# City of Orgies explained — Leaves of Grass

> Chapter companion for Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

## What happens

The speaker reflects on the true value of Manhattan, finding it not in its spectacles, commerce, or intellectual gatherings, but in the intimate, loving exchanges and the constant presence of lovers that reciprocate his own affection.

## Themes in this chapter

### Comradeship and Love

The poem centers on the profound repayment found in the loving glances and responses of lovers, emphasizing intimate human connection over material or social displays.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The speaker who has lived and sung in the city and is repaid by the loving glances of its inhabitants.

### America

Manhattan is personified as a part of America, the setting for the orgies of love and connection.

## Key lines

> City of orgies, walks and joys, City whom that I have lived and sung in your midst will one day make you illustrious

Manhattan, city of revelry and pleasure, I have lived and celebrated you, and my song will one day bring you fame.

_The speaker declares his role in immortalizing the city through his poetry._

> Not those, but as I pass O Manhattan, your frequent and swift flash of eyes offering me love, Offering response to my own⁠—these repay me, Lovers, continual lovers, only repay me.

It is not the city's grand displays or intellectual gatherings that reward me, but the quick, loving glances from its people that answer my own affection—only constant lovers truly repay me.

_The core theme: genuine human connection and love are the only true rewards._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/city-of-orgies
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters