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COPYRIGHT INFO
The Walt Whitman MEGAPACK™ is copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
* * * *
The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
Walter “Walt” Whitman (1819–1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.
Born in Huntington on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and—in addition to publishing his poetry—was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842). Whitman’s major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. After a stroke towards the end of his life, he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. When he died at age 72, his funeral became a public spectacle.
Whitman’s sexuality is often discussed alongside his poetry. Though biographers continue to debate his sexuality, he is usually described as either homosexual or bisexual in his feelings and attractions. However, there is disagreement among biographers as to whether Whitman had actual sexual experiences with men.
Whitman was concerned with politics throughout his life. He supported the Wilmot Proviso and opposed the extension of slavery generally. His poetry presented an egalitarian view of the races, though his attitude in life reflected many of the racial prejudices common to nineteenth-century America and his opposition to slavery was not necessarily based on belief in the equality of races per se. At one point he called for the abolition of slavery, but later he saw the abolitionist movement as a threat to democracy.
Enjoy!
—John Betancourt
Publisher, Wildside Press LLC
www.wildsidepress.com
ABOUT THE SERIES
Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK™ ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”
The MEGAPACK™ ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)
RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?
Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK™ ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).
Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.
TYPOS
Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.
If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at
[email protected] or use the message boards above.
The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series
MYSTERY
The First Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Second Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The Bulldog Drummond MEGAPACK™*
The Carolyn Wells Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Charlie Chan MEGAPACK™*
The Craig Kennedy Scientific Detective MEGAPACK™
The Detective MEGAPACK™
The Father Brown MEGAPACK™
The Girl Detective MEGAPACK™
The Second Girl Detective MEGAPACK™
The First R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™
The Second R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Third R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Jacques Futrelle MEGAPACK™
The Anna Katharine Green Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Penny Parker MEGAPACK™
The Philo Vance MEGAPACK™*
The Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Raffles MEGAPACK™
The Red Finger Pulp Mystery MEGAPACK™, by Arthur Leo Zagat*
The Sherlock Holmes MEGAPACK™
The Victorian Mystery MEGAPACK™
The Wilkie Collins MEGAPACK™
GENERAL INTEREST
The Adventure MEGAPACK™
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The Cat Story MEGAPACK™
The Second Cat Story MEGAPACK™
The Third Cat Story MEGAPACK™
The Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Second Christmas MEGAPACK™
The Classic American Short Stories MEGAPACK™, Vol. 1.
The Classic Humor MEGAPACK™
The Dog Story MEGAPACK™
The Doll Story MEGAPACK™
The Horse Story MEGAPACK™
The Military MEGAPACK™
The Pirate Story MEGAPACK™
The Sea-Story MEGAPACK™
The Utopia MEGAPACK™
The Walt Whitman MEGAPACK™
THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE FICTION
1. Winston K. Marks
2. Mark Clifton
3. Poul Anderson
4. Clifford D. Simak
5. Lester del Rey
6. Charles L. Fontenay
7. H.B. Fyfe
8. Milton Lesser (Stephen Marlowe)
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
The Firs
t Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
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The Sixth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Seventh Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Eighth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Ninth Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Edward Bellamy MEGAPACK™
The First Reginald Bretnor MEGAPACK™
The Fredric Brown MEGAPACK™
The Fred M. White Disaster MEGAPACK™
The First Theodore Cogswell MEGAPACK™
The Ray Cummings MEGAPACK™
The Philip K. Dick MEGAPACK™
The Dragon MEGAPACK™
The Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Second Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Edmond Hamilton MEGAPACK™
The C.J. Henderson MEGAPACK™
The Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Second Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Jack London Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Lost Worlds MEGAPACK™
The Mad Scientist MEGAPACK™
The Martian MEGAPACK™
The A. Merritt MEGAPACK™*
The E. Nesbit MEGAPACK™
The Andre Norton MEGAPACK™
The H. Beam Piper MEGAPACK™
The Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Mack Reynolds MEGAPACK™
The Milton A. Rothman Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK™
The Science-Fantasy MEGAPACK™
The Robert Sheckley MEGAPACK™
The Space Opera MEGAPACK™
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The Second Time Travel MEGAPACK™
The Utopia MEGAPACK™
The William Hope Hodgson MEGAPACK™
The First Willam P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Second Willam P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Willam P. McGivern Fantasy MEGAPACK™
The Wizard of Oz MEGAPACK™
HORROR
The 2014 Halloween Horrors MEGAPACK™
The Horror MEGAPACK™
The Second Horror MEGAPACK™
