# Paumanok — Leaves of Grass character guide

> Paumanok in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman.

**Role:** minor

**First appearance:** 0027-starting-from-paumanok

## Who they are

Native American name for Long Island, personified as a starting point.

## In the story

### [Starting from Paumanok](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/starting-from-paumanok)

The poet's birthplace and symbolic starting point for the journey.

### [Starting from Paumanok](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/1)

Referenced as the fish-shape place of the narrator's birth.

### [Song of the Broad-Axe](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/14)

Paumanok is mentioned as the place where the poet walks, splashing his bare feet in the summer ripples on its sands.

### [The Universal Self](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/33)

The narrator's vision includes the beach under 'paling stars of the morning,' evoking Paumanok's shores.

### [Our Old Feuillage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/our-old-feuillage)

Paumanok (Long Island) is referenced as a specific, beloved locale where the narrator observes nature, such as the flight of butterflies and the herons wading in shallow bays.

### [A Song of Joys](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/a-song-of-joys)

The poet recalls fishing for blue-fish off Paumanok, grounding the joys in a specific, beloved American place.

### [Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/out-of-the-cradle-endlessly-rocking)

The setting of the childhood memory, the shore of Paumanok (Long Island).

### [As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/as-i-ebb-d-with-the-ocean-of-life)

The fish-shaped island whose shores the narrator walks, addressed as 'my father' and a source of debris and drift.

### [As I Ebb'd with the Ocean of Life](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/1)

The fish-shaped island presented to the narrator, symbolizing the natural setting.

### [Chapter 3](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/3)

The fish-shaped island addressed as 'my father,' the object of the narrator's embrace and demand.

### [A Paumanok Picture](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/a-paumanok-picture)

The setting of the poem, representing the coastal landscape of Long Island.

### [Paumanok](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/paumanok)

The island itself is personified and celebrated as a sea-beauty, stretching and basking with both inland and Atlantic shores.

### [The Pilot in the Mist](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/the-pilot-in-the-mist)

The Indian helmsman, described as small and thin, looms in the mist with a governing hand, evoking the indigenous presence of Paumanok.

### [Red Jacket (from Aloft)](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/red-jacket-from-aloft)

Referenced indirectly through the natural imagery of 'old tree, or rock or cliff' and 'Nature's sun, stars, earth,' evoking the indigenous landscape.

### [Now Precedent Songs, Farewell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/chapters/now-precedent-songs-farewell)

Listed among the precedent songs as 'Paumanok.'

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters/paumanok
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/leaves_of_grass_se/characters