Leaves of Grass · Chapter
A Carol Closing Sixty-Nine explained
The poet reflects on his sixty-ninth year, offering a résumé of his enduring themes: God, Life, Nature, Freedom, and Poetry.
What happens
The poet reflects on his sixty-ninth year, offering a résumé of his enduring themes: God, Life, Nature, Freedom, and Poetry. He celebrates his land, its diverse geography and flag, while acknowledging his own physical decline—a wrecked, old, paralyzed body—yet insists on the undiminished faith, the jocund heart, and the loving friends that remain.
Themes in this chapter
Individuality and Self
The poem is a personal résumé, emphasizing the poet's own 'me myself,' his jocund heart, and his undiminished faith despite physical decay.
America and Its People
The poet celebrates his land—its rivers, prairies, States, and flag—and the aggregate of north, south, east, and west.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“A carol closing sixty-nine—a résumé —a repetition, My lines in joy and hope continuing on the same, Of ye, O God, Life, Nature, Freedom, Poetry; Of you, my Land—your rivers, prairies, States—you, mottled Flag I love, Your aggregate retain’d entire—Of north, south, east and west, your items all; Of me myself—the jocund heart yet beating in my breast, The body wreck’d, old, poor and paralyzed—the strange inertia falling pall-like round me, The burning fires down in my sluggish blood not yet extinct, The undiminish’d faith—the groups of loving friends.”
A song marking my sixty-ninth year—a summary, a reiteration—my verses continuing joyfully and hopefully on the same themes: of God, Life, Nature, Freedom, Poetry; of my country—its rivers, prairies, states, and beloved flag—holding all its parts together from north, south, east, and west; of myself—the cheerful heart still beating in my chest, though my body is wrecked, old, poor, and paralyzed, with a strange inertia settling like a pall around me, yet the fires in my sluggish blood are not out, my faith is undiminished, and I am surrounded by loving friends.
The poet summarizes his life and work at age sixty-nine, celebrating his land and his own resilient spirit despite physical decay.