Great Are The Myths




   GREAT are the myths--I too delight in them;
   Great are Adam and Eve--I too look back and accept them;
   Great the risen and fallen nations, and their poets, women, sages,
         inventors, rulers, warriors, and priests.
   Great is Liberty! great is Equality! I am their follower;
   Helmsmen of nations, choose your craft! where you sail, I sail,
   I weather it out with you, or sink with you.

   Great is Youth--equally great is Old Age--great are the Day and
         Night;
   Great is Wealth--great is Poverty--great is Expression--great is
         Silence.

   Youth, large, lusty, loving--Youth, full of grace, force,
         fascination!
   Do you know that Old Age may come after you, with equal grace, force,
         fascination?                                                 10

   Day, full-blown and splendid--Day of the immense sun, action,
         ambition, laughter,
   The Night follows close, with millions of suns, and sleep, and
         restoring darkness.

   Wealth, with the flush hand, fine clothes, hospitality;
   But then the Soul's wealth, which is candor, knowledge, pride,
         enfolding love;
   (Who goes for men and women showing Poverty richer than wealth?)

   Expression of speech! in what is written or said, forget not that
         Silence is also expressive,
   That anguish as hot as the hottest, and contempt as cold as the
         coldest, may be without words.

   Great is the Earth, and the way it became what it is;
   Do you imagine it has stopt at this? the increase abandon'd?
   Understand then that it goes as far onward from this, as this is from
         the times when it lay in covering waters and gases, before man
         had appear'd.                                                20

   Great is the quality of Truth in man;
   The quality of truth in man supports itself through all changes,
   It is inevitably in the man--he and it are in love, and never leave
         each other.

   The truth in man is no dictum, it is vital as eyesight;
   If there be any Soul, there is truth--if there be man or woman there
         is truth--if there be physical or moral, there is truth;
   If there be equilibrium or volition, there is truth--if there be
         things at all upon the earth, there is truth.

   O truth of the earth! I am determin'd to press my way toward you;
   Sound your voice! I scale mountains, or dive in the sea after you.

   Great is Language--it is the mightiest of the sciences,
   It is the fulness, color, form, diversity of the earth, and of men
         and women, and of all qualities and processes;               30
   It is greater than wealth--it is greater than buildings, ships,
         religions, paintings, music.

   Great is the English speech--what speech is so great as the English?
   Great is the English brood--what brood has so vast a destiny as the
         English?
   It is the mother of the brood that must rule the earth with the new
         rule;
   The new rule shall rule as the Soul rules, and as the love, justice,
         equality in the Soul rule.

   Great is Law--great are the few old land-marks of the law,
   They are the same in all times, and shall not be disturb'd.

   Great is Justice!
   Justice is not settled by legislators and laws--it is in the Soul;
   It cannot be varied by statutes, any more than love, pride, the
         attraction of gravity, can;                                  40
   It is immutable--it does not depend on majorities--majorities or what
         not, come at last before the same passionless and exact
         tribunal.

   For justice are the grand natural lawyers, and perfect judges--is it
         in their Souls;
   It is well assorted--they have not studied for nothing--the great
         includes the less;
   They rule on the highest grounds--they oversee all eras, states,
         administrations.

   The perfect judge fears nothing--he could go front to front before
         God;
   Before the perfect judge all shall stand back--life and death shall
         stand back--heaven and hell shall stand back.

   Great is Life, real and mystical, wherever and whoever;
   Great is Death--sure as life holds all parts together, Death holds
         all parts together.

   Has Life much purport?--Ah, Death has the greatest purport.

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 03, 2023

3:18 min read
257

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABXCXD EFBX GHGH HCEI JXXX XXKX BEXLX LMXC FXNJN DD MXMXX OKODPIP XX IXKLXXX XXXXXX XXXX CXC X
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 4,245
Words 656
Stanzas 18
Stanza Lengths 7, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 2, 5, 7, 2, 7, 6, 4, 3, 1

Walt Whitman

Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. more…

All Walt Whitman poems | Walt Whitman Books

35 fans

Discuss the poem Great Are The Myths with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Great Are The Myths" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/38021/great-are-the-myths>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    16
    hours
    14
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    About how many poems did Emily Dickinson write?
    A 1,800
    B 500
    C 750
    D 2,500