The American Experience - Walt Whitman

Get ready to give a mighty yawp! You can watch a documentary on the great poet, Walt Whitman, seen on PBS, right here. Yawp, I say!

Here is an excerpt of one of his most beloved poems, "Song of the Open Road":

Allons! the road is before us!
It is safe--I have tried it--my own feet have tried it well--be not detain'd!
Let the paper remain on the desk unwritten, and the book on the
shelf unopen'd!
Let the tools remain in the workshop! let the money remain unearn'd!
Let the school stand! mind not the cry of the teacher!
Let the preacher preach in his pulpit! let the lawyer plead in the
court, and the judge expound the law.

Camerado, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than money,
I give you myself before preaching or law;
Will you give me yourself? will you come travel with me?
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?

Enjoy the documentary and your day, dear camerados!