{"id":10125,"date":"2023-11-07T00:16:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T00:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=10125"},"modified":"2023-11-07T00:16:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T00:16:49","slug":"election-day-november-1884","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/election-day-november-1884\/","title":{"rendered":"Election Day, November, 1884"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h2>\n

Election Day, November, 1884<\/h2>\n

Walt Whitman<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If I should need to name, O Western World, your powerfulest scene and show,
\n\u2019Twould not be you, Niagara\u2014nor you, ye limitless prairies\u2014nor
\nyour huge rifts of canyons, Colorado,
\nNor you, Yosemite\u2014nor Yellowstone, with all its spasmic
\ngeyser-loops ascending to the skies, appearing and disappearing,
\nNor Oregon\u2019s white cones\u2014nor Huron\u2019s belt of mighty lakes\u2014nor
\nMississippi\u2019s stream:
\n\u2014This seething hemisphere\u2019s humanity, as now, I\u2019d name\u2014the still
\nsmall voice vibrating\u2014America\u2019s choosing day,
\n(The heart of it not in the chosen\u2014the act itself the main, the
\nquadriennial choosing,)
\nThe stretch of North and South arous\u2019d\u2014sea-board and inland\u2014
\nTexas to Maine\u2014the Prairie States\u2014Vermont, Virginia, California,
\nThe final ballot-shower from East to West\u2014the paradox and conflict,
\nThe countless snow-flakes falling\u2014(a swordless conflict,
\nYet more than all Rome\u2019s wars of old, or modern Napoleon\u2019s:) the
\npeaceful choice of all,
\nOr good or ill humanity\u2014welcoming the darker odds, the dross:
\n\u2014Foams and ferments the wine? it serves to purify\u2014while the heart
\npants, life glows:
\nThese stormy gusts and winds waft precious ships,
\nSwell\u2019d Washington\u2019s, Jefferson\u2019s, Lincoln\u2019s sails.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was one of the most influential and innovative poets of the 19th century. He was born in Long Island, New York and had a limited formal education. As a young man he worked as a printer’s apprentice and schoolteacher before turning to journalism and creative writing.<\/p>\n

In 1855, Whitman self-published his collection of poems Leaves of Grass, which he would revise and expand throughout his life. The poems were written in free verse without traditional rhyme or meter, which was highly experimental at the time. Leaves of Grass contained Whitman’s most famous poem, “Song of Myself,” which celebrates the self, the union of body and soul, and the universal humanity that connects all people.<\/p>\n

Whitman led a nomadic lifestyle, working odd jobs across America while continuously revising and expanding Leaves of Grass. His poetry celebrated democracy, individualism, and the beauty of nature and the human body. He became known as America’s “poet of democracy.” Though controversial in his lifetime for his innovative style and treatment of taboo subjects like sexuality, Whitman is now considered one of America’s most influential poets. Major works include Leaves of Grass, “Song of Myself,” “I Sing the Body Electric,” and poems about the Civil War and Lincoln such as “O Captain! My Captain!” Whitman died in Camden, New Jersey at age 72. His poetry has left a lasting impact on world literature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was one of the most influential and innovative poets of the 19th century. He was born in Long Island, New York<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1800s","category-whitman"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}