FEINBERG/WHITMAN LITERARY FILE Poetry "After All, Not to Create Only" (1871). (DCN39) Box 25 Folder 10 Manuscript drafts & notes 1 Come, Muse, migrate from Greece and Ionia [*2-92-218.11A*] 2 Come, Muse, migrate from Greece & Ionia. 1 Come, Muse, migrate from Greece and Ionia! [Pack up , and ] Cross out & [s]Settle for good [????????] & cross off [????] -- [there [far, far] too long] -- much [over???] [??????] accounts. That matter of Troy, and Achilles' wrath, and [the] [wanderings of] Eneas', Odysseus' wanderings [or of Eneas,] Kiss good-bye to Calliope, Daughter of Jupiter - to Orpheus her [son - to Clio, Melpomene, Thalia also; [I]n short [to] the whole [antique] crowd of masculine, feminine antique bores, (surely they've had their Day -- they've bored you [full] enough:) [*2-92-218.11B*] 727 1871 Aug. After All Not to Create Only; notes, worksheets, first draft and complete manuscript. A.MS. (various sizes) 1. Notes on plans and ideas for the poem. "The General effect of all being to celebrate Industrial America--her men and women--in their industries." 2. Worksheets on which Whitman tries the first lines over and over again, e.g." "After all, less than we thought either to create or destroy; After all, less to actually create, Still less to destroy; After all, not to create only, Not to destroy but accept," etc., etc. (10p. 25 x 20 cm. largest) . 3. First draft of the part beginning with : "Come, Muse, Migrate from Greece and Ionia." (10p. 25 x 20 cm.) 4. The complete manuscript and autograph title page; in addition autograph cover inscribed: "Piece for American Institute." Whitman wrote this poem following a request by the Committee on Invitations of the American Institute to deliver an original poem at the opening of the 40th Annual Exhibition. (30p. 25 x 20 cm.) {39} pasted onto cardboard, laid in. Both notebooks are significant in showing Walt Whitman's intensive way of studying. In upper right corner of first page: "Horace Traubel's property." {42} 1872 Feb. Whitman's Autograph Corrections of the Translation of Rudolf Schmidt's Article: Walt Whitman. A.MS. by Emil Arctander with many corrections throughout and 3 MS. pages in Whitman's writing. (59p. folio) Emil Arctander, acting Vice Consul for Denmark, translated from the Danish R. Schmidt's article Walt Whitman which had appeared in the magazine For Ide og Virkeliched, Feb. 1872. In addition to many corrections which Whitman inserted in Arctander's manuscript translation, he cancelled half of p.22 and 23, replacing this section by two handwritten pages. Two more pages by Whitman: "Note to Translation" and "an abstract of the contents of the article." With this, two letters from Arctander to Whitman, reporting on the progress of the translation. Removed, [Removed.] & To let [*3*] Placard [rocks] on snowy Parnassus' [two ? heads ? Removed to] [the New House, New World.] [Then I ask the same o?? fig tree] [or ivy, by Castaly's fount,] [in the gully below.] [Then] The same on [the walls of] [your] medieval cathedrals,, and French & [your] Spanish [and] [Italian] and [? English] castles [?] them [you ?] them [or] your last Bid [each last] [all and several] your farewell -- [all and ? your ?] [a] A fresh domain & residence, & better, wider busier sphere awaits, demands you. ^ 2 4 (For westward wends not the dominant Body of Empire [I] alone, but the much more dominant Spirit;) Brought over by some smooth-moving steamship in a week - perhaps the Great Eastern - in suite of gorgeous parlor - cabins, specially upholster'd. The trilogy of the pooem The globe America, & manual labor Behold thy hunters, miners, pioneers behold the hunter in the woods. the fishermen in their boats, [or] The sweet, eternal, homely arts, Cooking and washing, clean [Ho] The song of the divine housekeeper [*Cultumaty?] religious point These arts employments, farms, Wealth, and inventions, [nor] all the [arts] works and trades for [shap] development for identity utility character divine for immortal life Behold America [the sights] [thou lovest] T[he] [thy] endless work shops see [All ]These [are thine] —not for themselves alone [All] [All these ] These [are] thine—all thine All tending to a great Nationalist A great individual Bring in the religiousness of the [In] farm & industrial employment ? the idea that Out of the senseiouss [of] & health and sense of nature & of beauty & personal physical perfection of the Greek civilization - [we] has been crossed the spirituality of the Christian civilization - we will have here, a third, the product of those two - Thou, [fair] the round Earth Thou teeming beautiful [fair] [vast] immortal mother. ? all the sights especially for those connected with farms & ships Be ye my thines not alone [*genius people children*] The [children] nation of the spade, the ax, the sail Generous as God [Pass on] [For] Pass, [gorgeous] faded world ! [and] [while] and [tenderly we of strew] [honor to thee oer] thy [grave] ! [funeral vault.] [Rich] Embroidered, dazzling world ! with all thy gorgeous legends, myths Thy kings, and [delicate dames] and [p] barons proud and warlike [lords] knights and priests Builded [adorned] [thy lords] and delicate dames [And worthily for thee dead world a tomb] Pass to thy funeral [Wo] Feudal world—scutcheon'd [for? to come] with Shakespeare's royal purple And Tennyson's sweet sad, high-borne rhymes. The world of king's [& lords] [& war] and ladies fair & warlike ? Passed on to ? Passing to years to come, 'Scutcheon'd [in] with Shakespeare's [p] royal-purple verse.— in Tennyson's sweet, sad, high-borne lines. World of amours, poems & [Legends] plays of love That [world] Legends of kings and delicate dames, and barons proud and warlike lords and knights Passionate years to come— [em] scutcheon royal purple Shakespeares [gorgeous] verse— [preserved] in Tennyson's sweet [high borne,] sad, [sweet] high-borne lines, And [thou] thou thy [fair] emblem over all! delicate beauty: Not always [wast] hast there been been as here proudly ensovereigned In other scenes than these have I watced thee [Not amid this [scene] sho of peace & plenty—not as now, entire & blooming, wrest thou Flag !] Not always hast thou But I have seen thee been as here entire & blooming torn to tatters, on thy splintered staff, savagely struggled for, fought for long, [savagely the struggled] for for thee [& against]. For [thy mere] some mere remnant of thee A remnant grimed with dirt and smoke & smutch'd with blood, Clutched [long & [? savely] to some color-bearer's savaged breast with desperate hands [Many good men have died] [Men dying for thy sake,—] Many good ranks went down— [and] while others filled their places ! Many good men O flag have died for thee. After all, not to command only. 1 2 After all, not to command only, but [to] obey, Not to destroy but vivify & rehabilitate— [????????????] Not so much to [??????] found But [more] to carry forward & perfect what is already [created] founded Not to originate only, but to conform, Is the true mission of the New world : While how much is really the New?— how much the [Old] Old, Old World? After all, not to create only, or found only. But to bring, perhaps from afar, what is already founded. Jerusalem [naught] a handful of [burn out] ashes—blown by the wind— [Passed & gone the gone] the Crusades [passed like in] a troop of phantoms [A] [midnight] horsemen, [passes] passed [away] [gone] with the midnight. Mr. Walt Whitman, Washington, D.C. Dear Sir! Be pleased to honor one with your Autograph on the enclosed blanks, and accept my very sincere thanks for your kindness. I remain Yours very truly William Black Owatonna Minnesota August 17-1871 Poem to consist of separate passages - (each more or less complete in itself) fit for declamation the general effect of all being to celebrate Democratic Industrial America - her men & women - in their industries And all Capital Art Finance Literature only of the first & practical importance when applied to said industries. & coming home to the lives. health & happiness of human beings. Deaprtment of Justice Washington 187.. the idea of the necessity of contrast with the earth — the virtue there —the necessity of Personal labor at some trade An apostrophe to Earth the invisible potent spell the The only virtue (you)! thee & thine [thou]! [The al] Thy odor of [thy] the grass & soil and woods Thy labor with the spade & axe & Thy sail and oar Department of Justice Washington 187 First the Earth with farms trades ships then as arising out of the consideration of the Earth America [?] depict America as all comprehensive, generous, all races, [content] allowed ? try to make a grand stately vivid presentation imbued with the modern the present, local, with characteristic presentations qu ? ? prayer O for thy gladness, Earth! [Thy sanity] To ours, feverish & [f] all diseas'd, thy spirit! Thy [gr] natural [Thy] The und O shamed is man Whence com'st thy calm content? ? a chorus of voices, workers in fars — The farm, the shop, the boat. — idea - that we confront the same, fresh, fruitful, ever youthful, Earth, our mother, — W O Earth Department of Justice Washington 187 The Mother of all The sense of the Mother of All —of a grand [nationalist] nationalist—one but composite & multiform members, on common grounds The [mar] fusion & solution of all the modern forces, intensities, ardent physical & intellectual activities, in [a] sane agricultural Nature, and in employments & trades— poems b First Let the poets sing In thee [in] at night, at banquets at the dance let those themes be joy Then In ? [the] this resplendent day, I cele I chant the old [eternal] [a] [the common] [the] plain song. [The] I celebrate the Earth, [m] the vast, The Glo Maternal, America ! for thee I raise a voice [The] vast round globe I sing, Labor I [chant] celebrate—with all its endless farms, trades, occupations ships. ____ [O?] Convey the idea that the presence of great crowds of men & women arouses [esctatic] visions of thee America To thee! [to celebrate] the idea of thee [T] To-day, Time's Harvest [day] seems. Does not to-day Time's Harvest seem? Does not to-day Time's harvest seem? The [lone tillage in] tillage, [& ?] the and [toil] work of the past accomplished—the interminable [respect] retrospect And we, for our work, to [garner] gather [the—to] and perfect [measureless] the yield? To Department of Justice Washinton 187 After all [as] not only to command but obey. Department of Justice Washington 187 America - all The Mother of all Thine ! thine, America ! finding their common glory in beg' thine The workmen, soldiers, poets, women, farmers students Our freedom all to thee —our very lives to thee That we are here at all, to thee That we Does not To-Day Time's harvest seem? The work of the past, the tillage accomplish'd; And ours to gather and use the yield. After all, less to create than we thought Still less to destroy is the mission of the New World; After all indeed is there—can[s] there really be any new world? [Of] Around a [Ampler and] modern Palace, [tal??d? to ? & ?] [Earth?][The] Loftier[st], fairer[st], ampler[st], than yet, [?? ???? Known] [to earth] Earth's [It is][Its][modern] newer wonder, [and its] History's [famous] elder [the] [former] [ancient] [old famous?] Seven outstripping High-rising [in its many tier'd] tier on tier, its [light] glass & iron [?] facades, [of glass and iron] Enhued with brilliant hues tallied to [fitted?][fit?] [for the] sun & sky. Bronze, lilac, [?] robin's-egg, purple & crimson Over [whose] its golden roof shall [fly] float, [?] [guard??] banner Freedom. [Hovering,] [above the [??ve][Above] the The banners of the States, the flags of every land, A brood of [le] [ample] lofty fair, but lesser palaces shall cluster. [Softer ??] 