Lyric Poem · War & Remembrance
What General has a Good Army
by Walt Whitman
WHAT General has a good army in himself, has a good army;
He happy in himself, or she happy in herself, is happy,
But I tell you you cannot be happy by others, any more than you can beget or conceive a
child
by others.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“What General has a Good Army” by Walt Whitman — quilloak.com/poems/what-general-has-a-good-army
Quick facts
- Poem
- What General has a Good Army
- Poet
- Walt Whitman
- Length
- 5 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Short Poems
- Themes
- War & Remembrance, Childhood, Short
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- 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.
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