Walt Whitman invites you along on a journey through the American states and outward to the whole world, carried by his own songs. The speaker is part of a collective “we”—eager learners, teachers, and lovers of all. Watching the seasons endlessly renew themselves, he wonders why humans can’t pour themselves out with equal abundance. There’s a restless, democratic energy: he moves from city to town, from Canada to the Mississippi to the South, treating every place as equal and every encounter as a chance to test his soul. The mood is both urgent and calm. He urges us to be fearless, candid, to openly express body and soul. The advice: be copious, temperate, chaste, magnetic. Trust that what you give will circle back, as steady and full as the seasons. It’s a poem that sees boundless giving as life’s most natural rhythm.
On Journeys Through The States. — Summary
ON journeys through the States we start, (Ay, through the world—urged by these songs, Sailing henceforth to every land—to every sea;) We, willing learners of all, teachers of all, and lovers of all.
We have watch’d the seasons dispensing themselves, and passing on, We have said, Why should not a man or woman do as much as the seasons, and effuse as much?
We dwell a while in every city and town; We pass through Kanada, the north-east, the vast valley of the Mississippi, and the Southern States; We confer on equal terms with each of The States, We make trial of ourselves, and invite men and women to hear; We say to ourselves, Remember, fear not, be candid, promulge the body and the Soul; Dwell a while and pass on—Be copious, temperate, chaste, magnetic, And what you effuse may then return as the seasons return, And may be just as much as the seasons.