6 Mother of all. [[America] tumultuous never ending, [[And still thy troop, unending] [[In vain my poor enumeration] [[F'or who shall count, America these,] [ [their endless armies?] [Still heave in sight [They miners in the mines, [ Thy young & old mechanics. [Thy [sailors] [soldiers] boatmen & thy sailors.] Behold [America] dilute with joy (for still the procession moves) [Now heave in sight] the numberless [armies] miners of thy mines, [With] The splendid armies of thy young & old mechanics. Department of Justice Washington 187 All thine ! the glory thine ! To thee Thou [binding] Union all! [to thee] ! the farm, the shop, the boat, [Dwelling & ] city & state north[ern] [&] south[ern]—item and aggregate, [With joy this] we [ever] dedicate to thee ! [Thy] [Its armor'd corpse] — [thy] its dead [crown upon [thy] its head, world!] Fitly and fitted [to thee] — pass'd — laid on the shelf to [thy] its charnal vault, [Dead World] Its armor'd corpse — its crown upon its head — dead world! Blazon'd [b] with Shakespeare's purple page, And dirged by Tennyser's sweet, sad rhyme. deceased ended, extinct Department of Justice Washington 18th Thou shamest all the For well O Soul I know T All the pomp & shows & products proud, Buildings, and [art] gorgeous art, [A breath] A tuft of grass, or breath of the free wind. in far-off Egypt Silent the broken-lipp'd [Egyptian] Sphinx — silent the [mighty] [Egyptian to][far-off] [tombs of] [Egypt — and yet how] [Solemnly eloquent] — eloquent century — baffling tombs. [To [sancti] vivify [all] the limited [To [change] [ceaselessly] [surcharge] & vivify the value of the temporal [ [the material] with [ [the [a] religious] with the [ bundles [ceas] value of the spiritual — the only [ [formal] pyrrhic value [To [surg] surcharge the temporal] [To vivify] And the limited value of them is known — well, well. we temporal with the ceaseless But a bridge to the ceaseless value of the religious, Bridged the spiritual, [O The] O mother grand & dear! all I [Thine!] O [Thine] Thine! [O Mother!] [grand & dear!] O Flag of [the umpire] hope O Union! all the workmen thine The poets, women, soldiers, farmers, students thine— all thine! [No more distant] None separate[d] from thee—[conceivable] henceforth[,] [only] as O[o]ne only, [they] we & thou indifferently the same, [As the flesh &] (For [is not] what is the blood of the children [came from] [Came from the flesh & blood of] [the mother is only] but [of only] only [really] the blood maternal?) While we rehearse products, wealth our inventions it [it's with] all We own [ourselves, to] to-day indissoluble [, to] thee-- That we are here at all [to] in thee! Our farms, inventions crops—[our wealth entire in thee cities & states in thee!] Our freedom all [to] in thee—our very lives [to] in thee To make the worldly [Th] To charge the gross the [palpable] palpable [full] bulk with the electric, the religious, [impalpable] full of the unseen, Department of Justice Washington 187 [Thou vital] ?, ? America Thou ? Earth, maternal, vital, With farms, trades, occupations, ships. Department of Justice Washington 187 No more [an] thy audience [curfew?] certains Kings and [lords] greens, or at the most the gentry The people in then oceanic Workmen, workwomen, farmers & mechanics, Protectress[!] sole! [Thou] Bulwark of all! [for] [generous ?? God!] [For] [I] [how] for well [we] I know That while thou [reserving nothing] [givest all - thou, generous] [Without thee] as [God, reservest nothing], generous as God, givest each & all, [Thine are we all - thine all that] [neither nor large nor small nor] Without [he] thee, [neither] neither all nor each nor land [nor] home, [*for us*] Nor ship nor [tribe] wealth nor large or small nor we ourselves [1] No rapt romance Nor [pass] tale of passionate love or [b] [war] deeds of war to night The old plain song I sing Yet ever new After all, not to create but to [finish], [enlarge]obey, 1 After all, not to create, but [to finish] [enlarge]obey, Not to destroy but re-vivify and enlarge [improve] and [enlarge] carry forward is the mission of the New World. After all, is there, can there be any New World? To accept what in already [??]ounded and loving it hither, To [adopt], give it our own nat[???] popular modern to obey as well as [comunial] To have and end to follow [mostly] th[en] to lead, There alas are the lessons of the To [???] and [want] To [??] it advance it, To use it however and [????] [???] [yet] work After all, not to lead only, [to lead] but as much, or more, to follow. Not to [originate only] create or only destroy, but more to [adopt and] continue, To [engraft] [adopt][inspire] accept enlarge and free - [is] maybe the lesson of the New World: [And][after all] While how little is [truly] really the New- how much is the old, old World. Department of Justice Washington ______187 After all, less to create than we thought, Still less to destroy, in the here—[mission of the] New World. Not to After all, less to [really] actually create, [de????] [than we thought] than I thought, Still less to destroy, is [the] our New world's mission And more to grow the [f] ripe fruits Ever to reap the harvest of the past and give [its] the vast accumulations form & use Not to To adapt, resuscitate The main things are all here After all, less than we thought either to create or destroy [Indeed] after all indeed is there any New world [Long] Long has the [world] globe been rolling round, Long Long, [have all the] have the rains been falling, And Long [have] has labor strained Long [has the stubborn] with [the] its stubborn [with Earth] [resisted] has Labor wrestled, [Long ,long] Long, long, long has the grass [grown] been growing Long, long has the rain been falling —long has the globe been rolling round. While after all what is the New but the Heiress & born Daughter After all, not to create only Not to destroy but accept, After all, not to create or found only. To follow more than to lead - to [To] obey as well as command, [To preserve & carry on what is already founded,] To [permit] save and [enlarge] [and b?] free and [enlarge] tolerate what is already founded To accept and enlarge - these too are the lessons of the New World; While how little is really the New [- how] after all! How much is the Old, old World! After all, not to create but to finish, ?