of President Lincoln," which James
Thomson ranked with Shelley's "Adonais," and Mr. Swinburne called "the
most sublime nocturne ever chanted in the cathedral of the world." That
this is a great poem, and will live, we have not the slightest doubt.
Some other of Whitman's poems will doubtless live with it, but whole
masses of his poetry will probably sink to the bottom--not, however,
before doing their work and delivering their message.

Because of his want of form, Whitman suffers more than other poets in
extracts. We shall make none, but refer the reader to the whole body of
his poetry, Some of it is almost wearisome; the rest will repay study.
It contains the utterance of a great soul, full of love and friendship,
patriotism and humanity, brooding over the everlasting problems of
life and death. Untrammelled by schools and systems, Whitman was a
true Freethinker. Cosmopolitan as he was, he preached the gospel of
individuality.

"This is what you shall do: love the earth and the sun and the animals,
despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid
and the crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants,
argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence towards the
people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or
number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the
young and mothers of families, re-examine all you have been told at
school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul;
and your very flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency,
not only in its words, but in the silent lines of its lips and face, and
between the lashes of your eyes, and in every motion and joint of your
body."

Whitman appealed to the brotherhood of all and the dignity of each. He
declared he would have nothing which every other man might not have on
equal terms. The business of the great poet was "to cheer up slaves and
horrify despots." Men, too, should keep in close communion with
Nature, yet always feel that they could "be good or grand only of the
consciousness of the supremacy within them."

"What do you think is the grandeur of storms and dismemberments, and the
deadliest battles and wrecks, and the wildest fury of the elements, and
the power of the sea, and the motion of nature, and of the throes of
human desires, and dignity and hate and love? It is that something
in the soul which says-Rage on, whirl on, I tread