Hours Continuing Long

“I Saw in Louisiana A Live-Oak Growing” by Walt Whitman (1860)

This is one of the cluster of poems that Whitman originally grouped with “Hours Continuing Long” and appeared in the “Calamus” section of Leaves of Grass. It is likely a memory of his visit to New Orleans in 1848. The emphasis is on how the poet admired the strong independence of the oak tree, standing all alone, but now he knows he could never live in such isolation “without a friend a lover near.”

“When I Heard at the Close of the Day” by Walt Whitman (1860)

Whitman originally included this poem as number III in the “Live Oak, with Moss” group that contained “Hours Continuing Long.” It is probably the happiest poem in the group. The poet and his male friend lie on the beach at night and sleep together there, too.

“Long I Thought That Knowledge Alone Would Suffice” by Walt Whitman (1860)

This poem, which was number V in the “Live Oak, with Moss” sequence, appeared in the third edition of Leaves of Grass, but Whitman excluded it from all subsequent editions (as with “Hours Continuing Long”). In the poem, Whitman is so happy with his dear friend that he says he will no longer be a poet. He does not value his poems anymore; he gives himself entirely to love (“I will go with him I love”). Perhaps Whitman omitted it from later editions because its theme of renouncing poetry for love did not happen; he continued to add new poems to each edition of Leaves of Grass.

“As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life” by Walt Whitman (1860)

Like “Hours Continuing Long,” in this poem Whitman expresses frustration with his own life. He was unemployed at the time he wrote it and experiencing a crisis of confidence. Compared to “Hours Continuing Long,” this poem reflects upon generalized disillusionment rather than a personal relationship. He does, however, include a despairing line in which he denigrates his own work: “amid all that blab […] I have not once had the least idea who or what I am.”