[& adapt] After all not to destroy [but to] form shape [break] re-vivify re-[graft] is the mission of the New world After all, indeed, is there,— Can there be any New World? Long, long, long, has the grass been growing, Long and long has the rain been falling, Long has the globe been rolling round. While [after all] indeed how much [of] is really the New?—how much the old, Old World? Department of Justice Washington __________187 After all, not to lead only, but to follow. Not to found but [to carry] to continue [forward] & perfect what is already founded—[to] accepting, [continue] enlarging and freeing all, Not to command only, but as much, or more, to obey— is the lesson of the New World; While how little is really the New—how much is the old, Old World! [O [Union] vast + calm! nor young, nor old!] [Mother majestic!] America! round thee [today,] thy serried ranks of grants, offspring, [circling] circle to-day [quintupled,] Their heads, forms Towering, - yet [s???] [with] [her] thee [elat] above all towering At thy left hand Freedom, and Law upon thy right. Department of Justice Washington........187 Her [Arrived at] Through Evolutions vast, [on the] her old [for] [consent] elder themes as strata submerged, covered over, [only] now [the] to serve many as [for] bases serving as basis for the later [Passing] Through many evolutions hither come—[all] [the on her] [elder themes] submerged as [strata] the strata of her elder themes, hidden & covered by to-day's— foundation of to-day's; Department of Justice Washington 187 Behold thy [interminable] workshops, foundries, factories, risen & rising, See from the tall shadowing chimneys, the [night] flame fires streaming high. [Behold] Mark thy interminable farms, northern & southern ([For still the procession moves & they too heave in [?ight],) [Passing swiftly before thee, they gr[????edly]] Thy [children] Daughters vast and [Group??ly][Thy immortal] [vast] [thy] [Thy] wealthy Daughters, - states [the] [northern states and the Southern, Northern & Southern] eastern & western [East and West, and] [Eastern & Western - the exhaustless grass and wheat, [and] corn of the prairies, thy varied ????] [Mark] Count the varied products of Ohio [Virginia], Texas, California After all, not to create or destroy only After all not to create [or] [destroy] only, nor [to] found only, But to bring [hither] [To] see [clearly] what is already founded hither and [bring it hither,] [and] appreciate it. To give it our own identity, popular, modern, To free and advance it to uses, [and] beauty [and] vastness & power previously unknown To obey as well as command - to follow, more than to lead. These [also] too may be the missions [are the lessons] of the New World: Department of Justice Washington 187 After all not to create only. But to bring [hi?he] what was founded afar After all, not to create only. 2 1 [*2 lines*] A After all, not to create only nor found only, But to [see] bring, perhaps from afar, What is already founded, To give it our own identity, [?,?,?,popular] average, limitless, To [charge] fill the gross, the palpable [vulgar] [bulk] bulk, with the [electric,] religious, electric unseen, [To advance to unknown limitless uses, beauty, power, before] Not to repel & destroy [only - but] [so much as] so much as accept and fuse [To charge the gross, the palpable vulgar bulk with the electric] [the religious, full of the unseen:] To obey as well as command - to follow, more than to lead, These also are the lessons of our New World; While how little is really the New after all - how much is the Old, Old World! (blank line Long, long, long has the grass been growing, Long and long has the rain been falling, Long has the globe been rolling round. 2 Come, Muse, migrate from Greece & Ionia, Cross out, [& [?]] please [for good those] those [?] immensely overpaid accounts, [Jaff? gate, ????? Mount Moriah] 3 That matter of Troy, & Achilles' wrath, and Eneas', Odysseus' wanderings; [order?] Placard "Removed" and "To Let." on the rocks of your snowy Parnassus. [The] Repeat the same at Jerusalem - place [it] the notice high on the Jaff[es]a gate, [on Omar's mosque,] and on Mount Moriah; The same on the walls of your Gothic European Cathedrals, & German, French & Spanish castles; For know, [O Muse, a fresh] a wide untried domain - a better, [wider] fresher, busier sphere demands you. 3 [Obedient] Responsive to our summons, Or rather [with] to her long-[nurs'd] inclination, Join'd with an irresistaible, natural gravitation, [*4*] She comes! this famous Female - as was indeed to be expected; (For who, so ever-youthful, [smart] 'cute and handsome, would [feel] wish to [to stay in ennuyeed[?], Asia's Europe's] [ennuyeed[?], played-out shackly[?] fogy mansions[?],] stay in mansions [so behind] [the times] such, as those, When offered quarters with all the modern improvements, With all the fun that's going - & all the best society?) 5 She comes! I hear the rustling of her gown! I scent the odor of her breath's [eternal?] delicious sweetness! I [I] mark her step divine - I feel her curious eyes [electric] [flashing, curiously] a-turning, rolling, Upon this very scene. 