Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WASHINGTON'S MONUMENT, FEBRUARY, 1885, by WALT WHITMAN


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WASHINGTON'S MONUMENT, FEBRUARY, 1885, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ah, not this marble, dead and cold
Last Line: Stands or is rising thy true monument.
Subject(s): Washington Monument


Ah, not this marble, dead and cold:
Far from its base and shaft expanding -- the round zones
circling, comprehending,
Thou, Washington, art all the world's, the continents'
entire -- not yours alone, America,
Europe's as well, in every part, castle of lord or laborer's cot,
Or frozen North, or sultry South -- the African's -- the
Arab's in his tent,
Old Asia's there with venerable smile, seated amid her ruins;
(Greets the antique the hero new? 'tis but the same -- the
heir legitimate, continued ever,
The indomitable heart and arm -- proofs of the never-broken line,
Courage, alertness, patience, faith, the same -- e'en in
defeat defeated not, the same:)
Wherever sails a ship, or house is built on land, or day or night,
Through teeming cities' streets, indoors or out, factories or farms,
Now, or to come, or past -- where patriot wills existed or exist,
Wherever Freedom, pois'd by Toleration, sway'd by Law,
Stands or is rising thy true monument.





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