Be simple and clear.—Be not occult.
True noble expanded American character is raised on a far more
lasting
and universal basis than that of any of the characters of of the
"gentlemen"
of aristocratic life, or of novels, or [illegible] the European or Asiatic forms of
society or
government.—It is to be illimitably proud, independent,
self‑possessed and generous and
gentle.—It is to accept nothing except what is equally free and
eligible
to every body else.—It is to be poor, rather than rich—but to
preferdeath
sooner than any mean dependence.—Prudence is part of it, because
prudence
is the right arm of independence.
Every American young man should carry himself with the finished and
haughty bearing of the greatest ruler and —for he is thea great ruler and —th the greatest.
Great latitude must be allowed to others
BringPlay your [muscle?],
and
it will be lithe as willow
and
[deletion, illegible]caoutchouc and
strong
as iron—I wish to see American you[th?]
[even?] the workingmen, carry with a high horse
---
Where is the being of whom I am the inferior?—It is the
I never yet knew what
it
was to feel how it felt to
^think I stood in the presence of my
superior.—I could now
abase
myself if GodIf the presence of [Joh?]
were God were made visible immediately before
^me,I could not abase myself.—How do I
know
but I shall myself
[---]
I will not have
be the cart, nor the load on the cart, nor the horses that draw
the
cart; but I will be the pair
of little little hands that guide the cart.—
[one page omitted]
[---]
Different objects which decay, and [by?]
the
chemicals of nature, their bodies are
[---]
American under takes
receives recieves with calmness the spirit of the past
[---]
Bring all the art and science of the world, and baffle and humble
it
with one spear of grass
[---]
Liberty is not the end fruition
but
the dawn of the morning of a nation.—The night has passed and the
day
appears when people walk abroad to do evil or to do good
[---]
[three pages omitted]
Never speak of the soul as any thing but intrinsically great.—The
adjective affixed to it must always testify greatness and immortaliy
and
purity.—
[nine pages omitted]
[---] Dilation
I think the soul will never stop, or attain to any its growth beyond which it shall not go.no further.— ^Then I have sometimes when [deletion, illegible] walked at night by the sea
shore
and looked up to
at the stars countless stars, and ^I have asked of my soul whether it
would be filled and satisfied when it was
^should
become thea god enfolding anall
these, and open to the life and delight and knowledge of every
thing in them or of them; and the answer was plain[er?] to my ear methan at the
[deletion, illegible] breaking water on the sands
at my
feet; and it
^the answer was, No, when I reach there, I shall want moreto go further still.—
[---]
[six pages omitted]
I will not be a great philosopher, and found my school, and bring
build it on
with iron pillars, and gather the young me around me, and make
them
my disciples, and found
a that a new
^superior churches
and
politics.— ^shall come.— But I will show every man, [illegible] unhook the shopen the shutters and the window sash
and you shall stand at my
side,
and I will show hook my left[deletion,
illegible] arm around your waist till I point you
^to the road ^along which leads to all the learningknowledgeand truth
and
pleasure are the cities of all living philosophy and all pleasure.—Not I or any —not
God—can
travelit
this road for you.—It is not far, it is within reach the
stretch
of your arm
thumb; perhaps you shall find you are on it already, and did not
know.—Perhaps you shall find it every where on over the
ocean
and ^over the land, when you once have the
vision to
behold it.—
[---]
[sixteen pages omitted]
I will not descend among professors and capitalists and good society—I will
turn up the ends of my
trowsers up around
my
boots, and in cuffs back from my wrists and go among with the rough drivers and
boatmen
and men who
that catch fish or hoe
corn, work in the field, I know that they are sublime
[Begin
Hashmark Section]
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I am the poet of slaves
and of ^themasters of slaves
|
I am
the
poet of the body
|
And I
am
|
[End
Hashmark Section]
|
|
I am
the poet of the body
|
And I
am
the poet of the soul
|
The I go
with the slaves
^of the earth equally
with th are mine, and
|
the masters are equally
mine
|
And I will stand between
|
the
masters and the slaves,
|
And I eEntering into both, andso that
|
both
shall understand
|
me
alike.
|
I am the poet of
sStrength
|
and
Hope
|
Swiftly pass
I
|
Where is the
house
of
|
any
one dying?
|
Thither I speed
and raiseturn
|
the
knob of the door,
|
Let
AndLet tTthe physician and the
|
priest stand aside, ^timidly
withdraw,
|
^That I seize on the despairer
ghastly man
|
and
raise him with
|
resistless
will,
|
O ghastly
man!
despairer you
|
shall
not diego down,
|
Here is my hand,
arm sick
|
press
your whole
|
weight
upon me
|
In my
OLo!
with
With tremendous will
breath,
|
I
force him to dilate,
|
I will
not
|
[Begin
Added Section]
|
Sleep! for I and
they
|
stand
guard
|
this
night,
|
And when you
rise
|
in
the morning you
|
find that I
toldth[e?]
what I told you is
so.
|
[End Added Section]
|
Doubt and fear
|
With Treading
|
Baffling doubt and
|
I will
|
takeDoubt shall
not
|
Not doubt not
fear
not
|
death itself shall lay lay
finger [deletion, illegible] you
[deletion, illegible]
|
[deletion, illegible] I am [deletion, illegible]
|
For I have said the word and
|
And
you are [mine?]
|
And I [deletion, illegible] have him
all
|
to myself
|
Every
room of the
your house will
do
|
I
fill with armed men
|
Lovers of me, [uses?] bafflers of
|
hell,
|
Keeping
back
|
And while[Th?]
|
|
[---]
[nineteen pages omitted]
|
Do
Have you supposed it beautiful
|
to
be born?
