by Whitman · Cluster: Nature · Book of Nature · Natural Order
Abstract
A compact free-verse epigram holding the germs of all forms, worlds and stars within a handful of space; nature, the cosmos, and latent universal life.
Connections
Motifs: Stars, Nature Themes & Concepts: Sublime, Immortality Forms & Genres: Free Verse, Epigram
Testo integrale / Full text
Cluster: BY THE ROADSIDE
Forms, qualities, lives, humanity, language, thoughts,
The ones known, and the ones unknown, the ones on the stars,
The stars themselves, some shaped, others unshaped,
Wonders as of those countries, the soil, trees, cities, inhabitants,
whatever they may be,
Splendid suns, the moons and rings, the countless combinations and effects,
Such-like, and as good as such-like, visible here or anywhere, stand
provided for a handful of space, which I extend my arm and
half enclose with my hand,
That containing the start of each and all, the virtue, the germs of all.