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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO THE STATES. TO IDENTIFY THE 16TH, 17TH, OR 18TH PRESIDENTIAD by WALT WHITMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHY RECLINING, INTERROGATING? WHY MYSELF AND ALL DROWSING
Last Line: SOUTH, NORTH, EAST, WEST, INLAND AND SEABOARD, WE WILL SURELY AWAKE.)
Subject(s): MEN; POLITICS & GOVERNMENT; PRESIDENTS, UNITED STATES; UNITED STATES; AMERICA;

To Identify the 16th, 17th, or 1'th Presidentiad

Why reclining, interrogating? why myself and all drowsing?
What deepening twilight -- scum floating atop of the waters,
Who are they as bats and night-dogs askant in the capitol?
What a filthy Presidentiad! (O South, your torrid suns! O
North, your arctic freezings!)
Are those really Congressmen? are those the great Judges?
is that the President?
Then I will sleep awhile yet, for I see that these States
sleep, for reasons;
With gathering murk, with muttering thunder and lambent
shoots we all duly awake,
South, North, East, West, inland and seaboard, we will surely awake.)



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