From the Preface to Whitman‘s 1855 Leaves of Grass:
…take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men…
The English language befriends the grand American expression—it is brawny enough, and limber and full enough. On the tough stock of a race who through all change of circumstance was never without the idea of political liberty, which is the animus of all liberty, it has attracted the terms of daintier and gayer and subtler and more elegant tongues. It is the powerful language of resistance—it is the dialect of common sense.
WHITMAN ON LANGUAGE AND HATS.
February 9, 2003 by Leave a Comment
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