oh no - "racially tinged". end of the world boilerplate.
Very few humans only eat meat. Only those that live in extreme high latitudes such as the Inuit people, and mainly due to lack of vegetation during most of the winter.
As far as I can tell, Inuit of the past are not known for longevity. Japanese people live long and healthy. They have a mixed diet and it includes proteins from fish and soy (tofu).
As far as I can tell, Inuit of the past are not known for longevity. Japanese people live long and healthy. They have a mixed diet and it includes proteins from fish and soy (tofu).
2
A Paleo-Diet...Ha Ha
Would a respected publication, like the NY Times, ever consider dispensing entirely with the promotion of dietary claims, that lead to super-human health and eternal youth?
Would a respected publication, like the NY Times, ever consider dispensing entirely with the promotion of dietary claims, that lead to super-human health and eternal youth?
1
Ahh "the perils of “too much brain action and fretting,” even more true today!
7
There's only one problem with Walt Whitman's paleo diet of "meat only." Virtually, NO PALEO PEOPLES ATE THAT DIET. With the possibly exception of some Eskimo/Innuit and other Actic dwellers, virtually all stone age people at a mixed diet, vegetables, roots, fruits, and some meat, some fish. We are omnivore's and true paleos ate what was available. In my own area of California, the primary nutrition came from the acorn. Yet, I never see acorns as a part of a paleo diet.
7
@Douglas:
"Paleo" authors and people who actually eat modern versions of the "paleo" diet would describe it exactly as you did -- a mixed omnivorous diet. Only the popular media, in ignorance of what a "paleo diet" means, would describe it as "all meat."
The acorn thing is interesting, I'll have do some reading on that.
"Paleo" authors and people who actually eat modern versions of the "paleo" diet would describe it exactly as you did -- a mixed omnivorous diet. Only the popular media, in ignorance of what a "paleo diet" means, would describe it as "all meat."
The acorn thing is interesting, I'll have do some reading on that.
2
I think California would be much improved if the state government could pass a law dictating that state residents return to their "natural" diet of mostly acorns, especially within the Hollywood and other super rich, hectoring-us-all zip codes.
1
If Whitman was into health and fitness, why did he look like that?
9
This is an amazing find, just imagine what other unknown works await re-discovery, and how many remain lost and ship wrecked on the wrong side of technological history.
(The thought of the earliest human recorded voice, a young woman singing and playing guitar, unearthed in France comes to mind.)
Having once engaged in an article search for a more modern period of time, where one would expect nearly everything relevant to a topic to exist in complete and accessible form, I was surprised by how much actually gets missed.
Electronic searches are never comprehensive. And even micro-fiche copies can miss relevant content that can sometimes only be revealed by a careful, page by page manual review of original publications.
Not a comforting thought for building confidence in the completeness of a research project, but there is something of the thrill of the unknown and discoveries yet to come that is still preserved, even in this digital age.
(The thought of the earliest human recorded voice, a young woman singing and playing guitar, unearthed in France comes to mind.)
Having once engaged in an article search for a more modern period of time, where one would expect nearly everything relevant to a topic to exist in complete and accessible form, I was surprised by how much actually gets missed.
Electronic searches are never comprehensive. And even micro-fiche copies can miss relevant content that can sometimes only be revealed by a careful, page by page manual review of original publications.
Not a comforting thought for building confidence in the completeness of a research project, but there is something of the thrill of the unknown and discoveries yet to come that is still preserved, even in this digital age.
6
I'm a prehistoric archaeologist, and the definition of a "Paleo" diet is a sham. Paleolithic hunter-gathers, or more properly gatherer-hunters ate as omnivorous diet as they could. The myth that these prehistoric people were only meat (protein) eaters is just that, a myth. In some cases when only meat was available in the winter, a disease called protein starvation occurred (i.e. in the Great Basin). An omnivorous diet is what H. sapiens is adapted for - period.
8
@Steve Shackley:
Every "paleo" author and everyone who actually eats a modern version of a paleo/primal/ancestral diet would agree with you.
It's only in the popular media that a "paleo" diet approach is described as "all meat," apparently the author can't be bothered to do a little research.
Every "paleo" author and everyone who actually eats a modern version of a paleo/primal/ancestral diet would agree with you.
It's only in the popular media that a "paleo" diet approach is described as "all meat," apparently the author can't be bothered to do a little research.
2
There is a common belief that the best, some would say only, way to get the protein required by the body is by eating meat and other animal products. This is factually incorrect. Clear evidence for getting adequate protein from plant sources can be found in Dr. Michael Greger's new book, "How Not To Die" and in free videos on his website "NutritionFacts.org".
3
@William:
The proteins in animal foods are easier to digest and contain more of the essential amino acids in the right proportions, compared to plant foods (with the possible exception of soy).
