Walt Whitman Sings the Song of the Redwoods
![Whitman in 1875 by Thomas Dewing [Public domain]](https://i0.wp.com/keith-skinner.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/459px-Thomas_Wilmer_Dewing_-_Walt_Whitman_-_1875-e1429045016370.jpg?resize=307%2C400&ssl=1)
Though Whitman may never have “[Faced] west, from California’s shores,” as he trumpeted in one California poem, his opening stanzas resounded with authenticity. I expected the rest of the poem to be a testament to the grace and beauty of the redwood-covered hills and a condemnation of the jack-screw men intent on plundering ancient natural resources. Then I reached the line which read, “not of the past only, but of the future.” Uh-oh. Continue Reading →