Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THOU ORB ALOFT FULL-DAZZLING, by WALT WHITMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THOU ORB ALOFT FULL-DAZZLING, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Thou orb aloft full-dazzling! Thou hot october noon!
Last Line: Prepare my starry nights.
Subject(s): Stars


Thou orb aloft full-dazzling! thou hot October noon!
Flooding with sheeny light the gray beach sand,
The sibilant near sea with vistas far and foam,
And tawny streaks and shades and spreading blue;
O sun of noon refulgent! my special word to thee.

Hear me illustrious!
Thy lover me, for always I have loved thee,
Even as basking babe, then happy boy alone by some wood
edge, thy touching-distant beams enough,
Or man matured, or young or old, as now to thee I launch my
invocation.

(Thou canst not with thy dumbness me deceive,
I know before the fitting man all Nature yields,
Though answering not in words, the skies, trees, hear his
voice -- and thou O sun,
As for thy throes, thy perturbations, sudden breaks and
shafts of flame gigantic,
I understand them, I know those flames, those perturbations well.)

Thou that with fructifying heat and light,
O'er myriad farms, o'er lands and waters North and South,
O'er Mississippi's endless course, o'er Texas' grassy
plains, Kanada's woods,
O'er all the globe that turns its face to thee shining in space,
Thou that impartially infoldest all, not only continents, seas,
Thou that to grapes and weeds and little wild flowers
givest so liberally,
Shed, shed thyself on mine and me, with but a fleeting ray
out of thy million millions,
Strike though these chants.
Nor only launch thy subtle dazzle and thy strength for these,
Prepare the later afternoon of me myself -- prepare my
lengthening shadows,
Prepare my starry nights.





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