The Long and Short: Walt Whitman’s ‘Song of Myself’

Mark Ford and Seamus Perry

In the second episode of The Long and Short, Mark and Seamus turn to Walt Whitman's ‘Song of Myself’, from Leaves of Grass (1855), for Mark ‘one of the most exciting things literature has to offer’. They discuss the extraordinary physicality and exuberance of this seminal American poem, its relationship with urbanism, capitalism and sexuality, and its Johnny Appleseed-spirit, among many other things.

This is an extract from the episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up here: https://lrb.me/closereadings

Further Reading:

Richard Poirier: In Praise of Mess

Mark Ford: Petty Grotesques

John Bayley: Manly Love

Mark Ford: ‘Six Children’

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