PopWhitman

Edward Norton paid an ode to Walt Whitman by producing and staring in modern film version of Leaves of Grass. The plot is centered around a set of twin brothers who lead two very opposite lives: Bill is a professor dedicated to all things academia, Brady is a hick dedicated to all things marijuana.  Bill is told that Brady was killed with a crossbow, so he goes to Oklahoma to pay his respects, when he gets there he finds Brady alive and well. Bill meets a local girl who tells him a thing or two about poetry:

 

The movie has many themes that appear in Whitman's poetry: the dignity of any sort of labor, freedom granted to us  by nature, the connection that grass has created for all living things, the beauty and wholeness of life and the incredible gift of being alive. The use of twins as main characters demonstrates the unnatural nature that people have created for mankind. The nature of being twins suggest that all humans share a likeness due to the fact that we all come from the same place and walk the same earth; however, the difference in the twins character shows how society manifests unnatural borders that separate people from one another and nature.

 The other day was my friends birthday, as one of her present she got a gay mug. When not in use the mug looks has doors around it. When the mug is filled with hot coffee or tea, the doors fade away and magically reveal the portraits of some legendary men and women who happened to be gay. Among them Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein and of course Walt Whitman. 

 

Many musician's have been inspired by Walt Whitman Poems. These include Bob Dylan, The Smiths, and Billy Bragg & Wilco. Billy Bragg & Wilco wrote a nice little bluegrass tune about Whitman's niece. The lyrics are reminiscent of Whitman's poems with innuendos duality and loafing. The song is lacking any type of meter or rhyme scheme like  most of Whitman's poetry.