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Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Extracts from Whitman's
Poetry on Various Subjects
On Wisdom
This is the test of wisdom,
Wisdom is not finally tested in schools,
Wisdom cannot be pass'd from
one having it to another not having it,
Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible
of proof, is its own proof,
Applies to all stages and objects and qualities
and is content,
Is the certainty of the reality and immortality
of things, and the excellence of things; Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the soul.
On Religion
and Soul
To gather the minds of men out of their brains
as you encounter them, to gather the love out of
their hearts,To take your lovers on
the road with you, for
all that you leave them
behind you,
To know the universe itself as a road, as many
roads, as roads for traveling souls.
All parts away for the progress of
souls,
roads, as roads for traveling souls.
All religion, all solid
things, arts, governments -
all that was or is apparent upon this globe or
any globe, falls into niches and corners before
the procession of souls along the
grand roads of
the universe.
Of the progress of the
souls of men and women
along the grand roads of the universe, all other
progress is the needed emblem and sustenance.
I say the whole earth, and all the stars in the
sky are for Religion's sake;
I
say no man has ever been half devout enough;
None has ever yet adored enough, or worshipped half enough.
I say the
real and permanent grandeur of These
States must be their Religion;
Otherwise there is no real and permanent grandeur,
Nor character, nor life, worthy the name, without Religion.
On The Self
That shadow, that likeness, that goes to and fro,
seeking a livelihood,
chattering, chaffering,
How often I find myself standing and looking at it where it flits;
How often I question and
doubt whether that is really me!"
"How can the real Body ever die and be buried?
Of your real Body, and any man's or woman's real Body,
Item
for item, it will elude the hands of the
corpse-cleaners, and pass to fitting
spheres,
Carrying what has accrued to it from the
moment of birth to the
moment of death.
Something there is,
Something there is more immortal than the stars,
Something that shall endure longer than
lustrous Jupiter,
Longer than sun, or any revolving planet,
Or the radiant brothers, the Pleiades.
The Body Permanent,
The Body lurking there within thy body,
The only purport of the form thou art,
The
real I MYSELF!
On One Life
Illustrious
the mystery of motion, in all beings,
even the tiniest insect!
How the
earth darts on and on! How the sun,
moon, stars dart on and on!
How the
water sports and sings! (Surely it is alive!)
How the trees rise and stand up--with strong
trunks, with branches and leaves!
Surely there is something more in each of the
trees -- some living Soul
O amazement of things! O spirituality of things!
I
swear I think now that everything without
exception has an eternal Soul!
I
swear I think there is nothing but Immortality!
On Philosophy
It is time to explain myself--let us stand up!
What
is known I strip away;
I launch all men and women forward with me into THE UNKNOWN.
See ever so far, there is limitless space outside of
that;
Count ever so much, there is limitless time around that.
Afar off I see the huge first NOTHING;
I know I was even there!
This day before dawn I ascended
a hill, and
looked at the crowded heaven;
And I said to my Spirit: "When
we become the enfolders of
those orbs, and the pleasure and knowledge of everything
in them, shall we be filled and satisfied then?"
And my Spirit said: "No,
we but level that lift, to
pass and continue beyond!
On Cycles
All below duly travelled,
and still I mount and mount.
I know I have the best of time and space, and
never was
measured and never will be measured.
On Cause and Effect
Not
a move can a man or woman make, but the same affects him or her;
Not one word or deed but has results beyond death, as
before death.
No consummation exists without being from some long previous
consummation, and that from some other.
On Death
And as to you, Life, I
reckon you are the leavings of many deaths;
No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before.
On Brotherhood
I see reminiscent today those Greek and Germanic
systems,
See the philosophies all,
Yet underneath Socrates clearly see,
And underneath Christ the divine I see
The dear love of man for his comrade,
The attraction of friend for friend,
Of city for city, of land for land.
I see new
combinations -- I see the solidarity of races;
I see Freedom, completely armed, and victorious, and very
haughty, with Law on one side, and Peace on the other,
A stupendous Trio, all issuing forth against the idea of Caste.
Come, I will make the continent indissoluble,
I will make the most splendid race the sun ever yet shone upon;
I will make divine, magnetic lands
With the love
of comrades,
With the life-long love of comrades.
...labor together, transmitting the same
charge and succession,
We few, indifferent of lands, indifferent of times;
We, enclosers of all continents, all castes
-- allowers of
all theologies,
Compassionaters, perceivers, rapport of
men,
Till we make our ineffaceable mark upon time and the diverse eras;
Till we saturate time and eras, that the men
and women of races, ages to come,
May prove brethren and lovers, as we are.
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