A Month of Poems: Day 17 - Walt Whitman

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A Month of Poems Day 17 - Walt Whitman From Bob Holman & Margery Snyder, your Guide to Poetry Yesterday's poet, Emily Dickinson, and today's, Walt Whitman, are the binary stars at the center of the American poetry galaxy--male and female, one wielding precise short lines cut into origami by her dashes, the other spinning out long rhythmic breathing lines containing all the details and elements of American life from shore to shore. "Song of Myself" (Section 15) This is the section of Whitman’s great poem that begins with “The pure contralto sings in the organ loft,” extends through many lines celebrating the multitudes of different American individuals (its original title in the first edition of Leaves of Grass was “Poem of Walt Whitman, an American”), and builds to this climax of deep connection: “The city sleeps, and the country sleeps; The living sleep for their time, the dead sleep for their time; The old husband sleeps by his wife, and the young husband sleeps by his wife; And these one and all tend inward to me, and I tend outward to them; And such as it is to be of these, more or less, I am.” (You can read the entire “Song of Myself” also on our site.) For further reading: Profile of Walt Whitman His childhood in New York, his early careers as journalist and teacher, his radically inclusive and transcendant philosophy, his expansive poetic voice, the effect of the Civil War on him, and his masterpiece, self-published and republished many times, Leaves of Grass... Library: Poems from Whitman’s This email is written by: Bob Holman & Margery Snyder Poetry Guide Email Me | My Blog | My Forum   Missing a lesson? Click here. About U. is our collection of free online courses designed to help you learn a new skill, solve a problem, get something done, or just learn more about your world. Sign up now, and we will email you lessons on a daily or weekly basis. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the About.com 'A Month of Poems' email. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   Advertisement