Shut Not Your Doors, &c.

Walt Whitman 1819 (West Hills) – 1892 (Camden)



SHUT not your doors to me, proud libraries,
   For that which was lacking on all your well-fill'd shelves, yet
         needed most, I bring;
   Forth from the army, the war emerging--a book I have made,
   The words of my book nothing--the drift of it everything;
   A book separate, not link'd with the rest, nor felt by the intellect,
   But you, ye untold latencies, will thrill to every page;
   Through Space and Time fused in a chant, and the flowing, eternal
         Identity,
   To Nature, encompassing these, encompassing God--to the joyous,
         electric All,
   To the sense of Death--and accepting, exulting in Death, in its turn,
         the same as life,
   The entrance of Man I sing.                                        10

Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 09, 2023

35 sec read
145

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDCEFGHIJKLC
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 743
Words 115
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

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 Shut Not Your Doors, &c. 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

    "Shut Not Your Doors, &c." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/38134/shut-not-your-doors,-&c.>.

    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.
    3
    days
    16
    hours
    26
    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?

    »
    From which London landmark did Wordsworth celebrate the view in his poem beginning: "Earth has not any thing to show more fair..."
    A Waterloo Sunset
    B The Tower of London
    C Westminster Bridge
    D Hampstead Heath