One's-Self I sing -- a simple, [separate]1 Person; Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-masse. Of Physiology from top to toe I sing; Not physiognomy alone, nor brain alone, is worthy for the muse -- I say the Form complete is worthier far; The Female equally with the male I sing. Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power, Cheerful -- for freest action form'd, under the laws divine, The Modern Man I sing.
Inscriptions
Song Cycle by Vivian Fine (1913 - 2000)
1. One's self I sing  [sung text checked 1 time]
Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "One's‑Self I sing", appears in Leaves of Grass
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)1 Fine: "sep'rate"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
2. Look down, fair moon  [sung text checked 1 time]
Look down, fair moon and bathe this scene, Pour softly down night's nimbus floods, on faces ghastly, swollen, purple; On the dead, on their backs, with [their]1 arms toss'd wide, Pour down your unstinted nimbus, sacred moon.
Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Look down, fair moon", appears in Drum Taps, first published 1965
See other settings of this text.
View original text (without footnotes)Confirmed with Drum-Taps, ed. by Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price, The Walt Whitman Archive
1 omitted by Rands.Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]
3. A child said, What is the grass?  [sung text checked 1 time]
A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How could I answer the child? .... I do not know
what it is any more than he.
I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful
green stuff woven.
Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
A scented gift and remembrancer designedly [dropped]1,
Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we
may see and remark, and say Whose?
[ ... ]
Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), no title, appears in Song of Myself, no. 6
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Walter A. Aue) , copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Fine: "dropt"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
4. When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd  [sung text checked 1 time]
When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd, And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night, I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring. [Ever-returning]1 spring, trinity sure to me you bring, Lilac blooming [perennial and drooping star in the west]2, And thought of him I love.
Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), no title, appears in Memories of President Lincoln, in When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, no. 1
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Quand les derniers lilas dans la petite cour fleurissaient", copyright © 2017, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Fine: "O Ever-returning"
2 Hartmann: "perennial, misery you give to us all,"
Researcher for this page: Ahmed E. Ismail
5. Inscription  [sung text checked 1 time]
Small is the theme of the following Chant, yet the greatest—namely, One’s-Self — that wondrous thing a simple, [separate]1 person. That, for the use of the New World, I sing. Man’s physiology complete, from top to toe, I sing. Not physiognomy alone, nor brain alone, is worthy for the muse; — I say the Form complete is worthier far. The female equal with the male, I sing, Nor cease at the theme of One’s-Self. I speak the word of the modern, the word En-Masse: My Days I sing, and the Lands — with interstice I knew of hapless War. O friend whoe’er you are, at last arriving hither to commence, I feel through every leaf the pressure of your hand, which I return. And thus upon our journey link'd together let us go.
Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "Inscription", appears in Leaves of Grass, first published 1900
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View original text (without footnotes)Note: line breaks have been added to this piece of prose.
Confirmed with Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Philadelphia: David McKay, [c1900]; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/142/315.html.
1 Fine: "sep'rate"
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]