Leaves of Grass

Contents:
Author: Walt Whitman

Aboard at a Ship’s Helm

Aboard at a ship’s helm,
A young steersman steering with care.

Through fog on a sea-coast dolefully ringing,
An ocean-bell—O a warning bell, rock’d by the waves.

O you give good notice indeed, you bell by the sea-reefs ringing,
Ringing, ringing, to warn the ship from its wreck-place.

For as on the alert O steersman, you mind the loud admonition,
The bows turn, the freighted ship tacking speeds away under her gray sails,
The beautiful and noble ship with all her precious wealth speeds
away gayly and safe.

But O the ship, the immortal ship! O ship aboard the ship!
Ship of the body, ship of the soul, voyaging, voyaging, voyaging.

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American Romanticism

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Chicago: Walt Whitman, "Aboard at a Ship’s Helm," Leaves of Grass, ed. Keil, Heinrich, 1822-1894 and trans. Seaton, R. C. in Leaves of Grass (New York: George E. Wood, ""Death-bed"" edition, 1892), Original Sources, accessed March 29, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PBXY98S8P17I9L6.

MLA: Whitman, Walt. "Aboard at a Ship’s Helm." Leaves of Grass, edited by Keil, Heinrich, 1822-1894, and translated by Seaton, R. C., in Leaves of Grass, New York, George E. Wood, ""Death-bed"" edition, 1892, Original Sources. 29 Mar. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PBXY98S8P17I9L6.

Harvard: Whitman, W, 'Aboard at a Ship’s Helm' in Leaves of Grass, ed. and trans. . cited in ""Death-bed"" edition, 1892, Leaves of Grass, George E. Wood, New York. Original Sources, retrieved 29 March 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PBXY98S8P17I9L6.