The Untold Want

The Untold Want - context Summary

Leaves of Grass, 1867

This very short lyric appears in Walt Whitman’s 1867 edition of Leaves of Grass. It frames an "untold want"—a desire not fulfilled by life or land—and addresses a "Voyager," urging action: set sail to seek and find what has been denied. As context, the poem functions within Whitman’s midcareer collection as a concentrated, imperative exhortation toward exploration and self-seeking rather than consolation.