3 The Deathless Dame of Dames! - Can I believe then, [Those] [Her] Those ancient temples [fair and] classic, and castles strong & Feudalistic, could none of them restrain [her you thee her ???] her? Nor shades of Dante in Italy, nor all those myriad poems, memories, haunts, old associations, effectually magnetize and hold on to her? But that she's left them all, [But] And thats she's here - and here. 6 Yes - if you will allow me to say so. I, my friends, if you do not, can plainly see Her The same undying Soul of [heroism's?] Earth's activity's, beauty's heroism's Expression, ([Through many] Out from her evolutions hither come - submerged the strata of her [older] former themes, Hidden & covered by to-day's - foundation [foundation] of todays;) [Silent henceforth her] Ended deceased through time the voice by Castaly's fountain, Silent through time the broken-lipp'd Sphynx in Egypt - silent the many [eloquent?] century- baffling tombs, [Silent and] closed for aye the epics of Asia's, Europe's helmeted warriors, forever closed [Forever closed] Calliope's call - Clio, Melpomene, Thalia, henceforth dead; [Closed] Sealed the stately rhythms of Una and Oriana - ended - the quest of the Holy Graal; [forever closed][closed]. Jerusalem [naught but] a handful of ashes blown by the wind - extinct; [Passed & g??] The Crusaders' [like] [a] troops of [phantom] shadowy horsemen gone [gone over] with [the] the midnight; Amadis, Tancred, [utterly gone and] utterly dead - Charlemagne, Roland, Oliver, gone. [Paladin] Palmerin, Ogre, departed - vanished the spires & turrets that Usk reflected, Arthur vanished with all his Knights - Merlin & Lancelot and Galahad - all [utterly] gone - dissolved utterly like an exhalation; 7 Pass'd! pass'd! forever pass'd! for us that Phantom World! Embroider'd, dazzling World! with all its gorgeous legends, myths, Its kings & barons proud - its priests, and warlike knights, and courtly dames; [Pass'd to its charnel vault, crown'd, [and] armor coffin'd World! scutcheon'd with Shakespeare's purple page, And Tennyson's high-borne, sweet-sad rhyme.)] Pass'd to its charnel vault - laid on the shelf [was royal] - coffin'd [coffin'd] with [warlike] armor on crown & [Scutcheon'd] Blazon'd with Shakespeare's purple page, and dirged by Tennyson's [high-borne, sad] sweet-sad rhyme. [*# 8 [6 1/2]*] And yet I say I see, my friends, if you do not, the Animus of all that world. Escaped, bequeath'd, vital, fugacious as ever, leaving those dead remains, and now [ap] [p] [arrived] [under] approaching this very roof; And I can hear what may-be you do not —a terrible esthetical commotion sentimental With howling, desperate gulp of "flower" and "bower," With "sonnet to Matilda's Eyebrow" [utterly] quite, quite frantic, With fervid-gushing reading circles turned to ice or stone, With many a squeak, (in [rhyme] metre choice,) from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, London, As she the illustrious Emigré. (having indeed, in her day, although the same, changed, journey'd, considerable,) Department of Justice Washington . . . . . . 187 9 [She, the underlying Soul of human heroism's, [action's] activity's, beauty's Expression, not to say fitness of things, fusing all ages,] [Making directly for] [Entering?] Making directly for this rendezvous - vigorously clearing a path for herself - striding through the confusion, By [rattle] [hiss?] thud of machinery and shrill steam-whistle undismay'd, Bluff'd not a bit by drain-pipe, gasometers, artificial fertilizers, Smiling and pleased, with palpable intent to stay, I say She's here, install'd amid the latest kitchen ware. 10 [8] 4 But hold - don't I forget my manners? To introduce the Stranger, (what else indeed have I come for?) To thee Columbia, In Liberty's name, welcome, Immortal! - clasp hands, And ever henceforth Sisters dear be both. Fear not, O Muse! truly new ways & days, receive, salute you [????]; (I candidly confess a queer, queer race, of novel fashion;) [new days, new arts, salute you, absorb you;] And yet [?] the same old race - the same old human race, Faces & hearts the same - feelings the same - yearnings the same, The same old love - beauty & use the same.) [Taking what thou hast [As the] With the materials [of] of [thy] [?] thy [endless] [?] generations, [As the] On The foundations [patiently] wrought [by] through centuries by thee] [*11 [9]*] [*5 #*] We do not blame thee, Elder World! —nor separate ourselves from thee; ([Does] Would the [Daughter] [the] Son separate [her]himself from the Father?) [Ourselves sprung out of thee—looking] Looking back gently on thee—seeing [Seeing] thee to thy duties, grandeurs through past ages bending, building, We build to ours to-day. [*#*] Mightier than Egypt's tombs, Fairer than Grecia's, Roma's, classic temples, Prouder than Milan's statued, spired cathedral, More picturesque than kings' or barons' castles, We plan, even now, to raise, beyond them all, Thy church & castle, sacred soverign Industry—no tomb, A site, for life, for practical Invention. [*# 12 [10]*] As in a waking vision, E'en [as] while I chant I see it rising—I scan & prophesy outside and in, Its manifold ensemble. [*6*] Around a Palace, Loftier, fairer, ampler than any yet, Earth's modern wonder, History's [old] Seven outstripping High-rising tier on tier, [its] with glass & iron facades, [Enhued with] Gladdening the sun and sky—[embued] enhued with brilliant hues, [gladdening the sun & sky,] Bronze, lilac, robin's-egg, purple & crimson, Over whose golden roof shall [wave,] flaunt, beneath thy banner Freedom, The banners of the States, the flags of [all] every land, A brood of lofty, fair, but lesser palaces shall cluster. 