Walt Whitman born May 31, 1819

[Jack Rabbit]

Walt Whitman am I, a Kosmos, of mighty Manhattan the son,
Turbulent, fleshy and sensual, eating, drinking and breeding;
No sentimentalist—no stander above men and women, or apart from them;
No more modest than immodest.

Unscrew the locks from the doors!
Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!

Whoever degrades another degrades me;
And whatever is done or said returns at last to me.

Through me the afflatus surging and surging—through me the current and index.

I speak the pass-word primeval—I give the sign of democracy;
By God! I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the same terms.

-- Leaves of Grass (1895 ed.), "Song of Myself", section 24

Portait of Whitman from the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass
fron the South Street Seaport Museum.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Great poet. Great man.

[Metta]

11. Here, here. An appropriate verse.

"Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
wears yet a precious jewel in his head. And this, our life, exempt from
human haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in
stones and good in everything."

As You Like It, Wm. Shakespeare

[idgiehkt]

2. not political, but...

"I am the poet of the body
and the poet of the soul
the pleasures of heaven are upon me
and the pains of hell are upon me
the first I graft and increase upon myself
and the latter I translate into a new tongue..."

sorry if that's not perfect, it's from memory, but
I just love this man.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. That is also from "Song of Myself"

Section 21:

I am the poet of the Body;
And I am the poet of the Soul.

The pleasures of heaven are with me, and the pains of hell are with me;
The first I graft and increase upon myself—the latter I translate into a new tongue.

I am the poet of the woman the same as the man;
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man;
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.

Whitman, the Bard of Democracy, is actually quite political. His politics are very relevant to America's trials in the Age of Bush.

[ohiosmith]

3. Great chocolates.

[crispini]

4. Yay Whitman!

"I celebrate myself;
And what I assume you shall assume;
For every atom belonging to me, as good belongs to you."

[amitten]

6. Oh, he's my fave.

A great gift to America and to the world.

[htuttle]

7. "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself,..."

"...I am large, I contain multitudes."

[tanyev]

8. "Here lies ... Walt Whitman.

Aaargh! Damn you Walt Whitman! I ... hate ... you ... Walt ... freaking ... Whitman, leaves of grass my ass!"

--Homer Simpson



;)

[Jim Warren]

9. Lorca said it well

But none of them paused,
none of them wanted to be a cloud,
none of them looked for ferns
or the yellow wheel of a tambourine.




http://homepages.wmich.edu/~j3niemi1/Ode%20to%20Walt%20Whitman.htm

[Goblinmonger]

10. Sound your BARBARIC YAWP

in celebration.

[1956]

12. 1956

Definitely one of the great American poets!

I Sing The Body Electric!

And as I recall he was one of the first to get downright sexy in his works!

[jpevahouse]

13. Great Man

Whitman lived near here at Camden, NJ. He was a great compassionate man who served as a nurse during the Civil War. He's a man for the ages.

[brook]

14. Thank you for the 'gift of remembrance'...

Leaves of Grass was the most beautiful book in my father's bookcase. I was initially intrigued by the beauty of the edition itself -most likely from the 20's,it was very large and heavy with a grasscloth-like covering and gold lettering. I was in 1st or 2nd grade. To my father's everlasting credit, he helped me struggle through "Song of Myself" that summer. Of course, I re-read it for comprehension (and enjoyment) many times when I was older.

I depart as air.
I shake my white locks at the runaway sun.
I effuse my flesh in eddies and drift in lacy jags.

I bequeath myself to the dirt and grow
from the grass I love.
If you want me again look for me under your boot soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean.
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless.
And filtre and fiber your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged.
Missing me one place search another
I stop some where waiting for you.

[liberalitch]

15. When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd.... about lincoln's death

O western orb sailing the heaven,
Now I know what you must have meant as a month since I walk’d,
As I walk’d in silence the transparent shadowy night,
As I saw you had something to tell as you bent to me night after night,
As you droop’d from the sky low down as if to my side, (while the other stars all look’d on,)
As we wander’d together the solemn night, (for something I know not what kept me from sleep,)
As the night advanced, and I saw on the rim of the west how full you were of woe,
As I stood on the rising ground in the breeze in the cool transparent night,
As I watch’d where you pass’d and was lost in the netherward black of the night,
As my soul in its trouble dissatisfied sank, as where you sad orb,
Concluded, dropt in the night, and was gone.

It's a huge long poem... but one o the best!

[Cha]

16. Gemini that he

is and Good Looking Dude!