Poetry

Walt Whitman's Song of the Open Road, from his seminal work Leaves of Grass, is a celebration of freedom and the joy of journeying.

In Whitman's classic poem, the road becomes a metaphor for life's journey, full of possibilities, adventures, and the promise of personal discovery. Song of the Open Road encapsulates the essence of American transcendentalism, advocating for self-reliance and a profound connection with nature. Whitman's language and verse mirrors the free spirit of the open road, where societal constraints dissolve and the individual becomes one with the world.

“To know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, as roads for traveling souls.”—Walt Whitman

In his 1915 poem “Blueberries,” Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Frost makes the ordinary experience of picking wild blueberries into an extraordinary endeavor, where you can smell the morning damp, feel the sun on your head, and take delight in being the first to discover a blueberry patch ripe for picking. In the poem, Frost also introduces the reader to a poor neighbor family that needs the wild berries they pick to survive.  This short work is part of Applewood’s “American Roots,” series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America’s most famous writers.