13 [*# #*] Somewhere within the walls of all, Shall all that forwards perfect, [general] [popular] human life be started, Tried, taught, advanced, compared, visibly exhibited. [*#*] Here shall we trace in flowing operation, In every sourse [[?] infinite] of practical busy movement, The rills of civilization. [*#*] Materials here, before the eye, shall change their shape, [like] as if by magic. The cotton shall be picked almost in the very field. Shall be dried, cleaned, baled, ginned, [thre] spun into thread & cloth, before your eyes; [*14 [12]*] You shall see hands at work at all the old processes, and all the new ones, of the world; You shall see the various grains, and how flour is made, & then bread [f[??????]] baked, [and ba] by the bakers; You shall see the crude ores of California and Nevada, passing on & on till they become bullion; You shall watch how the printer sets type, and learn what a composing- stick is; You shall mark, in wonder, the Hoe press whirling its cylinders, shedding the printed leaves, like great snow-flakes, steady & fast; The photograph, carpet, [thread,] match, pin, nail, shall be visibly created before you. [*#*] In large calm halls, a stately Museum shall teach you the infinite solemn lessons of minerals On Another [Museum] woods, plants, vegetables, shall be illustrated -- in another Animals, animal life & development One stately house shall be the Musie House Others for other Arts -- the [Sl] Science shall all be there -- learning in every baush, None shall be slighted -- but shall here be honored. [practised] exemplified, and practised. 16 [14] # [6] 7 This, this & these, America, shall be your pyramid and obelisk, Your Alexandrian Pharos, [Babylonian] gardens[,] of Babylon, Your temple at Olympia. # The male & female [world] many [that] labor[s]ing not, Shall ever here confront the laboring [world] many, With precious benefit to both[,] - - Glory to all. To thee America, [to] and thee, Eternal Muse. # 16 1/2? [15] [9] # And here shall ye inhabit, Powerful Matron! In your vast state, vaster than all the old, Echoed through long, long cen- turies to come, To sound of different stronger songs, with prouder themes, Practical, peaceful, current life - the common people's life, - the People themselves, Lifted to you, illumined, bathed with peace[,] - elate, secure in peace. # [5] [7] 8 Away with [song] themes of war! away with war itself! Hence from my shuddering sight, to [and] never more return, that show of black- en'd, mutilated corpses! 17 [16] That hell unpent, and raid of blood - fit for wild tigers, or [or] [and] for lop-tongued wolves - not [for] reasoning men! And in its stead speed In- dustry's [fair] campaigns! With thy undaunted armies, Engineering! Thy [banners] pennants, Labor, loosen'd to the breeze! Thy [joyous] bugles [blowing] sounding [joyous] loud, [high] & clear. # Away with old romance! Away with novels, plots, [intrigues] & plays of foreign courts! Away with [tepid] love-verses, sugared in rhyme - the [morbid] [amours] intrigues of lords & ladies, Fitted for only banquets of the night, where dancers to soft music slide, [*18 [17]*] The unhealthy pleasures, extravagant dissipations of the few, With perfumes, heat & wine, beneath the dazzling chandeliers. [*# [6] [8] 9*] To you, ye reverent, sane Sisters, To this resplendent Day—the present scene. These eyes and ears that like some broad parterre bloom up around, before me. I raise a voice for far superber themes for poets and for Art, To exalt the present & the real, To teach [a] [each] the common man the glory of his daily [life] walk & trade, To sing in songs, how exercise & chemical life are never to be baffled, Boldly to thee America, to-day! & thee Immortal Muse! 19 [10] [I raise [the] a voice for far [greater] [new] [Art], superber themes for To [[? by]] exalt poets, and for art [Modern] the present and the [close &] real, To sing in songs how exercise & chemical life are never to be be baffled Boldly to thee America ! and thee ever here immortal Muse ! in your [many?]] To practical [Labors] manual work—to plough, to hoe, to dig, To plant & tend the tree, the berry, vegetables, flowers. For every man to see to it that he really do something—for every woman too— To use the hammer and the saw, rip or cross-cut, To have a turn for carpentering, plastering, painting, [mason], tailor, To work [at his work,] as [[carpenta?]], printer, weaver. To invent [a little something] a little, something ingenious To [to] aid [the washing, housekeeping, cooking] [Even The] the washing, cooking, cleaning — and hold it no disgrace [even] to take a hand at them [themselves] themselves, [—to work at any of them.] 20 These these I say I bring thee Muse, to-day & here for themes, [- and th??] [America,] These trades & duties close to all - the old old general burdens, joys, Toil, toil, & sweat, endless, without cessation. The family, parentage, childhood, husband & wife, [children] [parents & children,] The [family] house comforts, the house itself and all its belongings, Food and [all] its preservations[,] - chemistry applied to it; Whatever helps, nay forms [All that makes ??? only? ?a?] that [pride & flower &] [pride and] tuft of the universe a strong, complete, sweet blooded Man [or] [woman] And [all that] shapes his life, his soul. [The vast] Our own Rondure [itself] - the modern Globe I bring. 