Lyric Poem · War & Remembrance

What General has a Good Army

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1WHAT General has a good army in himself, has a good army;

2He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy,

3But I tell you you cannot be happy by others, any more than you can beget or conceive a

4 child

5 by others.

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“What General has a Good Army” by Walt Whitman — quilloak.com/poems/what-general-has-a-good-army

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Author record: Walt Whitman1819–1892
Source record: PoetryDBWhat General has a Good Army 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 484a3d574b5c4f03…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.