Spain 1873–’74
Spain 1873–’74 - context Summary
After the 1868 Revolution
Written in the wake of upheaval in Spain and included in Two Rivulets, Whitman’s poem frames the 1868 Spanish Revolution as a rupture from feudal decay toward a renewed freedom. He contrasts “wrecks” of monarchy and church with a sudden, maternal vision of Liberty—addressed as Columbia—offering a hopeful but measured emergence. The tone is celebratory yet cautious, acknowledging both proof of change and the need for patience.
Read Complete AnalysesOUT of the murk of heaviest clouds, Out of the feudal wrecks, and heap’d-up skeletons of kings, Out of that old entire European debris—the shatter’d mummeries, Ruin’d cathedrals, crumble of palaces, tombs of priests, Lo! Freedom’s features, fresh, undimm’d, look forth—the same immortal face looks forth; (A glimpse as of thy mother’s face, Columbia, A flash significant as of a sword, Beaming towards thee.) Nor think we forget thee, Maternal; Lag’d’st thou so long? Shall the clouds close again upon thee? Ah, but thou hast Thyself now appear’d to us—we know thee; Thou hast given us a sure proof, the glimpse of Thyself; Thou waitest there, as everywhere, thy time.
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