perhaps too late,) I have unwittingly taken up that […]
  675. p. 427, line 19[…] assume to do now, knowing more clearly what it means […]
  676. p. 427, line 21[…] the conventional themes, which do not appear in it: none of the stock ornamentation, or choice plots of love […]
  677. p. 427, line 35[…] or talking, towards himself and towards his fellow-humanity. It is certainly time for America, above all, to begin this […]
  678. p. 428, line 23[…] to worthily waft a few live breaths of it to the future […]
  679. p. 428, line 26[…] definition of Poetry, nor answer the question what it is. Like Religion, Love, Nature, while those terms are indispensable […]
  680. p. 428, line 31[…] great exception may arise and disregard and overturn it […]
  681. p. 428, line 32Also it must be carefully remember'd that first-class literature does not shine […]
  682. p. 429, line 1[…] or pensive or other emotion. But, strange as it may sound at first, I will say there is something […]
  683. p. 429, line 10[…] presupposed something different from any other, and, as it stands, is the result of such presupposition. I should say […]
  684. p. 429, line 11[…] result of such presupposition. I should say, indeed, it were useless to attempt reading the book without first carefully […]
  685. p. 429, line 22[…] and the unprecedented stimulants of to-day and here. It almost seems as if a poetry with cosmic and dynamic […]
  686. p. 429, line 25[…] to the human soul, were never possible before. It is certain that a poetry of absolute faith and equality […]
  687. p. 429, line 28[…] may be call'd the negative and lack of it, (as in Goethe's case, it sometimes seems to me,) is […]
  688. p. 429, line 29[…] and lack of it, (as in Goethe's case, it sometimes seems to me,) is often, if not always, the […]
  689. p. 429, line 40And whether my friends claim it for me or not, I know well enough, too, that […]
  690. p. 430, line 1[…] all I have done, or could do. But it seem'd to me, as the objects in Nature, the themes […]
  691. p. 430, line 19[…] already possess from the bequests of the past, it still remains to be said that there is even towards […]
  692. p. 430, line 25Indeed, and anyhow, to put it specifically, has not the time arrived when, (if it must […]
  693. p. 430, line 26[…] specifically, has not the time arrived when, (if it must be plainly said, for democratic America's sake, if for […]
  694. p. 430, line 30[…] I may turn the argument over and repeat it: Does not the best thought of our day and Republic […]
  695. p. 431, line 18[…] denial and insult to democracy? What a comment it forms, anyhow, on this era of literary fulfilment, with the […]
  696. p. 431, line 34[…] as the persons and institutes they depict. True, it may be said, the emotional, moral, and æsthetic natures of […]
  697. p. 432, line 29[…] well-cramm'd one thousand page octavo volume (I have it yet,) containing Walter Scott's poetry entire—an inexhaustible mine and […]
  698. p. 433, line 3[…] me than in any library or indoor room—it makes such difference where you read,) Shakspere, Ossian, the best […]
  699. p. 433, line 7[…] or two other masterpieces, Dante's among them. As it happen'd, I read the latter mostly in an old wood […]
  700. p. 433, line 26[…] though short, work'd the sum out and proved it to me […]
  701. p. 433, line 36[…] I also felt strongly (whether I have shown it or not) that to the true and full estimate of […]
  702. p. 433, line 42[…] declamatory expression had not been given to me. It is certain, I say, that, although I had made a […]
  703. p. 433, line 44[…] the occurrence of the Secession War, and what it show'd me as by flashes of lightning, with the emotional […]
  704. p. 433, line 45[…] by flashes of lightning, with the emotional depths it sounded and arous'd (of course, I don't mean in my […]
  705. p. 434, line 2[…] mean in my own heart only, I saw it just as plainly in others, in millions)—that only from […]
  706. p. 435, line 1[…] ages, leaving to our time the inheritance of it all. Fortunately there is the original inexhaustible fund of buoyancy […]
  707. p. 435, line 9[…] the ideals of the centuries of European feudalism) it has not yet appear'd. I have allow'd the stress of […]
  708. p. 435, line 11[…] end to bear upon American individuality and assist it—not only because that is a great lesson in Nature […]
  709. p. 435, line 16[…] great pride of man in himself," and permit it to be more or less a motif of nearly all […]
  710. p. 435, line 18[…] this pride indispensable to an American. I think it not inconsistent with obedience, humility, deference, and self-questioning […]
  711. p. 435, line 24[…] help the forming of a great aggregate Nation, it is, perhaps, altogether through the forming of myriads of fully […]
  712. p. 436, line 9[…] whatever. Henceforth, if they live and are read, it must be just as much South as North—just as […]
  713. p. 436, line 20[…] left unwritten were those lines omitted. Difficult as it will be, it has become, in my opinion, imperative to achieve a shifted […]
  714. p. 436, line 25[…] not going to argue the question by itself; it does not stand by itself. The vitality of it is altogether in its relations, bearings, significance—like the clef […]
  715. p. 437, line 7[…] is the foundation of moral America. I felt it all as positively then in my young days as I […]
  716. p. 437, line 13While I can not understand it or argue it out, I fully believe in a clue and purpose in […]
  717. p. 437, line 18[…] to emanate buoyancy and gladness legitimately enough, for it was grown out of those elements, and has been the […]
  718. p. 437, line 19[…] has been the comfort of my life since it was originally commenced […]
  719. p. 437, line 23[…] that growth—or even to call attention to it, or the need of it—is the beginning, middle and […]
  720. p. 437, line 24[…] call attention to it, or the need of it—is the beginning, middle and final purpose of the poems […]
  721. p. 437, line 37[…] no original art can be regulated from without; it carries its own counterpoise, and does not receive it from […]
  722. p. 437, line 38[…] carries its own counterpoise, and does not receive it from elsewhere—lives on its own blood "—a solace to […]
  723. p. 437, line 44[…] came across a singular work. After looking at it thoughtfully for a good while, and listening to the criticisms […]
  724. p. 438, line 14[…] record in current literature that satisfied me. But it is not on "Leaves of Grass " distinctively as literature, or […]
  725. p. 438, line 34[…] for the imaginative genius of the West, when it worthily rises—First, what Herder taught to the young Goethe […]