by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
The world below the brine
Language: English
The world below the brine, Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves, Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick tangle, openings, and pink turf, Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold, the play of light through the water, Dumb swimmers there among the rocks, coral, gluten, grass, rushes, and the aliment of the swimmers. Sluggish existences grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling close to the bottom, The sperm-whale at the surface blowing air and spray, or disporting with his flukes. The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard, and the sting-ray. Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-depths, breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do. The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed by beings like us who walk this sphere. The change onward from ours to that of beings who walk other spheres.
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Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "The world below the brine", appears in Leaves of Grass [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Derek Healey (b. 1936), "The World Beneath the Brine", op. 135 no. 3 (2013) [ contralto and piano ], from Seascapes and Shanties, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Joe LoCascio (b. 1955), "The World below the Brine", 2017, copyright © 2017, first performed 2017 [ soprano voice and piano ], from Six Songs on Poems of Walt Whitman, no. 4, Gently Criminal Publishing [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-05-15
Line count: 19
Word count: 153