by Whitman · Cluster: Nationalism and Patriotism · Democracy · Liberty Political Freedom

Abstract

A free-verse song of the aged, paralyzed poet still affirming God, freedom, country and faith; themes of old age, mortality, patriotism and faith.

Connections

Motifs: Blood Themes & Concepts: Mortality, Faith, Nationalism and Patriotism Forms & Genres: Comic Verse Song

Testo integrale / Full text

Cluster: SANDS AT SEVENTY

A carol closing sixty-nine—a resume—a repetition,
My lines in joy and hope continuing on the same,
Of ye, O God, Life, Nature, Freedom, Poetry;
Of you, my Land—your rivers, prairies, States—you, mottled Flag I love,
Your aggregate retain’d entire—Of north, south, east and west, your
items all;
Of me myself—the jocund heart yet beating in my breast,
The body wreck’d, old, poor and paralyzed—the strange inertia
falling pall-like round me,
The burning fires down in my sluggish blood not yet extinct,
The undiminish’d faith—the groups of loving friends.