I finished reading this five days ago. For those who have read some of my other blog post entries, you may know that poetry isn't my favorite. So why would you read Walt Whitman, you ask? To be honest, I don't really know. But I do know that I was determined to read this book with a positive attitude and attempt to not get bothered when I ran into seemingly pointless poems. I actually didn't mind the book too much, but wish the length was cut in about half.
Walt Whitman seems like an interesting fellow. I bet he was an interesting guy to talk to. His Leaves of Grass is like the anthem of his life. He was such an optimist and loved nature, the United States, and life in general. A line in his poem 'To Think of Time' sums his attitude up: "What will be will be well, for what is is well." It reminds me of that time many years ago when I texted the following to a friend back when Utah Jazz version Deron Williams was dominating a particular game: "D Will will will us to victory." It's true.
Anyway, every now and then I would come across a poem that I really liked. My hands down favorite is 'Prayer of Columbus'. It is slightly too long for me to post here, but if you want to read it you can go to this website: http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/waltwhitman/13394 It is worth a read in my opinion.
I will now post my next favorite poem titled 'O Living Always, Always Dying':
"O living always, always dying!
O the burials of me past and present,
O me while I stride ahead, material, visible, imperious as ever;
O me, what I was for years, now dead, (I lament not, I am content;)
O to disengage myself from those corpses of me, which I turn and look at where I cast them,
To pass on, (O living! always living!) and leave the corpses behind."
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