![]() Truth like-like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold.įorget them, forget them! Stay with the blanket. Oh, that's *excellent*! Now, give him action - make him do something! That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.Close your eyes, close your eyes! Close 'em! Now, describe what you see.Ī sweaty-toothed madman with a stare that pounds my brain. That you are here-that life exists and identity, The question, O me! so sad, recurring-What good amid these, O me, O life? Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined, Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me, ![]() Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d, Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?) Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish, “Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring, But even so, it still inspires me when I read it, and perhaps it will inspire you too. Whitman published other volumes of poetry, but none are as well known and read as Leaves of Grass.įor my final thoughts on Walt Whitman, I’d like to share with you one of his most famous poems, “O Me! O Life!” Now, maybe you’ve read this poem for English class before-I know I certainly have. ![]() Throughout his lifetime, Whitman continued to add to Leaves of Grass, and the collection grew to large proportions. Fellow poet Ralph Waldo Emerson was a major fan of Whitman’s work and enthusiastically endorsed this collection of poems. Following Lincoln’s assassination, Whitman was devastated and wrote several poems in his memory, including the famous “O Captain! My Captain!”Īs for his poetry career, in 1855, Whitman published the first edition of Leaves of Grass with just twelve poems and a preface. Throughout his life, he was a strong advocate for the abolition of slavery and greatly admired Abraham Lincoln. He also created a free-soil newspaper called the Brooklyn Freeman, which dealt with the prevalent issue of slavery. He had very minimal traditional schooling and instead read everything he could get his hands on, from Homer to Dante, Shakespeare to the Bible.Īfter a brief stint in both printing and teaching, Whitman began to work as a fulltime journalist and founded several weekly newspapers. Since the age of twelve, when beginning to learn the printing trade, Whitman had been enamored with words. However, Whitman’s poems become much more impressive when considering the fact that he was largely self-taught. But although he is often regarded as one of the most significant 19 th century poets, Whitman actually received very little critical recognition during his lifetime and was often criticized for his openness about certain taboo topics as well as his abandonment of traditional rhyme and meter in favor of a free verse style. He tends to have a more romantic style and tone to his works that really interests me as a reader. I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.”įrom just these two lines, you really get a sense of the way that Whitman writes. “Be not discouraged, keep on, there are divine things well envelop’d To show you what I mean, here’s an excerpt from a lesser-known poem called “Song of the Open Road.” ![]() The way he describes the world is enchanting and makes me want to become one with nature, as much as that makes me sound like a hippie. What I love most about Whitman is his beautiful use of language. So, although I am still working my way through the collection, you could say that I’m familiar with his works. It contains hundreds of poems accumulated over his lifetime and includes commentary from literary critics. I actually own a huge copy of Leaves of Grass, a famous poetry collection of his. Now, for what it’s worth, I really enjoy Walt Whitman’s poetry. This week, I’m going to be discussing none other than Walt Whitman. I told myself when I started this passion blog that I would save this particular poet for later, seeing as I love his works, but I am going to overrule this decision.
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