Animal foods contain more protein than plant foods.
Animal foods contain numerous other essential nutrients, many of which are absent or difficult to get from plant foods.
The proteins in animal foods are easier to digest and contain more of the essential amino acids in the right proportions, compared to plant foods (with the possible exception of soy).
Animal foods contain more protein than plant foods.
Animal foods contain numerous other essential nutrients, many of which are absent or difficult to get from plant foods.
3
Kudos to Zachary Turpin and for the kind of research he embraced. In my humble opinion, there seems to be an increase in the dependence of list-serv-based forms of research (Whitman might perceive them as a lazy, sedentary approach). I believe that list-servs are valuable but I prefer to use them either as a last resort or as one plank in the process. Why? Because it deprives one of the research experience and the joys and disappointments that are included in that pursuit. And in Mr.Turpin's case, it was his "off-hour" "sickness", and most importantly, his use of search-terms, that is the many pseudonyms of Whitman that landed him in a coveted position that every archivist, historian, researcher, graduate student dreams of.
7
No need to read the entire article, just this sentence:
"It's sort of an insane document."
"It's sort of an insane document."
4
Let's not forget that Whitman worked as a nurse in military hospitals during the Civil War, at a time when conditions in those hospitals was abysmal. Some of his ideas about health may have been influenced by that experience.
2
This piece of Whitman's is dated 1858. TheCivil War didn't begin until 1861.
5
Congratulations to Zachary Turpin, for serious archival scholarship, even if the NYT almost can't bear giving him his due: "The series was uncovered last summer by a graduate student,"--note passive voice construction, and that we don't get the name of the graduate student for a few hundred more words, after we hear from a couple of full professors, as if to legitimate both the discovery and the student.
15
Yeah I thought that was weird too. If a hot shot at Harvard had discovered it the name would have been front and center.
I also noticed that the only direct quotes the writer chose to include are funny/quirky ones ("it's kind of a sickness"; "it's sort of an insane document"), not substantial or informative ones. It just seems a little disrespectful given that he discovered an entirely new piece by one of the greatest American writers in history - not an easy or common feat for a scholar of any level.
I also noticed that the only direct quotes the writer chose to include are funny/quirky ones ("it's kind of a sickness"; "it's sort of an insane document"), not substantial or informative ones. It just seems a little disrespectful given that he discovered an entirely new piece by one of the greatest American writers in history - not an easy or common feat for a scholar of any level.
6
I'd forgotten that what for most writers would be a full paragraph is for Whitman just one sentence:
"Early rising, early to bed, exercise, plain food, thorough and persevering continuance in gently-commenced training, the cultivation with resolute will of a cheerful temper, the society of friends and a certain number of hours spent every day in regular employment—these, we say, simple as they are, are enough to revolutionize life, and change it from a scene of gloom, feebleness, and irresolution, into life indeed, as becomes such a universe as this, full of all the
essential means of happiness, full of well-intentioned and affectionate men and women, with the beneficent processes of nature always at work, the sun shining, the flowers blooming, the crops growing, the waters running, with all else that is wanted, only that man should be rightly toned to partake of the universal
strength and joy."
Not there's anything wrong with that.
"Early rising, early to bed, exercise, plain food, thorough and persevering continuance in gently-commenced training, the cultivation with resolute will of a cheerful temper, the society of friends and a certain number of hours spent every day in regular employment—these, we say, simple as they are, are enough to revolutionize life, and change it from a scene of gloom, feebleness, and irresolution, into life indeed, as becomes such a universe as this, full of all the
essential means of happiness, full of well-intentioned and affectionate men and women, with the beneficent processes of nature always at work, the sun shining, the flowers blooming, the crops growing, the waters running, with all else that is wanted, only that man should be rightly toned to partake of the universal
strength and joy."
Not there's anything wrong with that.
9
Hurrah for bringing this to light again. Yes, the man did contain multitudes.
15
We need to recall that our current definitions of sexual orientation did not exist yet in 1858 and people did not hasten to pigeonhole themselves accordingly back then. Sexual orientation was more nebulous before the arrival of psychiatry, and not systematized. What does it say about the superficial nature of American culture that we insist relentlessly on categorizing everything and everyone according to our own narrow world views?
29
There's no need to categorize Whitman. He loved who he loved. Men! Those feelings were just as common then and they are now.
1
Why would you ask a question with an obvious answer, to wit, "What does it say about the superficial nature of American culture that we insist relentlessly on categorizing everything and everyone according to our own narrow world views?"
Why not tell us what it means and, thereby, push the public dialogue into a more profound and helpful strata? By not doing so, you sound somewhat coy, and that only supports the superficial disaster that is American culture, complete with sometimes fatal labeling of persons. Come on! Take a risk! You're old enough. Say something with grit and meaning and stop skating on the surface that is dissolving under you. It is a kind of intellectual cowardice, you know, to play such games and it is part of what is terribly wrong in American self-understanding. There. See? I did it, and I'm still alive. Now, you try it and see if you can stand the exposure.
