"This is the tasteless water of souls .... this the true sustenance."

— Whitman, Walt (1819-1892)


Work Title
Place of Publication
Brooklyn
Publisher
Rome Brothers
Date
1855
Metaphor
"This is the tasteless water of souls .... this the true sustenance."
Metaphor in Context
This is the breath of laws and songs and behaviour
This is the tasteless water of souls .... this the true sustenance,
It is for the illiterate .... it is for the judges of the supreme court .... it is for the federal capitol and the state capitols,
It is for the admirable communes of literary men and composers and singers and lecturers and engineers and savans,
It is for the endless races of working people and farmers and seamen.
(p. 675, ll. 360-4)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Whitman, Walt. The Leaves of Grass and Other Writings. Ed. Michael Moon. Norton Critical Edition. New York: Norton, 2002. pp. 662-751.
Date of Entry
05/28/2009

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.