Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1872-06-26
Walt whitman's Poem To-day at
Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College.
large portion at least Of the public OF Wash
ingtoD viii hear with quite personal interest
that Walt Whitman to-day, on formal INVITA-
ton, delivered the Commencement poem before
the professors and students of Dartmouth col
eye, ~ Hanover, New Hampshire. The poem
is Of COZ siderable length, and, like all the pro-
ductions CT this author, needs full perusal and
careful study. Peculiar in literary form
echoiDg Nhitman's fervid patriotism for the
whole country, and totally unlike the usual
classic or sentimental "reminiscences of such oc-
casOns, its key note seems to be an earnest CON
yiction that the loftiest aud most binding union
and truest pride and glory Of the United States,
latter the establishment OF their material inter
ests, which he thinks already permanently pro-
vided for are to be sought in q new moral, pa
ttiotic, national literary development, on q
scientific and spiritual basis, and always with a
realizing sense of physical health, and the
fnest and handsomest offspring.
For Walt whitman, as we understand, while
he admits the merits of the scientific and Jour
naiistic press Of the day, ayovedly views the
whole tribe of poets and novelsts with contempt
His notion IL that for Imaginative purposes the
modern time, and the United States especially,
can only fifty express and justify their vital and
characteristic elements by new and native
lyric, artistic, and even religious forms, and
poetry, art and ecelesiasticism, however SER
viceable for their time in Europe and the past,
are impotent for America, and incompatible
with her genius.
Such, whether sound or not, are the doctrines
out Of which Whitman has composed and re-
cited before the professors and students OF a
leading American college, this Commencement
piece OF to-day, from which we proceed 10 give
the following extracts
AS a strong bird, on pinons free,
Joyous, the sInpleSt spaces heavenvard cleay-
ing.
Such be the thought I'd think to- day Of thee,
Such be the recitstive I'd bring to- day for thee
The conceiis OF the poets OF other lands bring
Nor the compliments that have served their
turn 30 long,
Nor Ihyme-nor the claSsies-nor perfume of
foreign court, or indoor library;
But sn door "a bring to-day as from forests OF
pine IN the north, in Maine-or breath of
an Illinois prairie,
With open ans OF Virginia, or Georg ia, or Ten
Iessee-or from Texas uplands, OF FiorI-
With IreSeDtmens of Yelowstone's scenes. or
YOSe mite;
and muTnuTing under. pervsding all, III bring
thee Tusiiing sea-sOund,
That endlessiy sounds from the two great seas
of the world.
And for thy subtler sense, sub,ler refrains, o
UniOpi
-
mind-formalas fitted Tor thee-real, and
sane, and large - these and thea;
Thou; mounting higher, diving deeper than We
kBew-thOu transcendentai Union
BY thee Fact TO be ju.tiied-blended with
Thought Of Man justified blended with Col:
Through thy Reaiity-loi the immortal idea
Brain OF the New World what task is thine
less a
Out OF 1hyset-c0mprising Seienee-to recast
Poems, Churches, Art,
(Recsst-nay-be discard them, end then
Maybe their work Is done-who kns~s?)
10y VISION, hand. conception, on the background
~, OF The mighty past, the dead,
TO bInn, with absolute faith, the mighty living
present
Sail-sail Thy best, ship of Democracy
" value Is thy reight-'tis not the Present only
A lie Fast Is alSo stored ia thee
Thou holGest not the venture of thyself alone
not OF Thy western continent alone
Earth resane entire floats on thy keel, o
ships steadied by thy spars
With thee Time voyages in trust-the antsce-
dent nations sink or swim with thee
with all their ancient struggles, martyrs, heroes
ePies, wars, thou bearst the other conti-
Theirs, theirs as much as thine, the destination
pert triumphant
Steer, steer with good strong hand and wary
eye, . helmsmen-;hoa carryest great
NEutiaDiCs ItlcSliy ASIA sails Jay WITH thee,
And royal: feudai Europe sails with thee.
Beautiful World of new, Superior Birth, that
rises TO my eyes,
Like a limitless golden cloud, filing the western
SKY;
Emblem of general Maternity, lifted above all;
Sacred shape of the bearer OF daughters and
sons
By his'ory's cycles forwarded-by every nation,
language, hither sent,
Ready. collected here-a freer vast. eIectrie
World, 20 be constructed here,
(Ihe true New Worid-the world of orbic
SCNnce, Morals, Literatures to comeO
Ihou Wonder World, yet underlined, unforrn'd-
neither DO define thee;
How can pierce the iDpenetrable blank o; the
future?
i feel thy ominous greatness, evil as well as
good;
1watch thee, advancing, absorbing the present
uanscendng the past;
see thy light lighting and thy shadow sha dow-
ing, "a II the entire globe;
But DO not undertake to define thee-haTdiy
to comprehend thee;
but thee name-thee prophecy-as now
merely thee calculate
With the above partial extracts, we must
close our notice of this poem. Ii is being pub
liShed in small book form in New York, with
other pieces, under its name, 4" As a Strong
Bird ON Pinions Free" By the way, we see
that Whitman has largely infzsed the scenery
cf Virginia in his later poems, and finds both
local and emotional Inspiration in the Potomac
river.
cassius NJ. Clay addressed meeting at Spring