Why not tell us what it means and, thereby, push the public dialogue into a more profound and helpful strata? By not doing so, you sound somewhat coy, and that only supports the superficial disaster that is American culture, complete with sometimes fatal labeling of persons. Come on! Take a risk! You're old enough. Say something with grit and meaning and stop skating on the surface that is dissolving under you. It is a kind of intellectual cowardice, you know, to play such games and it is part of what is terribly wrong in American self-understanding. There. See? I did it, and I'm still alive. Now, you try it and see if you can stand the exposure.
2
Very thought provoking comment. I think about this quite often. I might add, that with this cookie cutter mindset comes a total lack of empathy. Perhaps, unlike modern psychiatry tells us, "self realization" is instead a byproduct of empathy. Perhaps the founders of modern psychiatry were all sociopaths and that is why empathetic people suffer the ironic self-centered "normalcy" encouraged by them. There is a terrific book that I highly recommend "People of the Lie". Based on your comment, I think you will enjoy it.
1
According to Websters, Whitman lived from 1819 to 1892, making him about 72 when he passed on to a poet's paradise. Imagine what Walt could have done on the Internet even though he was a meat eater! And if he had smoked those leaves of grass instead of just glorying in them. Sigh.
4
" To you, clerk, literary man, sedentary person, man of fortune, idler, the same advice, Up!” For the genuine lover of Whitman the recovery of this line alone is enough to chew on as "afoot and light hearted" we all travel the Open Road.
17
Sound advice Mr. Whitman. My weekend highlight is running the trails of West Hills Park which takes me within a stone's throw of his birthplace in South Huntington, NY.
Beautiful views along the highest point of Long Island and n the winter one can see his namesake shopping mall and the glint of reflecting glass of luxury SUVs lining up for a day's shopping. Leaves of Crass...
Beautiful views along the highest point of Long Island and n the winter one can see his namesake shopping mall and the glint of reflecting glass of luxury SUVs lining up for a day's shopping. Leaves of Crass...
16
That is nice, that Whitman liked meat and moderation, but the 'meat' we are served today is way different than his breed of cow. There are very serious moral and environmental problems with 'meat' today, that no matter how healthy you personally want to look and feel, trump your feelings entirely.
37
heavy and heady stuff.
1
Where I live in AZ, the local libraries (glorified reading rooms) store nothing. They hold 1 year of periodicals and in January each year throw away the prior year's issues even though the storage bins can hold several years in place. I wonder a century from now how many valuable records, such as Whitman's writing found here, will be lost forever due to the inability of "librarians" to value the past as much as their Facebook pages.
15
They won't be lost, everything is being digitized and more accessible than ever.
3
He died at 72
2
My grandfather was a huge fan of Whitman, making me wonder.
3
The meat diet is terrible advice! and good luck finding some "fresh air" to walk in, if you live in a city. Our modern air even has less oxygen than air he enjoyed.
7
You radical anti-meat people are irrational. It's our lack of exercise and modern diet of high sugar and processed foods that kills us, not the lean meat without steroids that Whitman would have consumed. He lived to 72! The life expectancy of someone born in 1819 was somewhere in the 40s (I looked it up). If anything, it can be argued that a meat diet allowed him to live much, much longer than most people of that era. While that is a simplistic conclusion, it is no more simplistic than you dismissing for politically correct responses a diet most of our ancestors survived on for many thousands of years.
5
Terrible, how? Just saying it doesnt make it so. Walt would would chide you, wrap up in his words, and leave you without recourse.
But your dismissive POV is what Americans view as good and sound discourse. The current American mantra; "My opinion is fact, therefore the facts are my opinions." So off you/others go to find all the agreeing POVs on the internet, carefully and without any notice you/others pull in the boundaries, shorten the pastures of what should be natural curiosity (like that of a child) till all you have is a hardened shell to the real facts and information that might, just might make you/others real honest and deep thinkers.
But thats not the intellectual diet of most Americans these days. Seeking to expose oneself to a wide variety of opinions, commentaries, and in deed reality based facts is what most Americans avoid like a nest of angry hornets. No, the American intellectual diet is now highly processed, like most of its food-stuffs. Packaged and wrapped up nice and neat in easy to swallow bullet points of misleading, misconstrued "data", and is often nothing but outright propaganda on Blogs, narrow agenda Websites, and politicized news outlets. All because Americans dont like to think deeply.
Americans want instant information, but not actual knowledge. So they Google a subject and BELIEVE thats all one need do, look up definitions and one has mastered the subject.
