Nature

Spirit That Form’d This Scene

by Walt Whitman 1819–1892

From Leaves of Grass

Nature

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.

✦ ✦ ✦

Written in Platte Canyon, Colorado

MLA

Whitman, Walt. “Spirit That Form’d This Scene.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/whitman/382/.

Chicago

Whitman, Walt. “Spirit That Form’d This Scene.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/whitman/382/.

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