Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THOUGHT (5) by WALT WHITMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: OF PERSONS ARRIVED AT HIGH POSITIONS, CEREMONIES, WEALTH, SCHOLARSHIPS
Last Line: WALKING THE DUSK.)
Subject(s): SOCIAL CLASSES; CASTE;

Of persons arrived at high positions, ceremonies, wealth,
scholarships, and the like;
(To me all that those persons have arrived at sinks away
from them, except as it results to their bodies and souls,
So that often to me they appear gaunt and naked,
And often to me each one mocks the others, and mocks
himself or herself,
And of each one the core of life, namely happiness, is full
of the rotten excrement of maggots,
And often to me those men and women pass unwittingly the
true realities of life, and go toward false realities,
And often to me they are alive after what custom has served
them, but nothing more,
And often to me they are sad, hasty, unwaked sonnambules
walking the dusk.)



Home: PoetryExplorer.net