Walt Whitman's World (1966)

[Music] I am the poet of the body and I am the poet of the soul the pleasures of Heaven are with me and the Pains of hell are with me the latter I translate into a new tongue each man to himself and each woman to herself is the word of the past and present and the true word of immortality no one can acquire for another not one no one can grow for another not one and no man understands any greatness or goodness but his own Walt Whitman a cosmos of Manhattan turbulent fleshy sensual eating drinking and breeding no sentimentalist no Stander above men and women or apart from them no more modest than immodest I gave up politics stopped shaving put on workman's clothes went into a small job printing office set up and manufactured there a slender volume of 95 pages I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the Stars a child said what is the grass fetching it to me with full hands how could I answer the child I do not know what it is any more than he I guess it must be the flag of my disposition out of hopeful green stuff woven the smallest Sprout shows there is really no death and if ever there was it led forward life and does not wait at the end to arrest it all goes onward and outward and nothing collapses and to die is different from what anyone supposed and luckier most of the critics condemned the Poetry as vulgar crude immoral but Emerson wrote a most enthusiastic personal letter dear sir I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of Leaves of Grass I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed I greet you at the beginning of a great career Ralph Waldo Emerson for some time I had been simmering simmering it was Emerson that brought me to a boil the war to preserve the union was the great event in my life Lincoln my greatest hero Abraham Lincoln dear to the Muse Thrice dear to nationality to the whole human race precious to this Union precious to democ y armed regiments arrive every day pass through the city and Embark from the hores beat beat drums blow bugles blow through the windows through doors burst like a ruthless Force into the solemn church and Scatter the congregation into the school where the scholar is studying leave not the bridegroom quiet no happiness must he have now with his bride nor the peaceful farmer any peace plowing his field or gathering his grain so Fierce you were and pound you drums so shrill you bugles blow what history I say can never give for who can know the Mad determined tussle of the armies in all their separate large and little squads who know the conflict hand to hand the many conflicts in the dark those shadowy tangles flashing Moon beamed Woods the writhing groups and squads the cries the D the cracking guns and pistols the officers orders Persuasions encouragements the Devils fully roused in human hearts the strong shout charge men charge the flash of the naked sword the rolling flame and smoke and still the broken clear and clouded heaven and still again the Moonlight pouring silvery soft its radiant patches overall the dead in this war there they lie strewing the fields and woods of the South and tiam Bridge the grizzly Ravines of Manasses the prison pens of Andersonville salisb and bile the graveyards of hospitals the great crop reaped by the mighty Reapers typhoid dentary inflammations the unknown dead young men some lie at the bottom of the sea some where they crawl to die in the bushes in clumps on the sides of the hills and there their skeletons bleach white and unheeded dead dead our dead our young men so handsome so joyous taken from us oh motherhood fatherhood Brotherhood friendship what crimes are committed against thee when war is abroad in the land these have been three days of the greatest suffering I ever experienced in my life searching for my brother George who is said to have been killed or wounded dear dear Mother at last I succeeded in reaching the camp of the 51st New York Division and found George Alive and Well I used to visit the sick and wounded of the army both on the field and in the hospitals I found it necessary to keep little notebooks merely sheets of paper they have at least the qualities of being written amid the scenes and of presenting what the eyes saw and the Heart felt at the time the hospital edifice is nothing but boards you walk down the central passage with a row on either side their feet toward you you and their heads to the wall you may hear groans or other sounds of unendurable suffering from two or three of the cuts but in the main there is quiet almost a painful absence of demonstration but the palid face the dulled eye and the moisture on the lip a hard demonstration enough in my visits to the hospitals I found it was in the simple matter of personal presence emanating ordinary cheer and magnetism that I succeeded and helped more than by medical nursing some of the poor young chaps away from home for the first time in their lives hunger and thirst for affection this is sometimes the only thing that will reach their condition I encourage the men to write myself when called upon write all sorts of letters for them including love letters very tender ones I stayed tonight a long time by the bedside of a war prisoner aged about 19 years very feeble right leg amputated can't sleep has taken a great deal of morphine evidently very intelligent and well-bred very tender held on to my hand not willing to let me leave he says to me suddenly I hardly think you know who I am I don't wish to impose upon you I am a rebel Soldier I said I did not know that but it made no difference visited him daily for about two weeks death had marked him and he was quite alone in an adjoining Ward I found his brother an officer of rank it was the same battle both were hit one was a strong unionist the other a rebel both fought on their respective sides both badly wounded and both brought together here after a separation of four years each died for his cause I noticed William Butler Grover the boy who was shot aged about 18 or 19 Poor Unfortunate lad shot for desertion this boy was very fond of his mother had never been allowed a Furlow the whole two years others had been but he had not I can say that in my ministering I comprehended all whoever came in my way Northern nor Southern it aroused and brought out and decided undreamed of depths of emotion the war to preserve the union was the great event in my life and Abraham Lincoln my greatest hero a moment's hush a scream The Cry of murder Mrs Lincoln leaning out of the box with ashy cheeks and lips with involuntary cry pointing to the retreating figure he has killed the president and still a moment's strange incredulous suspense and then it is over the president is dead he is lying in State for the people to see at the funeral service in Washington Lincoln's casket was banked with lilacs I find myself always reminded of the great tragedy of that day by the sight and odor of these blossoms it never fails when lilacs last in the dard bloomed and the great star early drooped in the Western sky in the night I mourned and yet shall mourn with ever returning spring oh powerful Western Fallen star oh shades of night oh Moody tearful night oh great star disappeared coffin that passes through lanes and streets through day and night with the great Cloud darkening the land with the tolling tolling Bells Perpetual clang but oh heart heart heart oh the bleeding drops of red where on the deck my captain lies Fallen cold and dead Oh Captain My Captain our fearful trip is done the ship has weathered every rack the prize we sought is one the clock indicates the moment but what does eternity indicate we have thus far exhausted trillions of winters and Summers there are trillions ahead and billions ahead of them births have brought us richness and variety and other births will bring us richness and variety I do not call one greater and one smaller that which fills its period and place is equal to any the law of the past cannot be eluded the law of the present and future cannot be eluded the law of of the living cannot be eluded it is eternal after surmounting three score and 10 with all their chances changes losses Sorrows my parents' deaths the vagaries of My Life The Many tearing passions of me the war of 63 and 64 as some old broken Soldier after a long hot wearying March or happily after battle today at Twilight hobbling answering company roll call with vital voice reporting yet saluting yet the officer overall goodbye my fancy farewell dear mate dear love I'm going away I know not where or to what fortune or whether I may ever see you again so goodbye my fancy now for my last let me look back a moment the slower fainter ticking of the clock is in me exit Nightfall and soon the heart thuds stopping long have we lived joyed caressed together delightful now separation goodbye my fancy yet let me not be too hasty long indeed have we lived slept filtered become really blended into one then if we die together yes we'll remain one if we go anywhere we'll go together to meet what happens maybe we'll be better off and bther and learn something maybe it is yourself now really ushering me to the true songs who knows maybe it is you the Mortal knob really undoing turning so now finally goodbye and hail my fancy [Music]