21 [11 1/4] With [all its] latest [manifold farms] [materials,] [works] [machinery,] works [trades, and occupations,] materials, machinery, [Science to-day and here in grandeur and reality,] Steam-power, the [printing press] great Express lines, coal, iron, gas, petroleum, [The] These victories [great] of [the] our time, the Atlantic's delicate cable, The Pacific Railroad, the Suez Canal, the Mont Cenis tunnel; Science [to-day] advanced in grandeur and reality, analyzing, [radiating?] all, [all] [Our] [The] The world [of] [of to-day,] around us, spanned by its [railroads] iron rails, with [many a] lines of steamships threading every sea [threading its broad seas,] [The] [This] Our own vast Rondure [itself] - the modern Globe I bring. [*22 [11 ½]*] And thou, high-towering One - America! Thy swarm of offspring towering high - yet higher thee above all towering, With Freedom on thy left, and at thy right hand Law, Thou Union, holding all - fusing, absorbing toleratg[?] all! Thee, ever thee, I bring. Thou - also thou, a world! With all thy wide geographies, manifold, different, distant, Rounded by thee in One, in common orbic liberties and laws, [One] - one common language, [orbic common] [- one order common destiny] One indivisible destiny & Union! [*- 23 [12]*] And by the spells which ye vouchsafe, To those your ministers in earnest, I [would] [now] here personify & call these themes, [h[?]e before] [you [?]] Making them [move &] vital. [* — *] Behold, America! (and thou, immortal Guest and sister!) For thee [and here] come trooping up thy waters & thy lands; Behold! Thy fields and farms & far-off woods & mountains, As in procession coming. [moving] [pass before] [thee.] [here pass before thee.] [* — *] Behold! the sea itself! 24 [13] And on its limitless, myriad heaving breast, the [myriad] ships; See! where their white sails, bellying in the wind, fleck [all] oer the green & blue! See! the black steamers coming & going, steaming in and out of port! See, [the long] [following them,] the long undulating pennants of smoke! ----- Behold, on one side, in Oregon, far in the north & west, And on the other side, in Maine, far in the north & east, thy cheerful axemen, Wielding their axes! [* 25 [14] *] Behold! the pilots at their wheels - the oarsmen: Behold the ash - how it writhes under those muscular arms [And] There by the furnace, & there by the anvil, Behold thy sturdy blacksmiths swinging their sledges; [Mark - there is [what] a great heat [*there is*] in the fire [*to-day*]] Overhand so steady - overhand they turn & full, with joyous clank Like a tumult of laughter. [*— 26 [15]*] Behold, O thrifty One, dilate with pride, (for [still] yet the long procession moves,) Behold thy numberless [miners] boatmen, [of thy mines!] coasters, sailors! The [endless armies] ceaseless regiments of thy young and old mechanics! [*—*] Mark the spirit of invention every where - thy rapid patents! Thy continual workshops, foundries, risen or rising! See! from their [tall] chimneys, how [high] the [tall] flame-fires stream! [*—*] [rows[?] & cl[?]] Mark thy interminable farms, north & south, Thy wealthy Daughter-States, Eastward and Westward, The varied products [of] Ohio, Texas, California and the rest. [*27 [15 ½]*] [Mark! Mark] Thy limitless fields and crops ¶thy [cotton,] grass, wheat, [cotton,] sugar, corn, hemp, fruit, - " [Thy lumber,] [Thy timber, beef, pork, - the metals in thy many mines,] Thy barns all filled, thy endless freight [all] trains, thy [countless] bulging store-houses. [Thy] The grapes that ripen on [they] thy vines - the apples in thy orchards, Thy [inestimatable] unmeasured lumber, beef, potatoes, pork, - thy coal - thy gold and silver - the inexhaustable [metals] metals in thy mines. [?? evidenced here,] 28 [16] All thine! [the glory thine!] [To thee, thou] O sacred Union, [all! - the] every farm[s], shop[s], boat[s] [!] Thy barns all filled, thy factories, gold & silver, mines, City & state - north, south, item and aggregate, [!] We dedicate [all] the whole to thee! Protectress [sole] absolute thou! Bulwark of all: [Well I] For well we know that while thou freely givest each & all, (generous as God,) Without thee neither all nor each, nor land, home, Ship, [nor wealth] nor mine, nor large or small, nor any here this [to-]day secure, Nor aught nor any day, secure. [nor anywhere] And thou, thy Emblem waving over all! delicate beauty! a word to thee! Not always hast thou been as here comfortably ensovereigned! 29 [17] In other scenes than these have I [watched?] observed thee, flag! Not always hast thou been, as here, so trim & whole, and freshly blooming, in folds of stainless silk; But I have seen thee, bunting, to tatters torn, [sp?] upon thy [thy] [?] splinter'd staff, Or clutch'd to some young color-bearer's breast, with desperate [clutch] hands, Savagely struggled for, for life or death - fought over long, in suffocating [dusk?] dust, [With] Mid cannons thunder-crash and many a curse & yell & groan, and rifle-volleys cracking sharp, And masses as black demons surging - and lives as nothing risked, For thy mere remnant, grimed with smoke, & sopped, wringing wet in blood; For sake of thee, my beauty - and that [that] thou mights't dally secure [secure] as now at ease up there, Many a good man have I seen go under. 30 [18] Now here and these, & hence, in peace, all thine! O flag! And here & hence for thee?, O universal Muse, & thou for them! And here & hence in peace O Union, all the work & workmen thine! The poets, women, sailors, soldiers, farmers, miners, students thine! all thine! None separate from thee - henceforth compact, One only, we and thou! (For the blood of the children - what is it anyhow, but strictly the blood maternal? And what [our] are all life and works but the [the] road to faith and death?) While we rehearse to-day our measureless products, wealth, it is for thee, dear Mother! We own it all & several to-day indissoluble in thee; Think not our voice, our chant, merely for products gross, or lucre - it is for thee, the Soul, electric, spiritual! Our farms, inventions, crops, we own in thee! Cities & States in thee! Our freedom all in thee! our very lives in thee! Come, Muse, migrate from Greece and Ionia. 