|
I tell you it
^I know it is more
just
as
|
beautiful
to die;
|
For I
take my death with the dying
|
And my
birth with the newborn
babe
|
|
[---]
|
I am the poet of sin,
|
For I do not believe in sin
|
In the silence
ofand darkness
|
Among murderers and cannibals
|
and traders in slaves
|
Stepped my soulspirit with
|
light feet, and pried away
|
their
their
heads and [deletion, illegible]
made fissures
|
this [deletion, illegible], to
look
through
|
And not in a single
one And there like[deletion, illegible] foetuses of
[twins?]
|
of the
earththere in every
brain
|
saw truth and
sympathy
|
lay folded,like
^the foetuses of twins in the womb
|
Mute
with
bent necks, ^Waiting to be
born.—
|
And one
was sympathy and one was truth.
|
|
[---]
|
I am the poet of
women as well
|
as
men.
|
The
woman
is not the same less than the man as
|
But she
is not
never less the
same,
|
|
I remember I stood one Sunday
|
forenoon,
|
(The Peasemaker)
|
|
[---]
|
Strength
Where is one abortive, mangy,
|
cold
?
|
Starved of his masculine lustiness?
|
Loose Without core
Weakened
in the knees, andwithout core? s[deletion,
illegible]es grit and and
grit?
|
Clutch fast to
me, mymy
|
ungrown
brother,
|
And
That I will infuse
you
|
with
grit and jets of [new?] grit
life
|
Iwillam not to be denied—I compel;
|
*I have stars plenty and
|
to spare
|
And
^ofwhatsoever I have I share
bestow
|
fully
with
upon you.
|
And
first
I bestow of my love,
|
*It is quite
indifferent to me who you are
are.
|
|
[---]
|
I were easy to be rich owning a dozen banks
But to be rich
I were easy to grant offices and favor his President
But to grand largess and fawn
It were easy to be beautiful with a fine complexion and regular features
But to be beautiful
it were easy tobeshine and attract attention in grand
clothes
But to outshine in sixpenny muslin?
[Begin
Hashmark Section]
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One touch of a tug of
me hasmade
unhaltered all
myothersenses[deletion, illegible]
but feeling
That pleases the rest so
they have given [in?]to it[deletion,
illegible] th[deletion,
illegible]
in submission
They are all emulous
to swap themselves
off for what it can do, to them,
Out with them fromtheir
shrouds!
The l[appets?] of God shall
not protect them
|
[End Hashmark Section]
|
Test of a
poem
How far it wcanelevate enlarge purify deepen, and
make happy the ^attributes of thebody and soul
of a
man
[---]
* the people of this state shal instead of being
ruled by the old complex laws, and the involved machinery of all governments
hitherto, shall be ruled mainly by individual character and
conviction.—The recognized character of the citizen shall be so
pervaded
by the best qualities of law and power that law and power shall be
superseded from this government and transferred to the citizens
[Begin
Hashmark Section]
Justice does not depend
upon is not varied or tempered in the passage of [deletion,
illegible] laws by legislatures.—the legislatures cannot settle alter
it
any more than they can settle love or the
attraction of gravity, or pride.—The quality of justice is in
the
soul.—It is immutable .... it remains through all times and nations
and
administrations .... it does not depend on majorities andand minorities .... Whoever violates it mayshall fallpays the penalty just as
certainly as he who violates the attraction
[End
hashmark Section]
of gravity .... whether a nation
^violates itor an individual, it makes no
difference.
The test of justice
istThe
consciousness ofanyindividuals is the test of justice.—What is mean or cruel for
an
individual is so for a nation.
I am not so anxious to give you the truth, But I am very anxious to see have
you
understand that ^alltruth and power are feeble
to
you except your own.—[For?] Can I beget a child for
you?
[Begin
Hashmark Section]
This is the common air ....
it is for the heroes
and sages .... it is for
the workingmen and
farmers .... it is for the
wicked just the same
as the righteous.
I will not have a single
person left out .... I
will ^havethe prostitute and
the thief invited .... I
will make no difference
between them and the rest
---
[End
hashmark Section]
Let every thing be as free as possible.—There is always danger in
constipation.—There is never danger in no constipation.—Let the
schools
and hospitals for the sick and idiots and the aged be perfectly free
No matter what stage of excellence and pr grandeur a nation has arrived to, it shall be but
the
start to further excellence and grandeur.—It shall enlarge the
doors.—If
it once settle down, placidly, content with what is, or with the past,
it
begins then to decay
---
There are [many?] pleasant
[illegible]man has not art enough to make
the
truth [deletion, illegible] repulsive—[deletion,
illegible]nor of all the beautiful things of the
universe
is there any more beautiful than truth
In the earliest times (as we call them—though doubtless the term
is
wrong.) every thing written at all was poetry.—To write
^[illegible]was a beautiful wonder.—Therefore,
history,
laws, religion, war, ^wereall in the keeping of
the
poet.—He was literature.—it was nothing but poems. Though a
division and
subdivision of subjects has for many centuries been made since then,
it
still prevails as muchas in those early times, so called.—Every
thing yet
is made the subject of poetry—narrative, description, jokes,
sermons,
recipes, etc etc
---
Vast and tremendous is the scheme! It involves no less than
constructing a statenation of nations.—astate whose integralstate whose grandeur and comprehensiveness of
territory and people make the mightiest of the past almost
insignificant—and could we imagine
such a
thing—let us suggest that before a manchild or womanchild was born
it
should be suggested that a human being could be born—imagine the
world in
its formation—the long rolling heaving cycles—can man appear
here?—can the
beautiful animalvegetable and animal life appear here?
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