# Then Shall Perceive explained — Leaves of Grass

> Chapter companion for Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

## What happens

A brief, ecstatic chapter that calls for the awakening of the senses to beauty, urging a full perception through softness, languor, bloom, and growth.

## Themes in this chapter

### Celebration of Nature and the Universe

The chapter invokes natural imagery (bloom, growth) as a catalyst for perception.

### Individuality and Self

Focus on the individual's senses and loftiest attribute as the means to perceive beauty.

## Character check-ins

### Narrator

The voice that addresses the reader, urging sensory awakening.

## Key lines

> In softness, languor, bloom, and growth, Thine eyes, ears, all thy sense⁠—thy loftiest attribute⁠—all that takes cognizance of beauty, Shall rouse and fill⁠—then shall perceive!

Through gentleness, stillness, flowering, and expansion, your entire being—your highest faculty for recognizing beauty—will awaken and be fulfilled, and then you will truly understand.

_The chapter's sole utterance, a promise of perceptual awakening through receptivity to nature._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/then-shall-perceive
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters