The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Quinn Medicine Woman: Season 5, Episode 21 (1997)īy the end, some more tolerant folks in the community attend a makeshift reading where the poet recites that idealized paean to the Western frontier, “I Hear America Singing.” When you consider the time and the context of Jane Seymour’s wholesome family drama, credit’s due where this episode got a huge audience thinking about something they normally wouldn’t. It’s tough not to snicker at the clichés of this network television drama but to see Whitman visually personified, portraying boundless optimism this way, it’s sort of irresistible.ĭr. And of course, the town gossip rises to a boil. Part of that recovery works out to be a visit from Peter Doyle, whom historians believe Whitman loved later in life. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons, The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Quinn Medicine Woman” dedicated one whole episode to a made-up story of Walt Whitman recovering from a stroke, in their Colorado town.Īfoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, What left little to the imagination anymore, was Whitman’s widely known companionship with other men, being directly portrayed.Īnd then, reaching a much bigger audience, “Dr.
And there’s no doubting that Walt would have just loved the Internet, if he had it. His lifetime magnum opus “Leaves of Grass” started out as a true “song of himself,” self-published and launched with rave reviews that he wrote anonymously about himself! Sometimes-professor James Franco once wrote an article suggesting that Whitman was the original Kanye West.
Now voyager sail forth to seek and find full#
From silent movies of the early 20th century, to episodic dramas on television today, I’m focusing here on the poet showing up in cinema and television – and since the lines are blurred by now, I’m just calling this “Whitman on Film.”īorn May 31, 1819, Walt Whitman came of age surrounded with new technology and American enterprise, something he celebrated with joy, taking full advantage as a writer. In 2019, we’re celebrating his 200th birthday, reconciling his legacy across two centuries of American history, and his influence on media beyond the printed word. Walt Whitman might be the best known poet in print, not to mention in film and television through the years.
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