Leaves of Grass · Chapter
Twenty Years explained
A narrator sits on an ancient wharf, conversing with a man who left as a green-hand boy twenty years ago and has now returned after circling the globe.
What happens
A narrator sits on an ancient wharf, conversing with a man who left as a green-hand boy twenty years ago and has now returned after circling the globe. The landmarks are gone, parents dead, but he returns to settle with a well-filled purse. The scene evokes the passage of time, change, and the enduring pull of home.
Themes in this chapter
Death and Immortality
The death of the sailor's parents and the disappearance of old landmarks highlight the passage of time and mortality.
Individuality and Self
The sailor's unique journey and personal history underscore the theme of individual experience and identity.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
The narrator sits on the wharf, observing and conversing with the returned sailor.
- Old Salt Kossabone
The returned sailor, now berry-brown and bearded, who left as a boy and returns after twenty years.
Key passages
“Twenty Years Down on the ancient wharf, the sand, I sit, with a new-comer chatting: He shipp’d as green-hand boy, and sail’d away, (took some sudden, vehement notion;) Since, twenty years and more have circled round and round, While he the globe was circling round and round,—and now returns:”
After twenty years, I sit on the old wharf talking with a man who left as a young, inexperienced sailor on a sudden impulse; he has spent those years traveling the world and now comes back.
The narrator sets the scene of reunion and the passage of two decades.
“How changed the place—all the old land-marks gone—the parents dead; (Yes, he comes back to lay in port for good—to settle —has a well-fill’d purse—no spot will do but this;)”
Everything is different—familiar sights are gone, his parents have died; he returns to stay permanently, with plenty of money, and only this place will satisfy him.
The sailor finds his home transformed and his family lost, yet he is determined to settle there.