Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ELECTION DAY, NOVEMBER, 1884, by WALT WHITMAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ELECTION DAY, NOVEMBER, 1884, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: If I should need to name, o western world, your powerfulest scene and show
Last Line: Swell'd washington's, jefferson's, lincoln's sails.
Subject(s): Elections; Voting; Voters; Suffrage


If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest
scene and show,
'Twould not be you, Niagara -- nor you, ye limitless
prairies -- nor your huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
Nor you, Yosemite -- nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic
geyser loops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,
Nor Oregon's white cones -- nor Huron's belt of mighty
lakes -- nor Mississippi's stream:
-- This seething hemisphere's humanity, as now, I'd name --
the still small voice vibrating -- America's choosing day,
(The heart of it not in the chosen -- the act itself the
main, the quadrennial choosing,)
The stretch of North and South arous'd -- sea-board and
inland -- Texas to Maine -- the Prairie States --
Vermont, Virginia, California,
The final ballot-shower from East to West -- the paradox and conflict,
The countless snow-flakes falling -- (a swordless conflict,
Yet more than all Rome's wars of old, or modern
Napoleon's:) the peaceful choice of all,
Or good or ill humanity -- welcoming the darker odds, the dross:
-- Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify --
while the heart pants, life glows:
These stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
Swell'd Washington's, Jefferson's, Lincoln's sails.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net