When I Read the Book

When I Read the Book
When I read the book, the biography famous,
And is this then (said I) what the author calls a man’s life?
And so will some one when I am dead and gone write my life?
(As if any man really knew aught of my life,
Why even I myself I often think know little or nothing of my real life,
Only a few hints, a few diffused faint clews and indirections
I seek for my own use to trace out here.)

About Walt Whitman

American poet, essayist, and journalist. His work was controversial in its time for its overt sensuality and celebration of the human form.

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