I have never read Walt Whitman, but I'm going to change that. I have read bits and pieces. But sometimes I think we find what we need when we need it.
Found this today:
LAWS for Creations,
For strong artists and leaders—for fresh broods of teachers, and perfect literats for America,
For noble savans, and coming musicians.
All must have reference to the ensemble of the world, and the compact truth of the world;
And no coward or copyist shall be allowed;
There shall be no subject too pronounced—All works shall illustrate the divine law of indirections;
There they stand—I see them already, each poised and in its place,
Statements, models, censuses, poems, dictionaries, biographies, essays, theories—How complete! How relative and interfused! No one supersedes another;
They do not seem to me like the old specimens,
They seem to me like Nature at last, (America has given birth to them, and I have also;)
They seem to me at last as perfect as the animals, and as the rocks and weeds—fitted to them,
Fitted to the sky, to float with floating clouds—to rustle among the trees with rustling leaves,
To stretch with stretched and level waters, where ships silently sail in the distance.”
What do you suppose Creation is?
What do you suppose will satisfy the Soul, except to walk free, and own no superior?
What do you suppose I would intimate to you in a hundred ways, but that man or woman is as good as God?
And that there is no God any more divine than Yourself?
And that that is what the oldest and newest myths finally mean?
And that you or any one must approach Creations through such laws?
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2 comments:
"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes." - WW
I am sitting here trying to wrap my brain around the fact that you have not read Whitman. I mean, it's criminal that ANYONE has not read Whitman, but you in particular? Oh sweetie. Go to your bookstore of choice. Buy Leaves of Grass. You need to own it, not just borrow/internet surf it. I promise.
I know! I'm not sure how it happened. I guess when I was younger I was too busy memorizing my lines. But as long as it happens at some point. I have my copy and I'm loving it!
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