Egan,+Anthony

Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 - March 26, 1892) was an American poet who is considered the father of American Modernism. His most well-known work was Leaves of Grass, first written in 1855, though he continued to make revisions to it throughout his life. Whitman was a humanist first and foremost, and adored the physical body, believing it to have an almost spiritual presence in and of itself. Humble was a word that did not exist in his mind; he was his most ardent fan, frequently writing in about his own work and championing himself as "An American Bard." His work was not unnoticed by others as well, and he was well-respected among most other poets and artists of his time. Ezra Pound is credited as saying, "He is America." He was also one of the influences for Bram Stoker's @Dracula character, as Stoker believed Whitman to be the quintessential male.

Located here are two verses from one of his most acclaimed works, found in //Leaves of Grass, Song of Myself. Song of Myself// takes up over half the book in the first edition, coming in at 1336 lines.

Song of Myself, Stanzas 1 and 17

1 I @CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself , And what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good @belongs to you.

I @loafe and invite my soul, I lean and @loafe at my ease observing a spear of @summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. Creeds and schools in abeyance, Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten, I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard, @Nature without check with original energy.

(Here is a song Whitman himself would have been proud of.)

17 These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me, If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or next to nothing, If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are nothing, If they are not just as close as they are distant they are nothing.

This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the water is, This the common air that bathes the globe.

Citations.