Poem: “The Past-Present” by Walt Whitman

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American Literature – Children Books – American Poetry – Walt Whitman – Poems by Walt Whitman – Chants Democratic
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The Past-Present

I was looking a long while for the history of the past for myself, and for
        these chants—and now I have found it.
It is not in those paged fables in the libraries, (them I neither accept
        nor reject;)
It is no more in the legends than in all else;
It is in the present—it is this earth to-day;
It is in Democracy—in this America—the Old World also;
It is the life of one man or one woman to-day, the average man of to-day;
It is languages, social customs, literatures, arts;
It is the broad show of artificial things, ships, machinery, politics,
        creeds, modern improvements, and the interchange of nations,
All for the average man of to-day.

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American Literature – Children Books – American Poetry – Walt Whitman – Poems by Walt Whitman – Chants Democratic

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Chants Democratic

The Past-Present

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