Monday, March 28, 2011

Revisiting Walt Whitman

Rereading Whitman was a different read than the first time I went through it.  First I was trying to get the main points of his writing and had to generalize his arguments.  But the second time was more enjoyable because I was already a little familiar with it and could just enjoy how he writes.  He has a lot to say, and the content can be overwhelming.  I like his style even better than what he has to say.  Here's a quotation from his work that I find interesting:

"The problem of humanity...is to be finally met and treated by literature" (760).

I'm not sure what the problem of humanity is or what I can do about it.  I'm guessing it's a sort of feeling of incompleteness.  We often want to learn more, do more, and be more than we currently are.  Literature is a way for us to express ourselves and go about solving problems.

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