# Out of May’s Shows Selected explained — Leaves of Grass

> Chapter companion for Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

## What happens

The chapter presents a vivid pastoral scene from May, highlighting apple orchards in blossom, green wheat fields, morning freshness, afternoon haze, and lilac bushes, celebrating the beauty and vitality of nature.

## Themes in this chapter

### Celebration of Nature and the Universe

The chapter revels in the sensory details of spring—blossoms, green fields, morning light, and lilacs—affirming nature's endless freshness.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The observing presence that selects and describes the May scenes.

## Key lines

> Apple orchards, the trees all cover’d with blossoms; Wheat fields carpeted far and near in vital emerald green; The eternal, exhaustless freshness of each early morning; The yellow, golden, transparent haze of the warm afternoon sun; The aspiring lilac bushes with profuse purple or white flowers.

The poet catalogs the sights of May: apple trees heavy with blossoms, vast wheat fields of vivid green, the perpetual newness of dawn, the golden afternoon light, and lilac bushes full of purple or white blooms.

_This passage emphasizes the richness and renewal of the natural world in spring._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/out-of-may-s-shows-selected
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters