Leaves of Grass: who's who, timeline and places
Everyone in Leaves of Grass, what happens when, and where, without spoilers: tell us how far you have read and we show only what you already know.
- The speakerThe speaker celebrates individual and collective life, giving poetic worth to the entire body.First seen in part 1
- The readerThe reader is imagined through sailors who recognize the sea within the speaker's book.First seen in part 3
- AmericaAmerica is a nation whose vigorous democracy an audience wants the speaker to explain.First seen in part 4
- NatureNature surrounds the calm speaker as ordinary concerns seem less important than expected.First seen in part 14
- SoulSoul is part of the speaker's poetic mission alongside America, democracy, religion, and the body.First seen in part 23
- The MuseThe Muse is summoned to America for poetry honoring workers, industry, science, and art.First seen in part 85
- WashingtonWashington is a figure commemorated by a monument whom the speaker claims for people worldwide.First seen in part 297
- Part 1
The speaker celebrates the separate individual, collective life, and the poetic worth of the entire body.
- Part 23
The speaker presents his life and a poetic mission joining America, democracy, religion, the body, and the soul.
- Part 40
The speaker withdraws beside a secluded pond, rejects public standards, and finds joy in comradeship.
- Part 66
A young man approaches the unnoticed speaker in a busy bar and sits nearby to hold his hand.
- Part 77
The speaker addresses an unborn reader across centuries, imagining that reader giving life to his poems.
- Part 85
The speaker summons the Muse to America and imagines an exhibition honoring workers, industry, science, and art.
- Part 98
The speaker recalls mockingbirds on Paumanok and a sorrowful song that awakens his sense of being a poet.
- Part 116
The speaker observes suffering in private relationships and public life, including abuse, war, famine, and racial degradation.
- Part 132
Manhattan's workers, recruits, and volunteers prepare for war after news arrives from the South.
- Part 145
A daughter calls her parents to read a letter reporting Pete's chest wound.
- Part 152
An old man answers questions about war by recalling his care for wounded soldiers.
- Part 165
The speaker recognizes a dead enemy as equally divine and bends to kiss his face.
- Part 174
The speaker mourns a beloved dead man, offers lilac to his coffin, and hears a thrush sing of death.
- Part 185
The speaker fears contamination from buried corpses, then observes healthy life emerging from decay.
- Part 200
The speaker treats ordinary experiences, living creatures, and the natural world as miracles.
- Part 217
The speaker celebrates engineering and exploration as connections between peoples, then turns physical journeys into a spiritual voyage.
- Part 237
The speaker asks to be carried gently from an enclosing fortress and calls on the soul to unlock its doors.
- Part 264
The speaker imagines dead soldiers from both sides gathering around him and welcomes them as lifelong companions.
- Part 275
The speaker bids farewell, envisions a fulfilled America, and presents death as transformation rather than final silence.
- Part 293
The speaker presents America's voting as greater than its natural wonders, valuing the shared act above the winning candidate.
- Part 315
People from North and South honor all fallen soldiers together as the speaker declares that conflict gives way to peace.
- Part 329
A departing friend prolongs his goodbye with handholding, repeated farewells, and reasons to keep speaking.
- Part 347
Nature and the Soul of man each claim the mature poet, who takes both by the hand.
- Part 357
The speaker describes hidden beginnings of life beneath snow, ice, and darkness, extending the image across earth, sea, and stars.
Hidden until you have read that far.
- AmericaAmerica is the nation whose vigorous democracy the speaker is asked to explain.First seen in part 4
- the StatesThe States are regions through which a collective speaker travels, joining learning, teaching, and love.First seen in part 12
- ManhattanManhattan is a city the speaker addresses through his life and song there.First seen in part 54
- PaumanokPaumanok is the setting where a speaker remembers watching two mockingbirds.First seen in part 98
- EuropeEurope is the setting of an uprising against kings who later return to power.First seen in part 109
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