Lyric Poem · Death & Loss

Spain 1873–’74

by Walt Whitman

Reading room

1OUT of the murk of heaviest clouds,

2Out of the feudal wrecks, and heap’d-up skeletons of kings,

3Out of that old entire European debris—the shatter’d mummeries,

4Ruin’d cathedrals, crumble of palaces, tombs of priests,

5Lo! Freedom’s features, fresh, undimm’d, look forth—the same immortal face

6 looks

7 forth;

8(A glimpse as of thy mother’s face, Columbia,

9A flash significant as of a sword,

10Beaming towards thee.)

11Nor think we forget thee, Maternal;

12Lag’d’st thou so long? Shall the clouds close again upon thee?

13Ah, but thou hast Thyself now appear’d to us—we know thee;

14Thou hast given us a sure proof, the glimpse of Thyself;

15Thou waitest there, as everywhere, thy time.

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“Spain 1873–’74” by Walt Whitman — quilloak.com/poems/spain-1873-74

Quick facts

Poem: Spain 1873–’74
Poet: Walt Whitman
Length: 15 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Death & Loss, War & Remembrance

Craft notes

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Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 15 lines · 2 stanzas of 5–10 lines
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Author record: Walt Whitman1819–1892
Source record: PoetryDBSpain 1873–’74 by walt-whitman, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 7b1dbb0b4dfdb2ff…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.