I took American Lit sophomore year and for the most part loved it. But for some stupid reason I had a bit of prejudice toward poetry. I thought it was like the poet Mary Karr says, "A trick on smart people."
So I Sparknotes'd "Leaves of Grass" and didn't really join in on the conversations that required detailed knowledge of the book.
But I picked up a copy of the most famous American poem ever written at the library recently and it has been blowing my mind.
I had to read this three times before I understood what he was talking about. But when I read it once I realized I had to read it a few more times ...
"Dazzling and tremendous how quick the sunrise would kill me,
It I could not now and always send the sunrise out of me.
We also ascend dazzling and tremendous as the sun,
We found our own my soul in the calm and cool of the daybreak.
My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,
With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of worlds.
Speech is the twin of my vision....it is unequal to measure itself.
It provokes me forever,
It says sarcastically, Walt, you understand enough....why don't you let it out
then?"
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