Leaves of Grass · Chapter
Year of Meteors explained
The narrator reflects on the year 1859-60, a time of meteors, political contests, and significant events, including the execution of an old man on a scaffold, the arrival of the Great Eastern ship, and the appearance of a comet.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the year 1859-60, a time of meteors, political contests, and significant events, including the execution of an old man on a scaffold, the arrival of the Great Eastern ship, and the appearance of a comet. The narrator sees himself as a transient meteor among these fleeting phenomena.
Themes in this chapter
America and Its People
The poem celebrates American events: the presidential contest, census returns, ships, immigrants, and the diverse populace.
Death and Immortality
The old man's execution on the scaffold and the narrator's own transient nature as a meteor reflect themes of mortality and fleeting existence.
The Poet as Prophet and Unifier
The narrator binds the year's deeds in song, welcoming all and singing of events, acting as a prophetic voice unifying the transient and the eternal.
Characters to notice
- Narrator
The narrator observes and sings of the year's events, standing silently at the scaffold and among the crowds, identifying himself as a transient meteor.
- America
America is referenced through its census returns, population tables, ships, and the arrival of immigrants and gold.
- Walt Whitman
The poet speaks in first person, binding the year's deeds in song and identifying himself as a meteor.
Key passages
“Year of meteors! brooding year! I would bind in words retrospective some of your deeds and signs”
The poet addresses the year 1859-60 as a time of meteors and foreboding, intending to capture its significant events in verse.
Sets the tone of the poem as a retrospective catalog of the year's notable occurrences.
“I would sing how an old man, tall, with white hair, mounted the scaffold in Virginia”
The poet recalls witnessing the execution of an old man (John Brown) on a scaffold in Virginia.
References the historical execution of abolitionist John Brown in 1859.
“Nor forget I to sing of the wonder, the ship as she swam up my bay, Well-shaped and stately the Great Eastern swam up my bay”
The poet remembers the arrival of the massive steamship Great Eastern in New York Harbor.
The Great Eastern was a famous iron steamship that visited New York in 1860.
“What am I myself but one of your meteors?”
The poet questions his own nature, seeing himself as a fleeting and transient phenomenon like the meteors of the year.
Concludes the poem with the poet's identification with the ephemeral and cosmic.