I am the poet of the Body and I am the...

I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul,
The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me,
The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate
into new tongue.

I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.

I chant the chant of dilation or pride,
We have had ducking and deprecating about enough,
I show that size is only development.

Have you outstript the rest? are you the President?
It is a trifle, they will more than arrive there every one, and
still pass on.

I am he that walks with the tender and growing night,
I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.

Press close bare-bosom'd night - press close magnetic nourishing night!
Night of south winds - night of the large few stars!
Still nodding night - mad naked summer night.

Smile O voluptuous cool-breath'd earth!
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
Earth of departed sunset - earth of the mountains misty-topt!
Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!
Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!
Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!
Far-swooping elbow'd earth - rich apple-blossom'd earth!
Smile, for your lover comes.

Prodigal, you have given me love - therefore I to you give love!
O unspeakable passionate love.

by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) , no title, from Song of Myself, no. 21

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Louis Campbell-Tipton (1877-1921) , "Rhapsodie", op. 32 no. 1, published 1913, also set in French (translation by Léon de Tinseau)
by Benjamin Lees (1924-) , "I am the poet of the Body", published 1965 [soprano, tenor, chorus, and orchestra], from Visions of Poets, no. 5.
by Homer Albert Norris (1860?5-1920) , no title, published 1903 [soprano, tenor, baritone, and piano], from The Flight of the Eagle, no. ?
by Ralph E. Williams , "The Good Earth", published 1967. [SATB chorus and optional piano]

ITA Italian (Ferdinando Albeggiani)

Date added to the website: 2008-07-07.

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