“Past and present and future are not disjoin'd but join'd.” — Walt Whitman | V2Melody

“Past and present and future are not disjoin'd but join'd.”

Seeing time as a continuum rather than separate compartments · Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855

Memory
Time

About Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

31 May 1819–26 March 1892

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in a modest farmhouse in West Hills, on Long Island, New York, into a working-class family that embodied the restless energy and struggles of early America. He was the second of nine children born to Walter Whitman, a carpenter and farmer of English descent who wrestled with…

More by Walt Whitman

Poems by Walt Whitman

More remarks by Walt Whitman

“The cleanest expression is that which finds no sphere worthy of itself, and makes one.”

Defining originality as the creation of a form adequate to the vision · Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855

Art
Poetry

“The greatest poet does not moralize or make applications of morals—he knows the soul.”

Distinguishing deep moral perception from didactic preaching · Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855

Poetry
Truth

“The known universe has one complete lover and that is the greatest poet.”

Casting the poet's task as an act of total, unconditional love for the world · Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855 edition

Love
Poetry