{"id":1708,"date":"2012-01-06T07:59:16","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T15:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=1708"},"modified":"2012-01-06T07:59:16","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T15:59:16","slug":"a-line-from-the-wit-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2012\/01\/06\/a-line-from-the-wit-man\/","title":{"rendered":"A Line from the Wit Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/h6>\n

I’ve read almost nothing of Walt Whitman’s poetry. It was controversial in his day and he meant it to be. He was picking up on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s challenge that somebody should be writing some new sort of poetry that would be uniquely American. In any case, he wrote, and wrote, and wrote. Basically self-educated, he read a lot, and then wrote whatever came to him, from his own perspective and his own unversed free style. He’s mainly known for his Leaves of Grass<\/em>, a compilation of poems he kept adding to throughout his life.<\/p>\n

That’s what intrigues. It isn’t one long poem, though that notion intrigues too, but rather a continual adding to. It’s an ever-lengthening life message. I may have it wrong. Some Whitman scholar may want to straighten me out on my exposition, but that’s how I like to think of it. And I think Walt would allow me my personal perception since personal perception was what he was all about.<\/p>\n

The title is telling, \u201cgrass\u201d then being the pejorative among publishers for literature considered light weight and not worthy of much. Maybe mowing. Leaves, of course, could be the pages they were printed on, or blades on the lawn. But he took his thoughts, and maybe all thoughts, quite seriously. One of his lines tells it: \u201cI believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there’s room for infinitely more, both grass and stars.<\/p>\n

I warm to the notion of the life-long poem. There’s room for it . . . just as much as there is room in the world for every inhabitant. Whether it’s free verse or measured, it’s the ever-developing message of a life, artfully lived and purposely expressed that makes the poem. That’s not to mention of the plethora of thoughts. Some write it down, most just act it out; either way, it’s poetry . . . or can be.<\/p>\n

Whitman said it: \u201cAnd your very flesh shall be a great poem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like with grass and stars, there’s always room for another poem. Including one that’s life long.<\/p>\n

It should make for good reading.<\/p>\n

Write well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next: One of Whitman’s lines that’s useful for all, coming Sunday.<\/em><\/p>\n

PS Haven\u2019t subscribed? You can do so with a quick click in the right column and never miss.<\/em><\/p>\n

And feel free to share with a friend.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The life-long poem is a notion that intrigues . . . something we may be living whether we write or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1708"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1727,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions\/1727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}