Its a severe, often debiliating challenge to seek knowledge over information.
But your dismissive POV is what Americans view as good and sound discourse. The current American mantra; "My opinion is fact, therefore the facts are my opinions." So off you/others go to find all the agreeing POVs on the internet, carefully and without any notice you/others pull in the boundaries, shorten the pastures of what should be natural curiosity (like that of a child) till all you have is a hardened shell to the real facts and information that might, just might make you/others real honest and deep thinkers.
But thats not the intellectual diet of most Americans these days. Seeking to expose oneself to a wide variety of opinions, commentaries, and in deed reality based facts is what most Americans avoid like a nest of angry hornets. No, the American intellectual diet is now highly processed, like most of its food-stuffs. Packaged and wrapped up nice and neat in easy to swallow bullet points of misleading, misconstrued "data", and is often nothing but outright propaganda on Blogs, narrow agenda Websites, and politicized news outlets. All because Americans dont like to think deeply.
Americans want instant information, but not actual knowledge. So they Google a subject and BELIEVE thats all one need do, look up definitions and one has mastered the subject.
Its a severe, often debiliating challenge to seek knowledge over information.
5
Congratulations to everyone ... for now having "How sweet the evenings!" and many more quotes to fill essays, minds, tweets, hearts, blogs, and songs ...
7
interestingly, there's a concomitance in this text between the concern about the health of young americans (i.e. unity of the body) and the wish for unity of the country. The text is from 1859. "we would have gymnasia commenced, so as gradually to form part of all the public schools of America, even from Maine to Texas, and from the northern boundary of Washington Territory to the southern point of Florida". Walt Whitman, consciously or not, had double thoughts there, that makes the text very historical indeed.
4
The recent digitization of so much of American history is likely to lead to many other such discoveries in many fields. In my field, law, digitization shows that the United States was not in the 19th century the common law bastion it is supposed to have been. Pamphlets and newspapers were the means of debate, but few copies survived, and few means existed for locating the important materials. Now it's all different. Today's assumptions in many fields can be checked.
My observations are not diminished by the fact that the actual newspaper here (so far) exists only in analog form. It was digitization that allowed for its discovery. Having done similar work pre-digitization, I can affirm that one can do in minutes today that which was scarcely possible in the 1970s.
My observations are not diminished by the fact that the actual newspaper here (so far) exists only in analog form. It was digitization that allowed for its discovery. Having done similar work pre-digitization, I can affirm that one can do in minutes today that which was scarcely possible in the 1970s.
17
So very true. Discoveries like these fulfill the predictions made ten years ago in the essay, "Googling the Victorians": http://www.victorianresearch.org/googling.pdf
1
Great example of the kinds of discoveries that digitized collections of 19th-century newspapers are making possible for scholars, like Mr. Turpin, who have found innovative ways to explore them. Anybody with a serious interest in exploring 19th-c. culture through its magazines and newspapers will want to look up the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP -- I kid you not), which is an important supporter of this kind of research: http://rs4vp.org/
5
If Whitman's diet consisted of eating mostly meat, perhaps that was a contributing factor to his suffering a stroke, which eventually led to his death.
8
Whitman lived to 72! The life expectancy of someone born in 1819 was somewhere in the 40s (I looked it up). If anything, it can be argued that a meat diet allowed him to live much, much longer than most people of that era. While that is a simplistic conclusion, it is no more simplistic than your conclusion that a meat diet was bad for him.
1
urge and urge and urge.
I love you Walt
I love you Walt
3
Whitman, London, Twain, etc. you'd be hard pressed to find even one who could stand up against the thought police on today's college campuses.
10
mistake. they all could. how about you?
Good old analog technology - saving history way better than digital will end up doing.
16
A plus to analog is that this piece lasted ~160 years (albeit unread) unlike digital likely will. A plus to digital is that it is now accessible to whomever wants to read it the world over. I'm still not sure which is superior.
4
Bill, I'm interested in why you say that analogy is better than digital. A specific or two would help me--and perhaps other readers--appreciate your perspective.
But chances are nobody would ever have found this series on microfilm if Turpin hadn't been able to search the collection of digitized papers and found an allusion to it there. And anyway almost all digital versions of newspapers have been created from microfilm, not from the originals, so preservation isn't an issue. For research purposes, microfilm isn't really any better than the original newspapers, and is in some ways worse; digital collections, on the other hand, are what is making fresh discoveries like this possible.
14
Whitman lived to the age of 92.
11
Actually, he died in 1892 at the age of 72.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman
Walter Whitman
Born — May 31, 1819
Died — March 26, 1892
Aged 72
QED
Born — May 31, 1819
Died — March 26, 1892
Aged 72
QED
err...72
Just taught a class on Whitman last week; wish I'd known about this series. Next time!
