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
You have not known what you are--you have slumber'd upon yourself all your life; Your eye-lids have been the same as closed most of the time; What you have done returns already in mockeries; Your thrift, knowledge, prayers, if they do not return in mockeries, what is their return? The mockeries are not you; Underneath them, and within them, I see you lurk;
I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone, I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again, I am to see to it that I do not lose you.
I think of few heroic actions, which cannot be traced to the artistical impulse. He who does great deeds, does them from his innate sensitiveness to moral beauty.
In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.
The smallest sprout shows there is really no death.
Day by day and night by night we were together - all else has long been forgotten by me.
I am too not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
Where the earth is, we are.
I give you my hand, I give you my love more precious than money, I give you myself before preaching or law; Will you give me yourself?
When I give, I give myself.
Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced themselves against you, and disputed passage with you?
I no doubt deserved my enemies, but I don't believe I deserved my friends.
This is what you should do; love the Earth and sun and the animals...
I am satisfied ... I see, dance, laugh, sing.