The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The Second Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Second E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK™
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The Cthulhu Mythos MEGAPACK™
The Erckmann-Chatrian MEGAPACK™
The Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
The Second Ghost Story MEGAPACK™
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The Haunts & Horrors MEGAPACK™
The Lon Williams Weird Western MEGAPACK™
The M.R. James MEGAPACK™
The Macabre MEGAPACK™
The Second Macabre MEGAPACK™
The Third Macabre MEGAPACK™
The Arthur Machen MEGAPACK™**
The Mummy MEGAPACK™
The Occult Detective MEGAPACK™
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The Vampire MEGAPACK™
The Weird Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Werewolf MEGAPACK™
The William Hope Hodgson MEGAPACK™
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The Doll Story MEGAPACK™
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The Girl Detectives MEGAPACK™
The E. Nesbit MEGAPACK™
The Penny Parker MEGAPACK™
The Pinocchio MEGAPACK™
The Rover Boys MEGAPACK™
The Second Carolyn Wells MEGAPACK™
The Space Patrol MEGAPACK™
The Tom Corbett, Space Cadet MEGAPACK™
The Tom Swift MEGAPACK™
The Wizard of Oz MEGAPACK™
SINGLE-AUTHOR
The Achmed Abdullah MEGAPACK™
The H. Bedford-Jones Pulp Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Edward Bellamy MEGAPACK™
The E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Second E.F. Benson MEGAPACK™
The Henri Bergson MEGAPACK™
The Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson MEGAPACK™
The Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK™
The Second Algernon Blackwood MEGAPACK™
The B.M. Bower MEGAPACK™
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The First Reginald Bretnor MEGAPACK™
The Fredric Brown MEGAPACK™
The Second Fredric Brown MEGAPACK™
The Wilkie Collins MEGAPACK™
The Stephen Crane MEGAPACK™
The Ray Cummings MEGAPACK™
The Guy de Maupassant MEGAPACK™
The Philip K. Dick MEGAPACK™
The Frederick Douglass MEGAPACK™
The Erckmann-Chatrian MEGAPACK™
The F. Scott Fitzgerald MEGAPACK™
The First R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™
The Second R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Third R. Austin Freeman MEGAPACK™*
The Jacques Futrelle MEGAPACK™
The Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Second Randall Garrett MEGAPACK™
The Anna Katharine Green MEGAPACK™
The Zane Grey MEGAPACK™
The Edmond Hamilton MEGAPACK™
The Dashiell Hammett MEGAPACK™
The C.J. Henderson MEGAPACK™
The William Hope Hodgson MEGAPACK™
The M.R. James MEGAPACK™
The Selma Lagerlof MEGAPACK™
The Harold Lamb MEGAPACK™
The Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Second Murray Leinster MEGAPACK™***
The Jonas Lie MEGAPACK™
The Arthur Machen MEGAPACK™**
The Katherine Mansfield MEGAPACK™
The George Barr McCutcheon MEGAPACK™
The William P. McGivern Fantasy MEGAPACK™
The First William P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The Second William P. McGivern Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
The A. Merritt MEGAPACK™*
The Talbot Mundy MEGAPACK™
The E. Nesbit MEGAPACK™
The Andre Norton MEGAPACK™
The H. Beam Piper MEGAPACK™
The Mack Reynolds MEGAPACK™
The Rafael Sabatini MEGAPACK™
The Saki MEGAPACK™
The Darrell Schweitzer MEGAPACK™
The Charles Alden Seltzer MEGAPACK™
The Robert Sheckley MEGAPACK™
The Bram Stoker MEGAPACK™
The Fred M. White Disaster MEGAPACK™
The Lon Williams Weird Western MEGAPACK™
The Walt Whitman MEGAPACK™
The Virginia Woolf MEGAPACK™
The Arthur Leo Zagat Science Fiction MEGAPACK™
* Not available in the United States
** Not available in the European Union
***Out of print.
FR
EE PROMO MINIPACKS™
Each one is only available for a single day on Free Ebook Monday! Join our mailing list for new title announcements.
The Lt. Jon Jarl of the Space Patrol MINIPACK™, by Eando Binder
The Paul Di Filippo MINIPACK™
The John Gregory Betancourt MINIPACK™
OTHER COLLECTIONS YOU MAY ENJOY
The Great Book of Wonder, by Lord Dunsany (it should have been called “The Lord Dunsany MEGAPACK™”)
The Wildside Book of Fantasy
The Wildside Book of Science Fiction
Yondering: The First Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
To the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories
Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories
More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery StorieyX is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries
LEAVES OF GRASS
Come, said my soul,
Such verses for my Body let us write, (for we are one,)
That should I after return,
Or, long, long hence, in other spheres,
There to some group of mates the chants resuming,
(Tallying Earth’s soil, trees, winds, tumultuous waves,)
Ever with pleas’d smile I may keep on,
Ever and ever yet the verses owning—as, first, I here and now
Signing for Soul and Body, set to them my name,
—Walt Whitman
BOOK I
INSCRIPTIONS
One’s-Self I Sing
One’s-self I sing, a simple separate person,
Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.
Of physiology from top to toe I sing,
Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say the Form complete is worthier far,
The Female equally with the Male I sing.
Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
Cheerful, for freest action form’d under the laws divine,
The Modern Man I sing.
As I Ponder’d in Silence
As I ponder’d in silence,
Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long,
A Phantom arose before me with distrustful aspect,
Terrible in beauty, age, and power,
The genius of poets of old lands,
As to me directing like flame its eyes,
With finger pointing to many immortal songs,
And menacing voice, What singest thou? it said,
Know’st thou not there is but one theme for ever-enduring bards?
And that is the theme of War, the fortune of battles,