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This episode is about the many facets of America’s Poet - Walt Whitman.  George attempts to take a deep dive (as much as possible in a single podcast episode) into the personal life of Walt Whitman, fully knowing that millions of words have been written about him.

• Learn about the time that Whitman met Poe.
• Learn a VERY embarrassing (but hopefully enlightening) story about George.
• Learn about MAJOR differences between different editions of Leaves of Grass,
• Learn why the Calamus poems were so controversial.
• Learn about the time that Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde met.
• Learn how Rufus Griswold (yes, THAT Griswold) trashed Whitman.
• Learn how Whitman was considered undesirable and shocking for “decent ears.”
• Learn how lawyers of the time considered Whitman a homosexual because he never smoked, and did not enjoy war.

00:00 Introduction 
01:54 Whitman and Poe
07:22 “Shame” around the campfire
09:01 Whitman’s life
12:31 Comparison of versions from Leaves of Grass
16:53 Civil War and Beat! Beat! Drums!
18:40 O Captain, My Captain
21:04 from Crossing Brooklyn Ferry 
22:14 Calamus poems
29:13 Reflections on public perceptions
30:49 Walt Whitman’s Anomaly
34:16 Whitman and intimate relationships?
36:01 Rufus Griswold’s opinions
38:30 Meeting of Wilde and Whitman
40:41 Conclusion
44:20 Future Episodes
44:52 Sources
45:54 Outro

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