Meditations of Walt Whitman: Earth, My Likeness

by Chris Highland

Overview

Carry Walt Whitman’s wisdom with you in this inspirational guide that features 60 selections from his most insightful poems.

Walt Whitman, the great American poet of the 19th century (1819–1892), celebrated his body, the land, the commonest of people, the plants and leaves, and the cosmos in Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855. Working variously as a printer, journalist, teacher, and Civil War nurse, Whitman traveled across the continent, soaking the ink of the wilds and the urban into his pen. His poetry is an invitation into the wilds of Nature and human nature.

In Meditations of Walt Whitman, editor Chris Highland pairs 60 short selections from Whitman’s poetry with a relevant quote from a historical or contemporary writer and thinker, from Aristotle to Alice Walker, Lord Byron to Arthur C. Clarke. Take this pocket-size guide with you on backpacks, nature hikes, and camping trips. Let Whitman’s words enrich your experience as you ponder the wilderness from riverbank, mountaintop, or as you relax beside your campfire.

Inside you’ll find:

• 60 inspiring selections of poetry from Walt Whitman
• Relevant text from other philosophical minds
• Short excerpts for convenient reading

This sampler from Whitman’s poems draws from the heart of each passage. Let Whitman’s words accompany you on your own trails of discovery and help you discover the earth, your likeness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780899976143
Publisher:	Wilderness Press
Publication date:	01/01/2010
Series:	Nature's Inspiration
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	190
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Chris Highland is an interspiritual chaplain, author, songwriter and poet. He completed his undergraduate studies in religion and philosophy in Seattle, Washington, before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area to complete his Masters degree. A passionate saunterer, he enjoys an intimate relation with Nature in forests, mountains and waterfalls. An avowed heretic (“one who seeks new paths”), Chris’ writing reflects his exploration of the edges of human society and his playful search for what Emerson called “high, clear and spiritual conversation,” to be had by each and every one of us as “beggars on the highway.” Chris is the author of “Meditations of John Muir: Nature’s Temple,” “Meditations of Henry David Thoreau: A Light in the Woods,” and “Meditations of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Into the Green Future,” all from Wilderness Press.

Read an Excerpt

Earth Lover

I am he that walks with the tender and growing night,
I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.

Press close bare-bosom’d night—press close magnetic nourishing night!
Night of south winds—night of the large few stars!
Still nodding night—mad naked summer night.

Smile O voluptuous cool-breath’d earth!
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
Earth of departed sunset—earth of the mountains misty-topt!
Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!
Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river! Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!
Far-swooping elbow’d earth—rich apple-blossom’d earth!
Smile, for your lover comes.

Prodigal, you have given me love—therefore I to you give love!
O unspeakable passionate love.

*****

“Where has nature spread so rich a mantle under the eye?
mountains, forests, rocks, rivers ...

How sublime to look down into the workhouse of nature,
to see her clouds, hail, snow, rain, thunder,
all fabricated at our feet!”

