Song+of+the+Open+Road

Now if a thousand perfect men were to appear it would not amaze me, Now if a thousand beautiful forms of women appear'd it would not astonish me.

Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons, It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.

Here a great personal deed has room, (Such a deed seizes upon the hearts of the whole race of men, Its effusion of strength and will overwhelms law and mocks all authority and all argument against it.)

Here is the test of wisdom, Wisdom is not finally tested in schools, Wisdom cannot be pass'd from one having it to another not having it, Wisdom is of the soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof, Applies to all stages and objects and qualities and is content, Is the certainty of the reality and immortality of things, and the excellence of things; Something there is in the float of the sight of things that provokes it out of the soul.

Now I re-examine philosophies and religions, They may prove well in lecture-rooms, yet not prove at all under the spacious clouds and along the landscape and flowing currents.

Here is realization, Here is a man tallied-he realizes here what he has in him, The past, the future, majesty, love-if they are vacant of you, you are vacant of them.

This was the section that our group chose to read out loud to the class. Walt Whitman is a very unique writer. Some of his poems i dont really like, but this one i enjoyed reading. I think it was because it had pretty easy words in it and it was talking about a subject that we understand.

The line " Wisdom is not finally tested in schools," was one that i really liked. I liked this quote because it tells us that wisdom isn't something that we can just learn from a book of from a teacher. Wisdom is something that we have and it grows in time. Some people only think that the only way you are smart is if you get straight A's but that is not necessarily true.

Overall this poem was about life, and its journey. It tells us about all of life's emotions. How we expierence good things and some not so good things. I really liked this poem and it had a good message to it. It taught me that even when life isn't going to well, i should just keep on going because life will get better. 1201581832