by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)
I sit and look out upon all the sorrows...
Language: English
I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame; I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves, remorseful after deeds done; I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying, neglected, gaunt, desperate; I see the wife misused by her husband -- I see the treacherous seducer of young women; I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be hid -- I see these sights on the earth; I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny -- I see martyrs and prisoners; I observe a famine at sea -- I observe the sailors casting lots who shall be kill'd, to preserve the lives of the rest; I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like; All these -- All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look out upon, See, hear, and am silent.
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Authorship:
- by Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892), "I sit and look out", appears in Leaves of Grass [author's text checked 1 time 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 Norman Dello Joio (1913 - 2008), "I sit and look out upon the world", published 1966 [ SATB chorus and piano or orchestra ], from Songs of Walt Whitman, NY : E. B. Marks [sung text not yet checked]
- by William Goldstein , "I sit and look out", published 1971 [ tenor, bass soli and TTBB chorus a cappella; or SATB chorus and piano ], Malcolm Music [sung text not yet checked]
- by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905 - 1963), "Introduktion. Elend (Allegro)", 1936 [ alto and orchestra ], from Symphony No. 1, Versuch eines Requiems, no. 1, revised 1955 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2010-04-20
Line count: 19
Word count: 160