Leaves of Grass · Chapter
The Rounded Catalogue Divine Complete explained
The narrator attends a church sermon where the minister presents a 'rounded catalogue' of divine creation that includes only the aesthetic and virtuous aspects.
What happens
The narrator attends a church sermon where the minister presents a 'rounded catalogue' of divine creation that includes only the aesthetic and virtuous aspects. The narrator counters by insisting that the true catalogue must also encompass the dark, diseased, wicked, and loathsome elements of existence, questioning their place within the cosmic scheme.
Themes in this chapter
Unity of Soul and Body
The narrator insists that the divine catalogue must include both the beautiful and the repulsive, reflecting a holistic view of existence.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
The narrator observes the minister's sermon and offers a contrasting vision of the divine catalogue.
Key passages
“The devilish and the dark, the dying and diseas’d, The countless (nineteen-twentieths) low and evil, crude and savage, The crazed, prisoners in jail, the horrible, rank, malignant, Venom and filth, serpents, the ravenous sharks, liars, the dissolute; (What is the part the wicked and the loathsome bear within earth’s orbic scheme?)”
The narrator lists the dark, diseased, and wicked elements of the world, questioning their role in the grand design of the universe.
This passage challenges the minister's exclusion of evil and suffering from the divine catalogue.