Knee-Jerk Whitman Post

All those who worship at the altar of Walt Whitman bear in mind that art is subjective. One man's Jackson Pollack is another man's mess that his four year old daughter made in the playroom today. Also know that although one may not enjoy a particular piece of art or artist (and by artist I mean writer, painter, sculptor, actor, etc.), it does not necessarily mean that one does not appreciate the significance of that art or artist. For example, I really hate Led Zeppelin's music. This is traditionally met with gasps and cursing, and questions regarding my masculinity. While this ado is occurring, my new enemies aren't hearing me say that while I don't care for the music, I still have enormous respect and understanding for Zeppelin's contribution to music and the profound influence they had on rock in the last 30 years. In other words, I get it, I just don't dig it.
Which brings me back to our friend Walt. Certainly he was influential. Probably he was the most influential poet in America. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg would cite Whitman as one of his major influences over 60 years after his death. He certainly wrote in a style that was drastically different from predecessors like Blake, Pope, and Burns. He wrote of himself and of nature, often intertwined and indistiguishable from one another. He turned away from abstract ideas centered around "greater than the self" religion and faith (18th century) and metaphysics (17th century). No, Whitman made it all about himself. Well, not completely. Sometimes it was about what we of the future would think of him and the things he was thinking about.
this isn't over . . .