7
Too much manly perfection and beauty for me. I like women. If we're talking about manly writers, I think I'll fast-forward to Robert Frost, or rewind the reel back to Edgar Allan Poe. A clear eye, springy step and a sweet breath indeed. For the love of God, Montressor!
6
you want manly, read jack london
14
He was not a poet – try Robert Service.
Why does everyone forget Carl Sandburg?
1
"All meat" is how the popular media reports the paleo diet.
But nobody who actually eats or advocates paleo/primal/ancestral diets would eat "all meat," or describe this approach as an "all meat diet."
But nobody who actually eats or advocates paleo/primal/ancestral diets would eat "all meat," or describe this approach as an "all meat diet."
15
Fishing was (and is) a more reliable way than hunting to catch your supper. But I am sure the bulk of the diet of paleo people was plant matter: seeds, fruits, and roots – the gathering part.
6
Well said. As often happens, the media tries to pigeonhole trends into digestible (pardon the pun), bite-sized (pardon the pun again) categories, and are often off-base.
9
@Solo.Owl:
People who actually practice and advocate paleo/primal/ancestral approaches recommend whole-foods omnivorous diets that always include fish and shellfish.
Among actual hunter-gatherers, there was variation by region and season, with the animal proportion varying from 25% - 75%(!) of their food.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-hunter-gatherer-diets-varied/#axzz47J...
Both ends of the spectrum (mostly plants to mostly animals) can produce health, what they have in common is nutrient density and lack of modern processed foods.
People who actually practice and advocate paleo/primal/ancestral approaches recommend whole-foods omnivorous diets that always include fish and shellfish.
Among actual hunter-gatherers, there was variation by region and season, with the animal proportion varying from 25% - 75%(!) of their food.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-hunter-gatherer-diets-varied/#axzz47J...
Both ends of the spectrum (mostly plants to mostly animals) can produce health, what they have in common is nutrient density and lack of modern processed foods.
2
This discovery is very exciting! Sure, some of the content is provocative. But having done some study on the social and cultural history of the 19th century, I don't find it that surprising. More significantly, it really is wonderful to get more context on Walt Whitman, as well as his views and information on health, nutrition, body image, sexuality, and so forth from this time period.
12
As someone who memorized "Song of Myself" and a half hour of Walt's war poems over twenty years ago and still dramatically preforms much of this amazing material, I'd add to the health dialog, he did have a stroke in his fifties, but I'd say for a person who actually lived with honesty his inner and outer life to the degree that Walt did, what he ate was a very secondary part of his health. Dave
Such buttonholing as these passages' let-me-tell-you-how-to- live, walk, see, think, love, work, greet, eat etc. is what his best poetry, not all of his poetry, transcends...
8
Oh, my.
When coupled with his use of the masculine tense only and his carnivorous affections, once the anti-Trump crowd realizes Whitman wrote "Good fences make good neighbors," I'm sure his name will now be Mudd.
When coupled with his use of the masculine tense only and his carnivorous affections, once the anti-Trump crowd realizes Whitman wrote "Good fences make good neighbors," I'm sure his name will now be Mudd.
13
Actually, Robert Frost wrote that...
4
Frost, no?
4
"Good fences make good neighbors" was a line from Mending Wall by Robert Frost.
4
I went to a fight and a Whitman article broke out.
Indigestion as the great American menace? If we could be so lucky.
Seriously, is there no escape from petty bickering?
Indigestion as the great American menace? If we could be so lucky.
Seriously, is there no escape from petty bickering?
16
"A ripe old age of 72", while generous compared to he lifespan of young men who were felled during the Civil War, is paltry compared to George Bernard Shaw. But if you'd rather be "manly" than vegetarian, go ahead & die early.
15
Shaw lived exceptionally long. Few born in the 1850's lived as long.
1
There are plenty of long-lived omnivores, and there are lots of non-dietary factors which affect longevity.
11
The obesity and diabetes problems in this country are due to the dietary guidelines established in the 1970's which push a vegetarian diet, mainly GRAINS and high glycemic index fruits on the population! They even suggested FRUIT JUICES for a long time! A high fat (mainly meat and high fat dairy), and a low grain and processed food diet, is the healthiest diet of all as they are finally discovering! I have reversed obesity and diabetes in virtually all of my patients within 6 months, or so.
gjdagis FNP
gjdagis FNP
7
This scholarly find makes a lot of Whitman more understandable and less strange and esoteric The 52nd and last section of his central poem, "Song of Myself" makes his poetry into the verbal equivalent of a blood transfusion:
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fiber your blood.
Come to think of it, it's still pretty strange.
Andrew Daniels
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fiber your blood.
Come to think of it, it's still pretty strange.
