“Self-reliant, with haughty eyes, assuming to himself all the attributes of his country, steps Walt Whitman into literature”
— Walt Whitman on Walt Whitman
— Walt Whitman on Walt Whitman
In 1850, Walt Whitman started writing Leaves of Grass, a sprawling work of free-verse poetry that he would keep working on until he died, 42 years later.
As I write this I’m inching towards 42 and just last night my son said to me, cheerfully, “You’re probably about halfway through your life, huh?” I thought about all the life I’ve lived in 41-and-a-half years and how honestly really a lot has happened — I mean, I started as a baby — and all the things I might do and write in the next 42 years. My son asked me how that felt, to potentially be right in the middle of my
