Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BEAUTIFUL SWIMMER, by WALT WHITMAN



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BEAUTIFUL SWIMMER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I see a beautiful gigantic swimmer swimming naked through the eddies of the sea
Last Line: Swiftly and out of sight is borne the brave corpse.
Subject(s): Drowning; Gays & Lesbians


I see a beautiful gigantic swimmer swimming naked through the eddies of the sea
His brown hair lies close and even to his head, he strikes out with courageous
I see his white body, I see his undaunted eyes,
I hate the swift-running eddies that would dash him head-foremost on the rocks.
What are you doing you ruffianly red-trickled waves?
Will you kill the courageous giant? will you kill him in the prime of his middl
Steady and long he struggles,
He is baffled, bang'd, bruis'd, he holds out while his strength holds out,
The slapping eddies are spotted with his blood, they bear him away, they roll h
His beautiful body is borne in the circling eddies, it is continually bruis'd o
Swiftly and out of sight is borne the brave corpse.







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