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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ON THE SAME PICTURE (DEATH'S VALLEY) by WALT WHITMAN

Poet Analysis

First Line: AYE, WELL I KNOW 'TIS GHASTLY TO DESCEND THAT VALLEY
Last Line: HERE, HERE 'TIS LIMN'D.
Subject(s): ART & ARTISTS; INNESS, GEORGE (1825-1894); PAINTINGS AND PAINTERS;

Aye, well I know 'tis ghastly to descend that valley:
Preachers, musicians, poets, painters, always render it,
Philosophs exploit -- the battlefield, the ship at sea, the
myriad beds, all lands,
All, all the past have enter'd, the ancientest humanity we know,
Syria's, India's, Egypt's, Greece's, Rome's;
Till now for us under our very eyes spreading the same to-day,
Grim, ready, the same to-day, for entrance, yours and mine,
Here, here 'tis limn'd.



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