Andrew Daniels
17
Speaking as someone who memorized that poem and uttered it many hundreds of times, it is not strange if you think of Walt as part of an ongoing string of evolution that reaches back to the first appearance of life on earth and that Walt is speaking metaphorically as the archetype of the visionary prophet whose words will go on for a long time. Dave
As someone who worked as an editor at a microfilm company back in the early 1980's, it's always strangely satisfying to hear that there's something of significance that's NOT been made available online, and that those dusty old reels of film might yet have more treasures to disclose.
177
Yes, I saw a series from one of the Seattle papers on microfilm which was based a 30 year old editor who took a trip in 1900 to Chicago to report on the industrial boom that was occurring there at that time. Fascinating.
2
Wow I had no idea that Whitman was going to need trigger warnings, I'm glad I discovered this before allowing my kids to read him. These facts about all those old 'thought leaders' of the past really call out for sanitization and bowdlerization.
Now excuse me, I need to go take my dyspepsia pills. And lie down.
Now excuse me, I need to go take my dyspepsia pills. And lie down.
25
Thanks for the laugh! Priceless.
4
Presumably in your safe place, per current university doctrine.
"I know of no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones," Walt Whitman deliciously said!
Horace Traubel's 9-volume record of conversations with Walt at the end of his life--"With Walt Whitman in Camden"--offers a fascinating insight into the private life of our "good gray poet" and the "poet of democracy."
Horace Traubel's 9-volume record of conversations with Walt at the end of his life--"With Walt Whitman in Camden"--offers a fascinating insight into the private life of our "good gray poet" and the "poet of democracy."
15
Paleo? I'd have thought Whitman would lean toward vegan -- starting with Leaves of Grass.
14
I thought he was a life-long vegetarian. Is this a hoax..a joke?
6
It has the feeling of an elaborate hoax. For someone like me, who has been eating palaeo for two decades, this has a whiff of being too good to be true.
3
Congratulations and thank you to Zachary Turpin for a great discovery. I suspect Whitman would be delighted to know that his piece was uncovered by a student from Texas and its "grassy plains."
25
I like the poetry better
8
How interesting that Walt's pen name, Mose Velsor, is an anagram for "some lovers," and funny that the article doesn't address it.
26
Love S'mores?
Verses Loom?
Remove Loss?
Verses Loom?
Remove Loss?
42
To the comment made earlier; Velsor is not an anagram but in Whitmans Mother's name. For goodness sakes, really!
4
It is both. Writers are clever that way.
2
Sounds more like a Atkins than Paleo.
11
Either of which are a recipe for CAD, pancreatitis and becoming a skinny fat person.
6
@Mike:
Nonsense. Atkins was compared to other diets in a randomized controlled trial, with human subjects, and Atkins won on all counts, including blood sugar regulation and _improvement_ of cardiovascular risk factors.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17341711
Nonsense. Atkins was compared to other diets in a randomized controlled trial, with human subjects, and Atkins won on all counts, including blood sugar regulation and _improvement_ of cardiovascular risk factors.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17341711
10
That says not word 1 about improved CAD indicators; too boot it says questions remain about long-term effects and mechanisms. Nice try, though.
2
I think I'll stick to his poetry, thanks.
9
Something like this analogue treasure trove would not have a chance of lasting 150 years in today's digital era.
23
I think the situation is more favourable than you suggest Sligo. Archiving the internet becomes cheaper and easier all the time, as storage tech advances. Have a look at archive.org to see this in practice.
Not only will we never lose our internet writings, we'll never escape them either...
Not only will we never lose our internet writings, we'll never escape them either...
3
When all human expression becomes digitized and stored I think it will have the opposite effect, the surfeit itself will render it lost or ephemeral. Who can possibly keep up or even care. I think future generations will have better things to do than sift through our gargantuan output of observations and declarations.
8
You mean all the drivel on all the social media will be around forever? What idiots future generations will think we were, justifiably so.
4
I'll stick with Mediterranean, which allows me flexibility to eat from the cuisines of every country from Portugal east to Lebanon and south to Egypt and then west to Morocco (however, eliminating most rice and wheat-based foods because no modern person needs to eat high calorie grain).
Thoreau never drank alcohol, preferring water. But that's where I draw the line. Mediterranean wines, in moderation, are part of the Mediterranean diet.
Thoreau never drank alcohol, preferring water. But that's where I draw the line. Mediterranean wines, in moderation, are part of the Mediterranean diet.
13
Moderation in all things -- including moderation.
17
Wouldn't hurt to throw in a little Okinawan from time to time.
2
The pseudonym "Mose Velsor" is actually "Some Lover" with the letters switched arround. I suggest that Whittman did scramble the above mentioned name to this particular sample of his writing.
