Walt Whitman
“As the Greek's signal flame.”
As the Greek's signal flame by antique records told,
(Tally of many a hard strain'd battle, struggle, year-triumphant only at the last)
Rose from the hill-top like applause and glory,
Welcoming in fame some special veteran, patriot, hero
With rosy tinge reddening the land he'd served.
So I aloft from Mannahatta's ship-fringed shore,
Lift high a kindled brand for thee Old Poet.
Whitman began his literary career as a journalist and was living in New York while working on the first edition of Leaves of Grass, his collection of poetry which appeared first in 1855 but which he revised and supplemented through 1892. His well-known verses include “Song of Myself,” “I Sing the Body Electric,” and “O Captain! My Captain!” an elegy he wrote on the passing of Lincoln. Because Whitman continually edited and revised Leaves of Grass, each manuscript of the poem becomes a valuable record of Whitman’s development as a poet.
This manuscript is available on the digital library project I Remain.