Saturday, May 31, 2014

Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”: Just the Gay Parts

This weekend marks the 195th birthday of arguably the most American of American poets, Walt Whitman. Equally beloved and hated by literature students across this nation (in the interest of full disclosure, I fall into the latter category), Whitman is best known for his seminal collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass.

 He’s also well known for his, well, overt homoeroticism, particularly in the epic poem “Song of Myself.” You could celebrate his birthday by reading the poem in its entirety, or you could just stick to the gay parts, which I have pulled for your convenience here. What does this truncated version of the poem teach us? Walt Whitman was a horny guy, for sure.  … Read More

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