Walt Whitman Had Troubling Views. So Why Is He Still Venerated?

“The question goes beyond whether or not Whitman should be banished fromthe literary forum, if such a thing were even possible. If America canbe said to have a national poet, if “O Captain! My Captain!” is stillmemorized by schoolchildren, then the fact of Whitman is burned intoAmerica’s signature.” – Los Angeles Review of Books