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So everyone knows Walt Whitman was the motherfucking man, an A+ #1 big cheese of the poetry scene, the foremost American poet of his time and probably of all time. Most Americans read at least a bit of his work in high school and around the world, he's probably the most-recognized American poet. He wrote a poo poo-ton of poems and a lot of them were pretty God drat good but for me the thing about Whitman is that he managed to nail a voice that's so confident and un-self-conscious that it doesn't even matter whether its good or not, which I guess means it's great. Anyway, let's talk about this guy. He had a real cool life, too, and people loved him and he was a bad rear end and there's lots of poetry to talk about. Post your favorite lines or talk about analysis or whatever. If you haven't read Whitman or need a refresher, here's a lot of Whitman: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1322/1322-h/1322-h.htm Book III, "Song of Myself" is a good place to start.
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Jul 14, 2014 14:30
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 13:54 |
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Like check this out (from #24 of Song of Myself):code:
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Jul 14, 2014 14:31
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I love Whitman but the Deathbed edition of "Leaves of Grass" is a really bloated book. If you're going to read Whitman I really think their is a case to be made for only reading the 1855 edition. Poor guy just didn't know when to quit revising.
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Jul 15, 2014 06:21
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Walt Whitman is so loving good. My kindle version of his Deathbed edition has got to have at least a hundred highlighted lines and passages. 'Song of Myself' is probably one of the most enrapturing pieces of literature ever written.Barlow posted:I love Whitman but the Deathbed edition of "Leaves of Grass" is a really bloated book. If you're going to read Whitman I really think their is a case to be made for only reading the 1855 edition. Poor guy just didn't know when to quit revising. I'd agree with you, but I think Calamus is pretty great. 'When I Heard at the Close of the Day' makes me a bit emotional every time I read it, and that wasn't in Leaves of Grass until the 1960 edition.
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Jul 17, 2014 14:59
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There was a Child went Forth is pretty sappy, and I'm not usually a fan for sappy stuff, bu Whitman does alright. I quite liked it. But really, he's just a master of anaphora. I can't readily bring to mind another poet who owned the technique quite like Whitman.
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Jul 17, 2014 16:17
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Apparently at the end of the 19th century the Walt Whitman Association, his fan club essentially, saw itself as a new religion, something that was supposed to replace Christianity. A not insubstantial part of the membership was gay and used the Calamus poems to talk secretly about their sexuality. People used to take poetry so much more seriously, kind of sad that no one worships Whitman anymore.
Barlow fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Jul 18, 2014 |
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Jul 17, 2014 23:51
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Rollofthedice posted:Walt Whitman is so loving good. My kindle version of his Deathbed edition has got to have at least a hundred highlighted lines and passages. Post some of them! What rates an underline for you? Rollofthedice posted:'Song of Myself' is probably one of the most enrapturing pieces of literature ever written. Yeah. I'm trying to think of another writer who held so little back without losing his critical disposition. I know the 1855 is the critical favorite but I prefer it broken up into sections as it is in the later versions.
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Jul 20, 2014 02:51
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dogcrash truther posted:Post some of them! What rates an underline for you? good a time as any now that it's been almost a month "Loafe with me on the grass, loose the stop from your throat, Not words, not music or rhyme I want, not custom or lecture, not even the best, Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice." "Have you heard that it was good to gain the day? I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won." "I will not have a single person slighted or left away, The kept-woman, sponger, thief, are hereby invited, The heavy-lipp'd slave is invited, the venerealee is invited; There shall be no difference between them and the rest." "This hour I tell things in confidence, I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you." "I merely stir, press, feel with my fingers, and am happy, To touch my person to some one else's is about as much as I can stand." "Man or woman, I might tell how I like you, but cannot, And might tell what it is in me and what it is in you, but cannot, And might tell that pining I have, that pulse of my nights and days." "I know perfectly well my own egotism, Know my omnivorous lines and must not write any less, And would fetch you whoever you are flush with myself." "Sermons, creeds, theology - but the fathomless human brain, And what is reason? and what is love? and what is life?" "And I said to my spirit When we become the enfolders of those orbs, and the pleasure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be fill'd and satisfied then? And my spirit said No, we but level that lift to pass and continue beyond." "Long enough have you dream'd contemptible dreams, Now I wash the gum from your eyes, You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life." "Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)" "To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more, You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder-side." "Have you ever loved the body of a woman? Have you ever loved the body of a man? Do you not see that these are exactly the same to all in all nations and times all over the earth?" "I heard the hissing rustle of the liquid and sands as directed to me whispering to congratulate me, For the one I love most lay sleeping by me under the same cover in the cool night, In the stillness in the autumn moonbeams his face was inclined toward me, And his arm lay lightly around my breast - and that night I was happy." "Know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls." "No one can acquire for another — not one, Not one can grow for another — not one." "I will leave all and come and make the hymns of you, None has understood you, but I understand you, None has done justice to you, you have not done justice to yourself, None but has found you imperfect, I only find no imperfection in you, None but would subordinate you, I only am he who will never consent to subordinate you, I only am he who places over you no master, owner, better, God, beyond what waits intrinsically in yourself." "What to such as you anyhow such a poet as I? therefore leave my works, And go lull yourself with what you can understand, and with piano-tunes, For I lull nobody, and you will never understand me." "Through birth, life, death, burial, the means are provided, nothing is scanted, Through angers, losses, ambition, ignorance, ennui, what you are picks its way." "I am he who tauntingly compels men, women, nations, Crying, Leap from your seats and contend for your lives!" I'd spend days in high school reading all these words and more, and mouthing them with awe. Whitman's magnitudes more inspirational than any young adult novel or self-help book, and I wish it was really read in high school. My U.S. English class in Texas only read about 2 pages of snippets.
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Aug 6, 2014 09:29
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