Walt Whitman

[AndyHall]

National Archives.

 

[Brendan]

Nice! I think Walt Whitman would have LOVED the interent.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Best Whitman quote we have. Ran into it again recently in an article. That means we're still grateful this man stopped on our planet for long enough to make a difference. It's a quote but should be a poem- edited the format slightly. It's a pretty important statement we can't afford to lose.

"This is what you shall do;

Love the earth and sun and the animals,

Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,

Stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others,

Hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,

Have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men,

Go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families,

Read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book,

Dismiss whatever insults your own soul,

…….and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

 

[John Hartwell]

Whitman at New Orleans in 1848, age 29:

[Walt Whitman House, Camden, N.J.]​

And at Camden, just before his death, in 1891, age 72:

[Boston Public Library]
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An Archive of 128 Whitman portraits: https://whitmanarchive.org/multimedia/