Pioneers! O Pioneers! – A Poem by Walt Whitman
Have you seen the new Levi’s commercials? The first time I saw the one below I told Marelize that it was the single best piece of advertising I had seen in a long, long time. Following the link at the end of the ad I came to their website and was again thoroughly impressed. Below is the commercial followed by the text from a segment of the poem, “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” by Walt Whitman, the poem being read in the background of the film. If this doesn’t move you a bit…
Come my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready,
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp-edged axes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!
For we cannot tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
O you youths, Western youths,
So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,
Plain I see you Western youths, see you tramping with the foremost,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
Have the elder races halted?
Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond the seas?
We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
All the past we leave behind,
We debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world,
Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
-Walt Whitman
See the full poem here.
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6 comments
Love this commercial. Love the poem. Not sure I love that the poem is in the commercial, if that makes any sense. Also, amazing that you are reading Godel Escher Back. One of my all time favorites.
Interesting. I would have looked at Marelize and said “WTF?”. Some commercials try to hard to overstep being a commercial. This one get the BMBA award in our home. (BigMuteButtonAward)
This is the single best comercial ever. with walts poem and the attitude reflected by the people. that is amazing!! as for cuteasasa!!! u need the BMBA award! u dont know how this poem reflects!! great job Levi!!!
Totally agree. Brilliant commercial. Why are people so angry about Levi’s using it? To me it says that there is someone in their marketing department with a vision and awesome taste in literature/poetry. Match that up with some inspiring scenes and you have another great piece.
give me a break, perhaps there is some merit to whitman’s poem, but this commercial is a pretentious, pseudo-artpiece of smart-alecky advertising crap
so cynical!
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