5
Interesting notion--"Some Lovers" is a charming (and appropriate) acronym. Whitman's mother's family name, however, was "Van Velsor," and the Van Velsor family had owned slaves on Long Island before slavery was outlawed in NY. One of those freed slaves became a friend of Whitman's when the poet was a boy, and Whitman always recalled him fondly as "Old Mose." "Mose Velsor," then, was a pseudonym that took Whitman back to his boyhood days at his grandparents' home on Long Island.
55
Wouldn't that be "Some Lovers"? (plural)
6
Love Ms. Rose?
3
So for the womanly, let 'em eat cake?
12
He wasn't all that interested in women. But he's still cool.
11
"So for the womanly, let 'em eat cake?"
— and keep wearing those stiletto high heels.
— and keep wearing those stiletto high heels.
And had this been published today, would Whitman be seen as a bigot?
A very fortunate find that may be paid attention to- considering the source. JGAIA
1
Moderation indeed. I've been told that all my life and had a great deal of trouble with it, but for a personality like mine it's something to strive for. Thanks for the reminder and many more Walt! Can't wait to read this and I'm sure you won't mind it being in the public domain.
4
Bravo! And 'yay!' for microfilm!
13
Walt Whitman could write about accounting and it would *sound* amazing. I am curious how this new discovery reads. I have always found his prose to be just as engaging as his poetry. As a nurse in the Civil War he wrote down his observations in prose and called the collection "Specimen Days." it is just as valuable and amazing as "Leaves of Grass." I'll bet the Walt Whitman lifestyle/diet book jumps off the page. I hope they do indeed publish it.
14
Type in "Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night" or "Come up From the Fields Father" for some great YouTube performances. Dave
"And the salt marsh and creek have delicious odors,
And potato and ears of maize make a fat breakfast,
And huckleberries from the woods distill joyous delirium"
from his journals
And potato and ears of maize make a fat breakfast,
And huckleberries from the woods distill joyous delirium"
from his journals
24
I would prefer to get my health advice from someone with expertise in the subject. Like, for example, a doctor as opposed to a 19th century racist poet.
Yes it would be better to get your health advice from someone with expertise today than just about anyone from the 19th century including most of the doctors. No one is suggesting that people view this previous unknown manifesto on healthy living as a guide to modern day health. You either missed the point of the article or deliberately distorted an article about a historically unknown document by one of America's most respected poets. Was Whitman a racists? Whitman expert David S. Reynolds, City University of New York distinguished professor and author of the cultural biography Walt Whitman's America answers this better than I can and the answer is "yes, but." As he say's in an article about Whitman and race, "Whitman was a racist, but so was virtually every other white person then alive in America," Reynolds says. "Lincoln often said racist things, and yet he was the Great Emancipator." "It was very difficult, if you lived back then, not to participate in the general racism of that era," Reynolds adds. "For his era, in his poetry, Whitman's progressive. After the Civil War and late in life, mostly privately, you encounter a certain amount of racism." Whitman was a man of his times and his beliefs were reflective of the social attitude towards minorities that existed even among many of the white people who were adamantly opposed to slavery. Also this is not just a 19th century issue as many of us grew up with exposure to comparable racial attitudes in the mid 20th century.
19
@Dan James:
Considering that many doctors gave us such gems as "heart healthy margarine", "load up on bread/pasta/cereal", and "eggs/butter/cholesterol are deadly", I'd say the field for health advice is wide open.
Considering that many doctors gave us such gems as "heart healthy margarine", "load up on bread/pasta/cereal", and "eggs/butter/cholesterol are deadly", I'd say the field for health advice is wide open.
15
So, in a nutshell: "yes, but...so was everyone else."
1
Did he say anything about "the" apple?
I keep eating one a day in hope that it will negate all the ill effects of everything else I do.
I keep eating one a day in hope that it will negate all the ill effects of everything else I do.
16
Is it not the Apple of which Eve and Adam are which got us all in trouble? The irony is that poor Eve got the blame when in truth the serpent is the real villain. Wonder what Whitman would have said about that??
4
Wow-he lived to a ripe 72. Good thing he followed those diet and exercise insights.
4
Perhaps 8% of people lived to that age at the time.
15
In fact, he suffered a paralytic stroke at 54 and was bedridden for the last 10 or so years of his life. Perhaps not the best example to emulate.
3
@mike:
People live longer today, on average, due to vaccinations, modern sanitation, and modern medical care. It has very little to do with diet.
People live longer today, on average, due to vaccinations, modern sanitation, and modern medical care. It has very little to do with diet.
4
This is a phenomenal find. Thank you, Walt, and thank you, Mr. Turpin for your "sickness." You have saved a real gemstone of Whitman's oeuvre!
26
Walt was unquestionably a genius. Dip into "Song of Myself" if you have never read any of it, or only read it in school. Breathtaking stuff. Also check out his many essays on the NYC of his day, as well as his poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." There's still a house in Clinton Hill, I believe, where he resided for a time. A true son of NY.
