30 Quotes from The Father of Free Verse Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman (born May 31, 1819, in New York, U.S. – died March 26, 1892, in Camden, New Jersey, U.S.) was an American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist.
Whitman is most famous for his lifelong work on his self-published poetry collection Leaves of Grass (1855, the first of seven editions). It includes poems such as “Song of Myself,” “I Sing the Body Electric,” and “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking.”
Other works by Whitman are Franklin Evans (1842), Manly Health and Training (1858), Drum-Taps (1865), Democratic Vistas (1871), Memoranda During the War (1876), and Specimen Days (1882).
Key Takeaways
- Often called the father of free verse, Whitman is one of America’s most significant poets in the American canon.
- In addition to publishing poetry, Whitman worked as a journalist, teacher, government clerk, and volunteer nurse during the American Civil War.
The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters is simplicity.Leaves of Grass (1855), Preface, Page vi
Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul.Leaves of Grass (1855), Preface, Page vi
The whole theory of the universe is directed unerringly to one single individual – namely to You.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), By Blue Ontario's Shore, Page 294
Whatever satisfies souls is true.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Autumn Rivulets: Song of Prudence, Page 314
Judging from the main portions of the history of the world, so far, justice is always in jeopardy.Democratic Vistas (1871), (Washington, D. C., ed. 1871), Page 29
Nothing endures but personal qualities.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of the Broad-Axe, Page 158
I no doubt deserved my enemies but I don’t believe I deserved my friends.Century Club, 109 East 15th St., (New York July 22, 1888)
If any thing is sacred the human body is sacred.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Children of Adam: I Sing the Body Electric, Page 84
I exist as I am, that is enough.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of Myself, Page 41
Behold, I do not give lectures or a little charity, When I give I give myself.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of Myself, Page 63
Have you heard that it was good to gain the day? I also say it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of Myself, Page 39
Have you learn’d lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learn’d great lessons from those who reject you, and brace themselves against you? or who treat you with contempt, or dispute the passage with you?Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Sands at Seventy: Stronger Lessons, Page 438
After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, love, and so on – have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear – what remains? Nature remains.Specimen Days (1881), (Rees Welsh & Co., ed. 1882), New Themes Entered Upon, Page 82
The future is no more uncertain than the present.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of the Broad-Axe, Page 158
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Every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, Every inch of space is a miracle.Leaves of Grass (1856), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Autumn Rivulets: Miracles, Page 325
Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of Myself, Page 45
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of Myself, Page 50
The real war will never get in the books.Specimen Days (1881), The Real War Will Never Get in the Books, Page 80
Nothing can happen more beautiful than death.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Starting from Paumanok, Page 19
A great city is that which has the greatest men and women, If it be a few ragged huts it is still the greatest city in the whole world.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of the Broad-Axe, Page 159
The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every constraint. The wise man sees in it, on the contrary, the potent Law of Laws.Notes Left Over (1888), Freedom; Complete Prose Works (David Mckay, ed. 1897), Page 336
Love, that is day and night – love, that is sun and moon and stars, Love, that is crimson, sumptuous, sick with perfume, no other words but words of love, no other thought but love.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), From Noon to Starry Night: The Mystic Trumpeter, Page 392
What do you suppose will satisfy the soul, except to walk free and own no superior?Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Autumn Rivulets: Laws for Creations, Page 323
To have great poets, there must be great audiences, too.Notes Left Over (1888), Ventures, on an Old Theme; Complete Prose Works (David Mckay, ed. 1897), Page 324
Produce great Persons, the rest follows.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), By Blue Ontario's Shore, Page 285
Nothing out of its place is good, nothing in its place is bad.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), By Blue Ontario's Shore, Page 289
A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of Myself, Page 28
What we are we are, nativity is answer enough to objections, We wield ourselves as a weapon is wielded, We are powerful and tremendous in ourselves.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), By Blue Ontario's Shore, Page 284
Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons, It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.Leaves of Grass (1855), (Doubleday & Co., ed. 1902), Song of the Open Road, Page 125
Disputed
Keep your face always toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you.Anonymous (More info)