my southern baptist american lit professor told me his work was vulgar and humanist, citing whitman's line – "Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am/touch'd from,/The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer,/This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds." these words were the seed to my introspection and doubts of much of the dogma i later rejected.

Song of Myself (quoted above) eventually helped shake me out of quite a few delusions i had in college. after Dead Poets' Society, my favorite movie at the time and steeped in Whitmanology, i read Leaves of Grass and once again learned things about confidence in myself and my decisions. i even wrote some rather weak free verse (for my eyes only). Whitman remains for me the most original poet, and anyone trying to write free verse should start with him...