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The Complete Poems
by Walt Whitman, Francis Murphy
by Walt Whitman, Francis Murphy
Taka's review
bookshelves: american_lit, japan_jul07-aug10, poetry
Jul 03, 11
bookshelves: american_lit, japan_jul07-aug10, poetry
Read from June 16 to July 03, 2011
An American Ubermensch--
Nietzsche would have loved Whitman's expansive, all-encompassing poetry that celebrates the human body, soul, and the world; Whitman's poems all say "yes" to life, an ideal Nietzsche found to be the philosophy of the future in contrast to the "nay-saying" philosophies and religions (most prominently, Christianity).
Whitman sings of democratic America, of the common people, of sexuality, and of unconditional love of everything about life. He finds voice, poetry, specifically for the new world power that was emerging in his lifetime, and it is full of energy, openness, and simplicity.
Not being in the habit of reading poetry, I've had some difficulties understanding some of them, but I enjoyed the overall experience, of having a glimpse into the poetic soul of the U.S. circa the late 19th century.
Good stuff.
Nietzsche would have loved Whitman's expansive, all-encompassing poetry that celebrates the human body, soul, and the world; Whitman's poems all say "yes" to life, an ideal Nietzsche found to be the philosophy of the future in contrast to the "nay-saying" philosophies and religions (most prominently, Christianity).
Whitman sings of democratic America, of the common people, of sexuality, and of unconditional love of everything about life. He finds voice, poetry, specifically for the new world power that was emerging in his lifetime, and it is full of energy, openness, and simplicity.
Not being in the habit of reading poetry, I've had some difficulties understanding some of them, but I enjoyed the overall experience, of having a glimpse into the poetic soul of the U.S. circa the late 19th century.
Good stuff.
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Stewart
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Jul 04, 2011 09:46am
I can appreciate Whitman, but I don't like him. He's just too bombastic and self-satisfied. (or reads that way)
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Interesting. I guess he could come across as bombastic and self-satisfied, though I read him differently—expansive and unconditionally life-loving. The way he advertised himself in his own time, though, is definitely (and deliberately) bombastic & self-satisfied for sure
