Is it poetry? That is a question over which battles are fought. It seems to me that words matter little; it is a kind of inspired chant, which moves you if you are susceptible to its ideas. For two years I steeped myself in the literature of the Civil War, while writing “Manassas”; and to me at that time “Drum-Taps” seemed to contain all the fervor and anguish of the conflict. But the everyday person, who does not rise to those heights, prefers “O Captain, My Captain,” which has the easier beauties of rhyme and fixed rhythm. The critics have by now got used to Whitman’s honesty about sex; the only stumbling block is his long catalogues of things. He will sing the human body, and give you a list of the parts thereof: and can that be poetry? But you must bear in mind that Whitman is more a seer than a poet. “Sermons in stones,” said Shakespeare; and if the stones had names, Whitman would call the roll of them, and each would be a mystic symbol, and the total effect would be a hypnotic spell. It is an old trick of those who appeal to the subconscious mind; in the English Prayer-Book, for example, there is a chant: “O, all ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him forever.” The hymn goes on to name all the various aspects of nature: “O, all ye Showers and Dew ... O, all ye Fire and Heat ... Ye Lightnings and Clouds ... Ye Mountains and Hills ... Ye Seas and Floods ... Ye Fowls of the Air ... Ye Beasts and Cattle.” ... and so on through the many Works of the Lord which are invited to praise Him and magnify Him forever. So, if you are a mystic, you may contemplate with awe each separate miraculous product of that mysterious organizing force which has created a living human body. The mystical life has its dangers, and also, alas! its boredoms. I have stated in the chapter on Emerson that there is no absolute which is not equally as false as it is true. Whitman has raised up a host of imitators, and I have read their alleged “free verse,” and record the fact that it was surely a waste of my time, and apparently a waste of theirs. Also, I have known many followers of Walt Whitman, the greater number of whom have chosen to follow the poet’s eccentricities, rather than his virtues. You see, it is so much easier to leave off a necktie and “loaf,” than it is to have genius and create a new art form! Whitman is not alone in suffering through his disciples; Jesus had that tragic fate, and Nietzsche, and Tolstoi, and many another major prophet! CHAPTER LXXXI CABBAGE SOUP We have been following the fortunes of a pioneer people breaking into the field of world culture. Let us now travel part way round the earth in either direction, and watch another pioneer people doing the same thing.