Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman
Walter "Walt" Whitmanwas an American poet, essayist, and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth31 May 1819
CountryUnited States of America
All beauty comes from beautiful blood and a beautiful brain.
Why are there men and women that while they are nigh me the sunlight expands my blood? Why when they leave me do my pennants of joy sink flat and lank?
Strange, (is it not?) that battles, martyrs, blood, even assassination should so condense - perhaps only really lastingly condense - a Nationality.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood. Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you.
O magnet-South! O glistening perfumed South! My South! O quick mettle, rich blood, impulse and love! Good and evil! O all dear to me!
Not I - not anyone else, can travel that road for you, / You must travel it for yourself.
To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle. Every cubic inch of space is a miracle.
To have great poets, there must be great audiences too.
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world
I shall use America and democracy as convertible terms
Do you know that Old Age may come after you with equal grace, force, fascination?
Seeing, hearing and feeling are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.
O lands! O all so dear to me -- what you are, I become part of that, whatever it is.
I and this mystery, here we stand.