2 Come, Muse, migrate from Greece and Ionia. Come, Muse, migrate from Greece and Ionia, Pack up, and settle for good those too-long-running accounts, That matter of Troy, and Achilles' wrath, and the wanderings of Odysseus - - Eneas also; 'Kiss good-bye to Calliope, daughter of Jupiter - [Orpheus] her son Orpheus also. - Clio, Melpomene, Thalia, also, In short, To the whole [terrible A] crowd, [in short,] of masculine, feminine, antique bores, (surely they've had their day, they've bored you enough,) Placard on snowy Parnassus' [two] rock-heads [with] Removed to the New House, New World. [Or] carefully tack [it] the same on fig-tree or ivy, by Castaly's fount in the gully below [between]! [With] [Also inscribe th] Letter the same [Then] [Paint the same [legend?] in [duplicate,] on the walls of your medieval cathedrals [French,] and Spanish & Italian castles, Bid [them and all] all & several thereabout farewell, Muse - [- a fresher?]- a fresh domain - - a [fresher,?] better, wider busier sphere, awaits you. Obedient to the summons, Or rather to her long-nurs'd inclination Joined with [her] an [undeniable?] irresistible natural gravitation, (For westward wends not alone the dominant Body of Empire, but the [far] much more dominant [Soul] Spirit.) Brought over by some [s????th] swift-moving steamship in a week - perhaps the Great Eastern - in suite of gorgeous parlor-cabins, specially upholstered, 4 She [p?????] [courteously] comes! this famous Female - as was indeed to be expected: (For who, so ever youthful, smart & handsome would feel to stay in played-out Asia's, Europe's antiquated mansions, [any longer,] When offered quarters with [all] all the modern improvements, With all the fun gayety that's going, and all the best society?) She comes! I hear the rustling of her gown, I scent the odor of her breath's [intoxicating?] eternal [balmy] sweetness, I hear [hear] her step divine - I feel her eyes' electric flashing, curiously rolling. Upon this very scene. 5 [But] And is she really here, this deathless Dame of Dames - Can I believe, That [from] her [strong] old, [p???line] domiciles [both] classic, & castles strong & Feudalistic - [she hath eloped?] could [neither or both] none of them restrain her? Nor shades of Dante in Italy nor Shakespeare in England [fo???bly] [permanently] effectually magnetise & [and really] hold on to her? could hold her on the way But that she's here - and here. Yes, if you will allow me to say so, I, my friends, can [very] plainly see her [here,] under this very roof, if you do not, And I can hear, what may-be you do not, 6 A terrible commotion among [the] poets [and worthy litterateurs,] - a [A] howling, desperate gulp of "flower" & "bower," With "Sonnet to Matilda's Eyebrow" utterly frantic, With gushing sentimental reading circles turned to ice or stone, With many a squeak, (in rhyme,) from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, London, [While] [As] While she, [Immortal Pluck,] the illustrious Emigré, [Brave] (having already in her day passed through [not a little] considerable,) [She, the Immortal one,] She, the Undying Soul of human heroism's, [acti] action's, beauty's, [without regard to age] expression not to say fitness of things, fusing all ages, Making directly for this rendezvous, - striding through the confusion - vigorously clearing a path for herself. 7 By hiss of steam, & foetid shriek of whistle [coal-oil? - erased] undismayed, Bluff'd not a bit by drain-pipe, gas meters, artificial fertilisers, Smiling & pleased, with palpable intent to stay, She's here install'd amid the kitchen ware & canned meats & fruits. But hold - don't I forget my manners? To introduce the stranger - (what else, indeed, am I come for?) To thee, Columbia - Sisters dear, be both, While to your ministering, and your equal glory [both], We call up an appropriate gala show. 8 In [her] [America's] ?) Liberty's name, Welcome, Immortal! - & clasp hands! Fear not! A new race, new days, new arts, salute you, absorb you; And yet the same old race - the same old human [blood] race, Faces and hearts the same - feelings the same - yearnings the same, The same old love - beauty & use the same. And here shall ye inhabit, Powerful Matrons! In [new] your vast state, vaster than all the old - Echoes through [m[?] c[?]g long[?] seen[?] shores[?] to come] To sound of [new] different, stronger songs, with prouder themes, Practical, peaceful, life, the common peoples daily life - [the] People themselves, Lifted to you, [elate] [and new] illumined, bathed with joys, elate, [& s[?]] secure in peace. 9 Away with songs of war! away with deadly war itself! (Hence from my shuddering sight, That [????e] show of blackened, mutilated corpses - that hell unpent, [hell,] & raid of blood, Fit for savage tigers, and treacherous, lop-tongued wolves - not for men;) And its stead come [thy innocent,] Industry's [life-giving] [life] fair campaigns! [O] [Labor! Industry!] With thy undaunted armies, Engineering! Thy banners Labor loosen'd to the breeze - thy Thy joyous bugles blowing loud & clear! 9 1/2 Away with old romance! Away with plots and plays of [cour] foreign courts! Away with [sickly] [mawkish] love-verses, [c???hed] coated in sugar[ed]y [rhymes,] [the love singing of lords & ladies] Fitted for banquets of the night where [the] dancers to soft music slide. The unhealthy pleasures, ex- travagant dissipations of the few, With perfumes, heat & wine, [amid] beneath the dazzling chan- deliers! To you, ye Reverent, Sane Sisters, To this resplendent day - the present scene. These eyes & ears that like some broad parterre bloom up around, before me, Whitman Piece for AM Institute [10] 15 copies Aug 5 to Lycett '71 & one extra Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.