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Song of the Open Road
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Illustration of "The Lamb" from "Songs of Innocence" by William Blake, 1879. poem; poetry
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4:043 Dickinson, Emily: A Life of Letters, This is my letter to the world/That never wrote to me; I'll tell you how the Sun Rose/A Ribbon at a time; Hope is the thing with feathers/That perches in the soul
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Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) only confirmed photograph of Emily Dickinson. 1978 scan of a Daguerreotype. ca. 1847; in the Amherst College Archives. American poet. See Notes:
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Song of the Open Road

poem by Whitman
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History

Song of the Open Road, poem by Walt Whitman, first published in the second edition of Leaves of Grass in 1856. The 15-stanza poem is an optimistic paean to wanderlust.

Whitman exalts the carefree pleasures of traveling, encouraging others to break free from their stifling domestic attachments to join him. Inspired by the expansive American landscape, he exhorts the reader to become his fellow traveler. Written in free verse, the poem is noted for its use of apostrophe, repetition, and exclamation.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.