I studied with a very lovely woman—a passionate Walt Whitman scholar. She worked my ass off. Technically, she made me a Walt Whitman expert. I passed her comprehensive exam with high distinction. Which is fitting, since Walt Whitman is my poetic father. Seriously, reading his work is how my mind survived my childhood.»
Did you know Whitman self-published the first edition of Leaves of Grass? Before Amazon.com and Kindle, before blogs and Twitter, the greatest American poet literally made his own book.
It didn’t sell very well, but it got Emerson’s attention. He wrote Walt a letter: “I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” See, Emerson—the humble Buddha that he was—recognized in Whitman the American poet he had called for, but would never be.
And do you know what Whitman did with Emerson’s letter? He quoted it without asking permission. He printed a blurb—“I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” -R W Emerson»—on the spine of the second edition of Leaves of Grass.
He knew how to market himself: rogue bohemian poet.
So guess what happened to Walt Whitman after he published the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass—the one with all the sex in it. His boss read it and found it offensive. Whitman was fired.
Now, keeping in mind my emotional connection to Whitman from childhood, and that little historical fact about Whitman’s employment problems, consider this:
When I was sitting in the Dean’s office, being subtly, artfully fired for my blogging», there was a Walt Whitman portrait on the wall.
I stared at it the entire time.
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