CliffsNotes on

Leaves of Grass

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Walt Whitman Biography

Life and Background
A Whitman Chronology

From Inscriptions

Introduction
"One's-Self I Sing"
"As I Ponder'd in Silence"
"For Him I Sing"
"To the States"
"I Hear America Singing"
"Poets to Come"
"To You"
"Thou Reader"

"Song of Myself"

Introduction
Sections 1–5, lines 1–98
Sections 6–19, lines 99–388
Sections 20–25, lines 389–581
Sections 26–38, lines 582–975
Sections 39–41, lines 976–1053
Sections 42–52, lines 1054–1347

From Children Of Adam

Introduction
"To the Garden of the World"
"Spontaneous Me"
"Ages and Ages Returning at Intervals"
"As Adam Early in the Morning"

From Calamus

Introduction
"In Paths Untrodden"
"Scented Herbage of My Breast"
"Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand"
"When I Heard at the Close of the Day"
"Are You the New Person Drawn Toward Me?"
"Not Heat Flames Up and Consumes"
"I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing"
"Full of Life Now"
"Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"
"Song of the Broad-Axe"
"Pioneers! O Pioneers!"
"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"
"When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer"
"Beat! Beat! Drums!"
"Cavalry Crossing a Ford"
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd"
"As Consequent, Etc."
"There Was a Child Went Forth"
"Passage to India"
"The Sleepers"
"To a Locomotive in Winter"
"As the Time Draws Nigh"
"So Long!"
"Queries to My Seventieth Year"
"America"
"Good-Bye My Fancy!"

Critical Essays

Form and Style in Leaves of Grass
Themes in Leaves of Grass
Whitman: The Quintessential American Poet

Study and Homework Help

Quiz

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From Calamus

"America"

The poet thinks of America as the "centre of equal daughters, equal sons," who are "strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable," and who identify themselves with "Freedom, Law and Love." He salutes America as the "grand, sane, towering, seated Mother," who is "chair'd in the adamant of Time."

This short poem is a reassertion of the poet's faith in the destiny of the American nation. It demonstrates his love of the masses, his devotion to democracy, and his belief that in responding to the call of a democratic process, America is fulfilling a spiritual need of her people.

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