Liberty in literature; Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892 -- Political and social views
Not a mutineer walks handcuff'd to jail but I am handcuff'd
to him and walk by his side.
* * * * *
Judge not as the judge judges, but as the sun falling upon a
helpless thing.
Of the very worst he had the infinite tenderness to say: "Not until the
sun excludes you will I exclude you."
In this age of greed when houses and lands, and stocks and bonds,
outrank human life; when gold is more of value than blood, these words
should be read by all:
When the psalm sings instead of the singer,
When the script preaches instead of the preacher,
When the pulpit descends and goes instead of the carver that
carved the supporting desk.
When I can touch the body of books by night or day, and
when they touch my body back again,
When a university course convinces like a slumbering woman
and child convince,
When the minted gold in the vault smiles like the
night-watchman's daughter,
When warrantee deeds loafe in chairs opposite and are my
friendly companions,
I intend to reach them my hand, and make as much of them
as I do of men and women like you.
VII.
The poet is also a painter, a sculptor--he, too, deals in form and
color. The great poet is of necessity a great artist. With a few
words he creates pictures, filling his canvas with living men and
women--with those who feel and speak. Have you ever read the account
of the stage-driver's funeral? Let me read it:
Cold dash of waves at the ferry-wharf, posh and ice in the
river, half-frozen mud in the streets,
A gray discouraged sky overhead, the short last daylight of December,
A hearse and stages, the funeral of an old Broadway stage-driver,
the cortege mostly drivers.
Steady the trot to the cemetery, duly rattles the death-bell,
The gate is pass'd, the new-dug grave is halted at, the living
alight, the hearse uncloses,
The coffin is pass'd out, lower'd and settled, the whip is laid
on the coffin, the earth is swiftly shovel'd in,
The mound above is flatted with the spades--silence,
A minute--no one moves or speaks--it is done,
He is decently put away--is there any thing more?
He was a good fellow, free-mouth'd, quick-temper'd, not bad-looking,
Ready with life or death for a friend, fond of women, gambled,
ate hearty, drank hearty,
Had known what it was to be flush, grew low-spirited
toward the last, sicken'd, was helped by a contribution,
Died, aged forty-one years--and that was his funeral.
Let me read you another description--one of a woman:
Behold a woman!
She looks out from her quaker cap, her face is clearer and
more beautiful than the sky.
She sits in an armchair under the shaded porch of the farmhouse,
The sun just shines on her old white head.
Her ample gown is of cream-hued linen,
Her grandsons raised the flax, and her grand-daughters
spun it with the distaff and the wheel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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