It always amazes me how much Whitman loved nature. He takes his time there to lean and loaf b y a pond and bird watches. It is hard for me to see him as a b'hoy of the Bowery as much as a the Whitman of nature. It's almost as if he had some sort of all encompassing hippy dippy love. Like 1969 was actually the culmination of a culturally rich ideally Whitmanian explosion. Except with drugs. Which i don't think Whitman would have dug. I think drugs are in the perfume category for him.
It is weird to think of what happened in America post Whitman and how much he may have influenced it. For instance how manhood was perceive in the beginning of the 20th century with the creation of all those boys clubs ect. Or Teddy Roosevelt calling for people to go out side. That nature prevented the "sissification" of men ( i have a source for this, let me check my papers and i will show you).
Surely some sort of twisted and corrupt Whitmanian stance led to that? ( i don't think Whitman would have approved the word "sissification" ).
I wonder how this man who said he could contain all always came out so sensibly in his own life for the love of nature. How could he really be a "rough" when he so loved nature and beauty? I am glad he didn't live to see the first world war. As much as the civil war broke his heart, which it did, i wonder how modernity WW1 would have affected him.
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