O if one could but fly like a bird! 
    O to escape, to sail forth as in a ship! 
    To glide with thee, O soul, o’er all, in all, as a ship o’er
      the waters;
    Gathering these hints, the preludes, the blue sky, the grass,
       the morning drops of dew,
    The lilac-scent, the bushes with dark-green heart-shaped leaves,
    Wood-violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence,
    Samples and sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere,
    To grace the bush I love—­to sing with the birds,
    A warble for joy of lilac-time, returning in reminiscence.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

What is the meaning of “sort me”?  Why jumble all these signs of summer together?  Does one naturally think in an orderly way when recalling the details of spring or summer?  Can you think of any important points that the author has left out?  Is samples a poetic word?  What is meant by the line “not for themselves alone,” etc.?  Note the sound-words in the poem:  What is their value here?  Read the lines slowly to yourself, or have some one read them aloud, and see how many of them suggest little pictures.  Note the punctuation:  Do you approve?  Is this your idea of poetry?  What is poetry?  Would this be better if it were in the full form of verse?  Can you see why the critics have disagreed over Whitman’s poetry?

WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN’D ASTRONOMER

WALT WHITMAN

    When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
    When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
    When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide
      and measure them,
    When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much
      applause in the lecture-room,
    How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
    Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
    In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
    Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY

Why did the listener become tired of the lecturer who spoke with much applause?  What did he learn from the stars when he was alone out of doors?  Does he not think the study of astronomy worth while?  What would be his feeling toward other scientific studies?  What do you get out of this poem?  What do you think of the way in which it is written?

VIGIL STRANGE I KEPT ON THE FIELD ONE NIGHT

WALT WHITMAN

    Vigil strange I kept on the field one night;
    When you my son and my comrade dropt at my side that day,
    One look I but gave which your dear eyes return’d with a look
      I shall never forget,
    One touch of your hand to