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1819–1892

Spirit That Form'd This Scene

Walt Whitman

Spirit that form'd this scene, These tumbled rock-piles grim and red, These reckless heaven-ambitious peaks, These gorges, turbulent-clear streams, this naked freshness,

These formless wild arrays, for reasons of their own, I know thee, savage spirit — we have communed together, Mine too such wild arrays, for reasons of their own; Wast charged against my chants they had forgotten art?

To fuse within themselves its rules precise and delicatesse? The lyrist's measur'd beat, the wrought-out temple's grace — column and polish'd arch forgot? But thou that revelest here — spirit that form'd this scene, They have remember'd thee.

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Spirit That Form'd This Scene · Walt Whitman · Poetry Cove