Classic and Contemporary Poetry
YOU FELONS ON TRIAL IN COURTS, by WALT WHITMAN Poet Analysis Poet's Biography Last Line: And henceforth I will not deny them—for how can I deny myself? Subject(s): Crime & Criminals; Trials | ||||||||
YOU felons on trial in courts, You convicts in prison-cells, you sentenced assassins chain'd and handcuff'd with iron, Who am I too that I am not on trial or in prison? Me ruthless and devilish as any, that my wrists are not chain'd with iron, or my ankles with iron? You prostitutes flaunting over the trottoirs or obscene in your rooms, Who am I that I should call you more obscene than myself? O culpable! I acknowledge''"I exposfi! (O admirers, praise not me''"compliment not me''"you make me wince, I see what you do not''"I know what you do not.) Inside these breast-bones I lie smutch'd and choked, Beneath this face that appears so impassive hell's tides continually run, Lusts and wickedness are acceptable to me, I walk with delinquents with passionate love, I feel I am of them''"I belong to those convicts and prostitutes myself, And henceforth I will not deny them''"for how can I deny myself? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SUBCULTURE OF THE WRONGLY ACCUSED by THYLIAS MOSS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION BLUES (1993) by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER A LONG LINE OF DOCTORS by CAROLYN KIZER JACK KNUCKLES FALTER by KENNETH FEARING DORA VERSUS ROSE by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON THE WASPS: THE TRIAL OF THE DOG by ARISTOPHANES THE LAY OF MR. COLT by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN A BROADWAY PAGEANT by WALT WHITMAN |
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