I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
Walt Whitman Leaves of Grass, Song of Myself, 1 (1855)
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When and why it was written
- When
- From the opening of Song of Myself, first published in Leaves of Grass in 1855.
- Why
- Whitman begins his long poem with an act of idleness.
What it means
Whitman makes loafing a spiritual practice. He invites his soul by slowing down enough to look at a single blade of grass.
Attention to small things is where his whole enormous poem begins.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Leaves of Grass, 1855
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