Observe that this singer and artist makes no direct attempt to be poetical, any more than he does to be melodious or rhythmical. He approaches these qualities and results as it were from beneath, and always indirectly; they are drawn to him, not he to them; and if they appear absent from his page at first, it is because we have been looking for them in the customary places on the outside, where he never puts them, and have not yet penetrated the interiors. As many of the fowls hide their eggs by a sort of intuitive prudery and secretiveness, Whitman always half hides, or more than half hides, his thought, his glow, his magnetism, his most golden and orbic treasures.
Finally, as those men and women respect and love Walt Whitman best who have known him longest and closest personally, the same rule will apply to "Leaves of Grass" and the later volume, "Two Rivulets." It is indeed neither the first surface reading of those books, nor perhaps even the second or third, that will any more than prepare the student for the full assimilation of the poems. Like Nature, and like the Sciences, they suggest endless suites of chambers opening and expanding more and more and continually.
INDEX
[Transcribist's note: Index has been shortened to names
of authors and to birds, with scientific names.]
Aeschylus
Akers, Elizabeth.
Apuleius.
Audubon, John Jaines.
Bacon, Francis.
Benton, Myron.
Bible.
Bittern, American (Botaurus lentiginosus).
Björnson, Björnstjerne.
Blackbird, cow, or cowbird (Molothrus ater).
Blackbird, European.
Bluebird (Sialia sialis).
Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus).
Bryant, William Cullen.
Buchanan, Robert.
Bunting, snow, or snowflake (Passerina nivalis).
Burke, Edmund.
Burns, Robert.
Byron, Lord.
Cardinal. See Grosbeak, cardinal.
Carlyle, Thomas.
Cedar-bird, or cedar waxwing (Ampelis cedrorum).
Chat, yellow-breasted (Icteria virens).
Chewink, or towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus).
Chickadee (Parus atricapillus).
Cicada.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.
Cowper, William.
Crow, American (Corvis brachyrhynchos).
Cuckoo, American.
Cuckoo, European.
Dante.
Darwin, Charles.
Dove, mourning (Zenaidura macroura).
Eagle.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo.
Everett, Edward.
Flagg, Wilson.
Flicker. See High-hole.
Flycatcher, great crested (Myiarchus crinitus).
Frogs. See Hyla.
Gilder, Richard Watson.
Grasshopper of Greek poetry.
Grosbeak, cardinal, or cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis).
Grosbeak, pine (Pinicola enucleator leucura).
Grouse, ruffed (Bonasa umbellus).
Hamerton, Philip Gilbert.
Hawk.
High-hole, or yellow-hammer, or golden-shafted woodpecker, or
flicker (Colaptes auratus luteus).
Hogg, James.
Homer.
Hood, Thomas.
Hornets, black.
Hudson River valley.
Hummingbird, ruby-throated (Trochilus colubris).
Hyla, green.
Hyla, Pickering's.
Ingelow, Jean.
Jefferson, Thomas.
Jonson, Ben.
Keats, John.
Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus).
Lamb, Charles.
Lark. See Skylark.
Lark, shore or horned (Otocoris alpestris).
Lathrop, George Parson.
Lincoln, Abraham.
Lizard.
Locust.
Logan, John.
Loon (Gavia imber).
Lowell, James Russell.
Lyly, John.
Macaulay, Thomas Babington.
Meadowlark (Sturnella magna).
Michael Angelo.
Milton, John.
Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos).
Oriole, Baltimore (Icterus galbula).
Oven-bird, or golden-crowned thrush (Seiurus aurocapillus).
Owl.
Partridge. See Grouse, ruffed.
Pewee, wood (Contopus virens).
Phaedrus.
Phoebe-bird (Sayornis phoebe).
Pigeon, passenger (Ectopistes migratorius).
Pipit, American, or titlark (Anthus pensilvanicus).
Pipit, Sprague's (Anthus spragueii).
Pope, Alexander.
Quail, or bob-white (Colinus virginianus).
Redpoll (Acanthis linaria).
Robin, American (Merula migratoria).
Sandpiper, spotted, or "tip-up" (Actitis macularia).
Sandpipers.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe.
Snake.
Snake, garter.
Socrates.
Solomon.
Sparrow, social or chipping (Spizella socialis).
Sparrow, song (Melospiza cinerea melodia).
Sparrow, tree or Canada (Spizella monticola).
Sparrow, vesper (Pooecetes gramineus).
Sparrow, white-crowned (Zonotrichia leucophrys).
Sparrow, white-throated (Zonotrichia albicollis).
Spenser.
Strawberry.
Sugar-berry.
Swallow, barn (Hirundo erythrogastra).
Swallow, chimney, or chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica).
Swallow, cliff (Petrochellidon lunifrons).
Swift, chimney. See Swallow.
Taine, Hippolyte Adolphe.
Tennyson, Alfred.
Thaxter, Celia.
Thomson, James.
Thoreau, Henry D..
Thrasher, brown, or long-tailed thrush (Toxostoma rufum).
Thrush, golden-crowned. See Ovenbird.
Thrush, hermit (Hylocichla guttata pallasii).
Thrush, wood (Hylocichla mustelina).
Tip-up. See Sandpiper, spotted.
Titlark. See Pipit, American.
Townee. See Chewink.
Trowbridge, John T.
Turgenieff.
Turner, J. M. W.
Turtles.
Warbler, pine (Dendroica vigorsii).
Water-thrush.
Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferous).
Whitman, Walt.
Whittier, John Greenleaf.
Wilde, Richard Henry.
Wilson, Alexander.
Woodchuck.
Woodpecker, downy (Dryobates pubescens medianus).
Woodpecker, golden-shafted. See High-hole.
Woodpecker, hairy (Dryobates villosus).
Woodpecker, red-headed (Melanerpes erythrocephalus).
Wordsworth, William.
Wren, house (Troglodytes aëdon).
Yellow-hammer. See High-hole.
Yellow-throat, Maryland, or northern yellow-throat (Geothlypis
trichas brachidactyla).