Darest Thou Now, O Soul
Darest Thou Now, O Soul - meaning Summary
Facing the Unknown Together
Whitman addresses the soul directly, inviting it to journey toward an undefined afterlife or metaphysical Unknown. The poem rejects familiar guides and bodily senses, presenting the destination as a blank beyond ordinary experience. It imagines liberation as earthly ties loosen, leaving only eternal bonds. In that release the speaker anticipates a joyous, equal readiness to inhabit Time and Space fully, viewing death or transcendence as fulfilment rather than loss.
Read Complete Analyses1 DAREST thou now, O Soul, Walk out with me toward the Unknown Region, Where neither ground is for the feet, nor any path to follow? 2 No map, there, nor guide, Nor voice sounding, nor touch of human hand, Nor face with blooming flesh, nor lips, nor eyes, are in that land. 3 I know it not, O Soul; Nor dost thou—all is a blank before us; All waits, undream’d of, in that region—that inaccessible land. 4 Till, when the ties loosen, All but the ties eternal, Time and Space, Nor darkness, gravitation, sense, nor any bounds, bound us. 5 Then we burst forth—we float, In Time and Space, O Soul—prepared for them; Equal, equipt at last—(O joy! O fruit of all!) them to fulfil, O Soul.
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