Quotes by Walt Whitman

American poet1819–1892

Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass in 1855 and kept revising and enlarging it until the last edition of 1891–92. His long, unrhymed lines broke with the verse of his day. During the American Civil War he worked as a volunteer nurse in Washington hospitals.

Do I contradict myself? / Very well then I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Walt WhitmanSong of Myself, section 51, Leaves of Grass, 1855

I celebrate myself, and sing myself, / And what I assume you shall assume, / For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

Walt WhitmanSong of Myself, section 1, Leaves of Grass, 1855 (wording of the 1891–92 edition)

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Walt WhitmanI Hear America Singing, Leaves of Grass, 1860

I loafe and invite my soul, / I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

Walt WhitmanSong of Myself, section 1, Leaves of Grass, 1855