Book XIII: Song of the Exposition

Whitman opens by reflecting that laborers may not recognize how their work draws them near to God, establishing labor as a spiritually significant activity.

Whitman argues that America's unique mission is not to create from nothing but to gather and transform what already exists, filling it with democratic vitality and accepting rather than rejecting the old world.

Whitman notes the timeless quality of natural processes—grass growing, rain falling, the globe turning—establishing continuity across human history.

Whitman calls the Muse to abandon classical and medieval sources—Troy, Parnassus, Jerusalem, European culture—declaring them over and settled, awaiting new inspiration.

Whitman portrays the Muse responding to the American summons, arriving with sensory vividness and settling amid America's industrial and domestic scenes.

Whitman poses the question whether ancient temples, classical writers, and historical memories could not have retained the Muse in the old world.

Whitman catalogs the death of classical, medieval, and European literary and historical figures—epics, muses, knights, kings—showing they have passed into extinction, replaced by modern America.

Whitman asserts that he sees the Muse coming to America, undeterred by machinery and industry, smiling and settled in America's democratic and technological reality.

Whitman addresses the formality of introducing the Muse to Columbia (America), welcoming her as an immortal visitor and establishing a sisterly bond between them.

Whitman reasserts that America does not reject or separate from Europe but rather builds upon its foundations, as a son respects his father.

Whitman declares that America will construct monuments greater than Egypt's pyramids, Greece's temples, or Milan's cathedrals—a cathedral of sacred industry and practical invention.

Whitman prophesies a vast palace of glass and iron, surpassing history's seven wonders, where all human work, trades, and products will be displayed and demonstrated.

Whitman details the exposition's exhibits showing all stages of production—cotton becoming cloth, ore becoming metal, grain becoming bread—and museums of arts and sciences.

Whitman addresses America directly, declaring the exposition and its structures to be pyramids and temples exceeding all ancient wonders.

Whitman prophesies that the exposition will bring laboring and non-laboring people together to mutual benefit, glorifying both and America itself.

Whitman calls out to women to inhabit and shape America's vast state, whose achievements and songs will echo through centuries, elevating the people's life in peace.

Whitman rejects themes of war and warfare as brutal and unfit for reasoning humans, calling instead for industry and engineering as noble campaigns.

Whitman dismisses novels, love-verses, and tales of foreign courts as idle entertainments for the upper classes, unfit subjects for serious poetry.

Whitman declares that poets should exalt the present and real, glorifying the average person's daily work and teaching the nobility of labor and practical skill.

Whitman claims to bring the Muse to celebrate all occupations, toil, family life, and domestic matters—the practical foundations of a complete human life.

Whitman catalogs modern technological achievements—steam power, railroads, cables, tunnels, bridges—as triumphs worthy of poetic celebration and the ultimate subject of his song.

Whitman addresses America as superior to all other nations, united by law and victory, absorbing and tolerating all differences within one common destiny.

Whitman calls forth America's fields, mountains, seas, ships, and workers in grand procession, celebrating the visible manifestations of the nation's material prosperity.

Whitman catalogs American laborers across regions and trades—loggers, pilots, blacksmiths, farmers—depicting their work with vigor and pride.

Whitman celebrates America's spirit of invention, workshops, foundries, and rising industries as visible signs of progress and ingenuity.

Whitman lists America's abundant crops, livestock, natural resources, and minerals as evidence of the nation's incomparable material wealth.

Whitman dedicates all of America's ships, farms, factories, cities, and resources to the Union as their protector and source, without which nothing is secure.

Whitman addresses the American flag, recalling its history of being torn and bloodied in battle, won at great cost, and honoring those who died for it.

Whitman declares that all—flag, muse, union, people, and labor—are now one in peace, bound by blood and devoted to faith and death.

Whitman concludes by asserting that America's material wealth and accomplishments are ultimately expressions of the nation's spiritual and electric soul.