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Fans Worldwide Prepare To Honor Bicentennial Of Walt Whitman's Birth
NPR ^ | 5/30/2019

Posted on 05/31/2019 11:32:34 AM PDT by Borges

American poet Walt Whitman was born 200 years ago on May 31, 1819. His Leaves Of Grass has been called the most important book of American poetry ever. Yet in 1855, he could barely give it away.

(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
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1 posted on 05/31/2019 11:32:34 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges

I read that Bill Clinton gave Hillary that book when they were dating.

That is about all I know about it, but that is enough for me.


2 posted on 05/31/2019 11:35:20 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: Borges
My grandfather grew up in Camden NJ when Walt Whiteman was living his last days out right down the street. He and his siblings were instructed to stay away from his house because he was a dirty old man.

I suspect that he was not a molester but rather the "scandalous" nature of some of his poems had some consequences on how he was perceived. But maybe he really was a dirty old man, I don't know. All I know is that's what people said even though you'll never see that in a biography anywhere.

3 posted on 05/31/2019 11:37:14 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie (Often wrong, but never in doubt!)
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To: Borges

“Yet in 1855, he could barely give it away.”

This is true. It wasn’t until he sold out to the deep state of the time that his legacy was manufactured. Reading him without the hype and propaganda reveals he was nothing but a glorified writer of really long shopping lists.


4 posted on 05/31/2019 11:38:11 AM PDT by proust (Justice delayed is injustice.)
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To: Borges

It’s an LGBTQWERTY thing, as usual.

https://books.google.com/books/about/Walt_Whitman.html?id=OUCwAAAAIAAJ&source=kp_book_description


5 posted on 05/31/2019 11:39:07 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: Borges

6 posted on 05/31/2019 11:41:38 AM PDT by TomServo
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To: yarddog

If Bill Clinton liked Beethoven would you also avoid his music?


7 posted on 05/31/2019 11:42:39 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges

I’ll make sure to sing the body electric.


8 posted on 05/31/2019 11:44:47 AM PDT by IronJack
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To: Borges

I can’t stand to see a saxophone any more.


9 posted on 05/31/2019 11:45:15 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: Borges

“Oh Captain, My Captain....”


10 posted on 05/31/2019 11:50:09 AM PDT by KC_Lion
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To: Borges

BJ Clinton likes Communists and pedophiles.

Plenty of reason to avoid THEM.

What do you find appealing about Whitmans’s writing?


11 posted on 05/31/2019 11:53:06 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: KC_Lion

O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! My Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;
For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head;
It is some dream that on the deck,
You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Not my thing, but I think we’re only seeing and discussing this because Big Media decided to foist his homo/bisexuality upon us.


12 posted on 05/31/2019 11:55:22 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: treetopsandroofs

He’s one of the most strikingly original poets of the 19th century.


13 posted on 05/31/2019 11:56:13 AM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges

OK, thanks.

My Post #12 sums up my thoughts.


14 posted on 05/31/2019 11:57:29 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: Borges

The bicentennial of Julia Ward Howe, abolitionist, women’s rights advocate, and the author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, was a few days ago and it went almost unknown. But then she was a Christian, heterosexual.


15 posted on 05/31/2019 12:00:35 PM PDT by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Gone but not forgiven.)
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To: treetopsandroofs

At least he has the discipline of rhyme.
You can’t even get that nowadays. It’s
like nonrepresentational art.

“What does that mean?”
“Whatever you want it to.”
“Then it means you’re a fraud.”


16 posted on 05/31/2019 12:02:00 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
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To: treetopsandroofs

He was highly regarded long before that.


17 posted on 05/31/2019 12:02:12 PM PDT by Borges
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To: reg45

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/05/27/whitman-melville-julia-ward-howe-a-tale-of-three-bicentennials/


18 posted on 05/31/2019 12:02:56 PM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges

Before that poem? I understand that.

Differing tastes.


19 posted on 05/31/2019 12:04:26 PM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: treetopsandroofs

Before the media was pushing the rainbow agenda. That period (1850s) is revered by American Lit scholars (Whitman, Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson, Thoreau, others)


20 posted on 05/31/2019 12:06:11 PM PDT by Borges
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