~Thomas Jefferson
Letter to Maria Cosway, Paris, October 12, 1786

Table of Contents

	Introduction
	A Note on Poetic Selection
	Whitman Selection, with Source and Companion
1	Traveling Souls from "Song Of The Open Road"
2	Earth, My Likeness "Earth, My Likeness" (Calamus)
3	World Garden "To The Garden The World" (Children Of Adam)
4	Fools from "We Two, How Long We Were Fool'd" (Children Of Adam)
5	Roots & Leaves "Roots And Leaves Themselves Alone" (Calamus)
6	Formed From This Soil from "Song Of Myself"
7	What Is The Grass? from "Song Of Myself"
8	Caressing Life from "Song Of Myself"
9	Earth Lover from "Song Of Myself"
10	Perspective from "Song Of Myself"
11	Anima-Animal from "Song Of Myself"
12	What Do You See Walt Whitman? from "Salut Au Monde!"
13	Inhaling from "Song Of The Open Road"
14	The Float of Things from "Song Of The Open Road"
15	Flow On, River, Flow from "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"
16	Myriads Unnoticed from "Our Old Feuillage"
17	O The Joy from "A Song Of Joys"
18	Common Destiny from "Song Of The Exposition"
19	Chant Of The Seasons And Time from "Song Of The Redwood-Tree"
20	Apple-Shaped Earth from "A Song For Occupations"
21	Workshop Of Souls from "A Song Of The Rolling Earth"
22	I Swear from "A Song Of The Rolling Earth"
23	The Seed Is Waiting from "Song Of The Universal" (Birds Of Passage)
24	Walking The Walk Of Dreams from "To You" (Birds Of Passage)
25	Island Shore from "As I Ebb'd With The Ocean Of Life" (Sea-Drift)
26	Trans-Parent from "On The Beach At Night" and "On The Beach At Night Alone" (Sea-Drift)
27	Be Thou My God "Gods" (By The Roadside)
28	Eagles "The Dalliance Of The Eagles" (By The Roadside)
29	Hungering Gymnastic from "Rise O Days From Your Fathomless Deeps" (Drum-Taps)
30	Star Camp "Bivouac On A Mountain Side" (Drum-Taps)
31	At The Foot Of A Tree "As Toilsome I Wander'd Virginia's Woods" (Drum-Taps)
32	Primal Sanity from "Give Me The Splendid Silent Sun" (Drum-Taps)
33	Every Leaf A Miracle from "When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd" (Memories Of President Lincoln)
34	O Wondrous Singer! from "When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloom'd" (Memories Of President Lincoln)
35	Mystic Ocean Currents from "As Consequent, Etc." (Autumn Rivulets)
36	Calm Annual Drama from "The Return Of The Heroes" (Autumn Rivulets)
37	Mother Of All from "The Return Of The Heroes" (Autumn Rivulets)
38	What Chemistry! from "This Compost" (Autumn Rivulets)
39	Thou Soul Unloosen'd from "Warble For Lilac-Time" (Autumn Rivulets)
40	Thy Name An Earth from "Outlines For A Tomb" (Autumn Rivulets)
41	Wonderfulness "Miracles" (Autumn Rivulets)
42	Constructing The House "Kosmos" (Autumn Rivulets)
43	Storm Music from "Proud Music Of The Storm"
44	The True Child Of God from "Passage To India"
45	Hoist The Anchor from "Passage To India"
46	Interweb "A Noiseless Patient Spider" (Whispers Of Heavenly Death)
47	Upon Heaven's Lake from "The Mystic Trumpeter" (From Noon To Starry Night)
48	Wild Spirit "Spirit That Form'd This Scene" (From Noon To Starry Night)
49	Wonderful To Be Here! from "Song At Sunset" (Songs Of Parting)
50	My Windows My Eyes from "Song At Sunset" (Songs Of Parting)
51	Tents Of Green from "Camps Of Green" (Songs Of Parting)
52	Of Joy, Sweet Joy "As They Draw To A Close" (Songs Of Parting)
53	Let Go The Ropes "Now Finale To The Shore" (Songs Of Parting)
54	Nothing Can Be Lost "Continuities" (Sands At Seventy)
55	Rain "The Voice Of The Rain" (Sands At Seventy)
56	Simple Shows "Soon Shall The Winter's Foil Be Here" (Sands At Seventy)
57	Sunset "A Prairie Sunset" (Sands At Seventy)
58	Touch Of Flame "Old Age's Lambent Peaks" (Sands At Seventy)
59	I Feel The Sky "To The Sun-set Breeze" (Good-Bye My Fancy)
60	Strangely Hidden "A Persian Lesson" (Good-Bye My Fancy)
	Afterword: You Shall Be A Great Poem from "Preface" (Leaves Of Grass, 1855 edition)
	Sources
	Photo Credits