In the poem ‘For You O Democracy,’ the Transcendentalist poet Walt Whitman addresses a personified vision of democracy. First published as part of ‘Leaves of Grass’ it invokes all his familiarly grand use of imagery and figurative language, exploring a variety of themes essential to his poetry, from fervent camaraderie and a reverent celebration of nature to the patriotic undercurrent that flows beneath many of his works.
For You O Democracy Walt WhitmanCome, I will make the continent indissoluble,I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone upon,I will make divine magnetic lands, With the love of comrades, With the life-long love of comrades.I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America, and along the shores of the great lakes, and all over the prairies,I will make inseparable cities with their arms about each other’s necks, By the love of comrades, By the manly love of comrades.For you these from me, O Democracy, to serve you ma femme!For you, for you I am trilling these songs.
Summary
‘For You O Democracy’ by Walt Whitman gives praise to democracy and promises to create for it a land and country worthy of serving it.
‘For You O Democracy’ opens with the speaker revealing their audacious plans toward a personification of democracy. They plan on making the land indestructible, populating it with a magnificent race of people who will be united by a “life-long love of comrades.”
To that end, the speaker plans to plant “companionship” as one would plant trees, fostering their growth throughout the American landscape. This bond will also extend to the cities, which will remain closely connected, much like a line of people standing side-by-side, linking their arms around one another. Again, the speaker assures that brotherly love is crucial to such a vision.
The poem ends with the speaker directly addressing, “Democracy…ma femme!” Revealing that it is for them, they sing songs of democratic and liberating passion.
Structure and Form
‘For You O Democracy’ is written in free verse and comprises three stanzas; the first two are five lines long, while the last one is a couplet. The last two lines of each quintet are also indented and use repetition — which resembles the refrains of a song.
Literary Devices
‘For You O Democracy’ contains examples of the following literary devices:
- Visual Imagery: The poem relies on a variety of visual depictions, as when the speaker asserts they will create a “continent indissoluble” (1). Other examples include the images of trees and cities that comprise Whitman’s use of figurative language.
- Metaphor: Whitman refers to the country as being a “divine magnetic [land]” (3) in order to convey its lofty and powerful nature. Another example comes when the speaker states they are “trilling these songs” (11) for democracy’s sake, the poet’s words being compared to a piece of music.
- Personification: when human traits are given to non-human things, such as when the speaker describes the “inseparable cities with their arms about each other’s necks” (7) or refers to “Democracy, to serve you ma femme!” (10).
- Simile: a comparison that uses “like” or “as” to bridge itself, as when the speaker claims to “plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America” (6).
Detailed Analysis
Stanza One
Come, I will make the continent indissoluble,
I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone upon,
I will make divine magnetic lands,
With the love of comrades
With the life-long love of comrades.
The opening stanza of ‘For You O Democracy’ begins with the speaker addressing a personified vision of democracy — though they aren’t directly referenced until the final stanza. These first few lines frame the poem as a series of promises that center on the creation of a land and people worthy of democracy’s ideals.
Whitman’s imagery focuses on the establishment of a “continent indissoluble” (1) — an image that implies the land will be both permanent and lasting but also indivisible. But they will also be sublime and invigorating, using metaphor to characterize them as “divine magnetic lands” (3).
The speaker also assures the listener that this place will be filled with the “most splendid race the sun ever shone upon” (2). A charged phrase that dredges up some of Whitman’s problematic views on race and American exceptionalism. Yet he also confoundingly contradicts those same beliefs in the stanza’s last two lines, as the speaker repeatedly asserts that this landscape will resound with the “life-ling love of comrades” (5).
Stanza Two
I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America, and along the shores of the great lakes, and all over the prairies,
I will make inseparable cities with their arms about each other’s necks,
By the love of comrades,
By the manly love of comrades.
The second stanza of ‘For You O Democracy’ continues the speaker’s train of promises from the first stanza. Continuing this theme of loving camaraderie, the speaker announces plans to “plant companionship thick as trees” (6) across America. The simile entwines this human solidarity with the natural world — making one indispensable to the other.
Whitman’s characteristic cataloging of landscapes — “along all the rivers of America, and along the shores of the great lakes, and all over the prairies” (6) — accentuates the ubiquity with which such bold fellowship will engrain itself within the terrain.
Even its cities will appear as if having “their arms about each other’s necks” (7), the personification further cementing such social cohesiveness as a source of the country’s indissolubility.
Stanza Three
For you these from me, O Democracy, to serve you ma femme!
For you, for you I am trilling these songs.
The final stanza of ‘For You O Democracy’ is a short couplet. In it, the speaker declares that everything they have promised to do and accomplish is done in service to this personification of democracy. “For you, for you I am trilling these songs” (11), they pledge as Whitman employs his often-used motif of invoking music and song as an ardent means of expressing one’s inner soul.
FAQs
The poem’s theme is both an ode and a devotional to the ideal of democracy. One that expresses a belief in loving companionship and camaraderie as the unbreakable foundation from which a great nation should spring.
Whitman’s poem voices a number of Transcendentalist beliefs as well as patriotic ones. Its placement in ‘Leaves of Grass’ also hints at its purpose, which was to express the poet’s grandiose faith in the spirit of democracy they saw as the heart and soul of America.
The speaker curiously refers to democracy as “ma femme!” (10). The phrase, which in French means “my wife,” implies the existence of a romantic and devoted relationship between the two. The purpose of this is to underscore the speaker’s passionate adoration for democracy itself.
The poet’s diction compels a reminder that despite the democratic proclamations and sympathy toward the plights of Black slaves that fill so much of his poetry, Whitman’s journalistic writings echoed racist prejudices of the time. His views on race are inconsistent, making the invocation of a “splendid race” complicated in such a light. As a result, readers might interpret the phrase as far more inclusive than the poet might have originally conceived it.
Similar Poems
If you enjoyed this poem by Walt Whitman, be sure to check out a few more of his works below:
- ‘Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand’ – This poem serves as a kind of guide for how to read and approach Whitman’s poetry.
- ‘I Sing the Body Electric’ – A famous poem full of some of his most compelling imagery and figurative language.
- ‘When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer’ – This poem reveals the beauty of nature found in studying (or listening to those who study) it.