25
Yep. The house in Clinton Hill is on 99 Ryerson St., at the northern end of the neighborhood. It's been covered with aluminum siding, but beneath is the last remaining house in which Whitman dwelt in Brooklyn.
2
Good to know that one can still go there and commune with Walt's spirit. He was an amazing person and poet.
1
So how long does it take for Whitman to get banished from College campuses because he expressed ideas on "ideal body type" which might offend some kids "safe place" and held 1850's notions on race relations??
113
What you suggest is simply not going to happen. Straw man.
4
How interesting, someone writing about what they eat and wear. Haven't I seen that someplace else, as well? Remarkable. No wonder it was lost for so long.
5
'But the most striking thing, Mr. Reynolds said, is its emphasis on moderation, ...'
Dunno where Reynolds gets this notion from. There is nothing, nothing, in Whitman's piece here about so-called 'moderation', the scourge of so many moderns.
Quite the opposite, in fact. Whitman writes glowingly about 'Herculean strength'. He repeatedly extols his reader to seek physical perfection. Waltman's evident passion in this piece is as far removed from the wishy-washy, lukewarm, insipid and uninspiring 'moderation' that has become fashionable in recent years, as it is possible to be.
Whitman may not have always known it, but he followed faithfully in the footsteps of the all rounder Xenophon, who in turn followed his master Socrates, who for his part admonished his student, the weedy and pusillanimous shirker Epigenes, urging the last to train his body in the service of Athens, concluding thus:
'For what a shame it is for a man to grow old, without ever knowing the strength and vigour of which his body is capable.'
Dunno where Reynolds gets this notion from. There is nothing, nothing, in Whitman's piece here about so-called 'moderation', the scourge of so many moderns.
Quite the opposite, in fact. Whitman writes glowingly about 'Herculean strength'. He repeatedly extols his reader to seek physical perfection. Waltman's evident passion in this piece is as far removed from the wishy-washy, lukewarm, insipid and uninspiring 'moderation' that has become fashionable in recent years, as it is possible to be.
Whitman may not have always known it, but he followed faithfully in the footsteps of the all rounder Xenophon, who in turn followed his master Socrates, who for his part admonished his student, the weedy and pusillanimous shirker Epigenes, urging the last to train his body in the service of Athens, concluding thus:
'For what a shame it is for a man to grow old, without ever knowing the strength and vigour of which his body is capable.'
40
But the reference is in direct relation to the Temperance movement, which played a big role in Whitman's career. Alcohol was a total scourge back then. I think we have no idea just how bad it was in some places. It certainly affected Whitman's personal life.
Anyway, all poets see the value and necessity of strong drink in human life, but Whitman died a healthy old man with no signs of hard drinking (or syphilis, another common scourge). He also used the Temperance movement as a platform for writing about social and racial issues, etc. Experience it all, dive in, but moderation is a virtue in so many things.
Anyway, all poets see the value and necessity of strong drink in human life, but Whitman died a healthy old man with no signs of hard drinking (or syphilis, another common scourge). He also used the Temperance movement as a platform for writing about social and racial issues, etc. Experience it all, dive in, but moderation is a virtue in so many things.
7
Hesiod urged not moderation, a common mistranslation of the Greek, but 'opportuneness'.
The two guiding principles of the Classical Greek world were cut into the rock face at Delphi:
1. Know thyself.
2. Nothing in excess.
'Nothing in excess' is profound. It implies that what may be excessive for you is not excessive for me. The rule of balance is thus invoked. Know thyself and do what is right for you — no more and no less — but only for you, not for anyone else.
By contrast to the concept of balance, which requires knowing oneself, moderation is all too often the feeble response of the fainthearted to life's rich complexity, and easily becomes an excuse for inertia, for procrastination, for not living true to oneself while there is still time.
Just as compromise so often becomes not the oil that lubricates the bearings of the machine and keeps it ticking, but the thick, sticky resin that slowly clogs up everything until it stops working, moderation slows down our pulse, creates a jaded weariness and ennui that slowly eats away at our core, until nothing of us is left and we crumple and turn to dust.
As Dr George Sheehan the Running Doctor used to quip: 'Everything in moderation? Yes — especially moderation!'
The two guiding principles of the Classical Greek world were cut into the rock face at Delphi:
1. Know thyself.
2. Nothing in excess.
'Nothing in excess' is profound. It implies that what may be excessive for you is not excessive for me. The rule of balance is thus invoked. Know thyself and do what is right for you — no more and no less — but only for you, not for anyone else.
By contrast to the concept of balance, which requires knowing oneself, moderation is all too often the feeble response of the fainthearted to life's rich complexity, and easily becomes an excuse for inertia, for procrastination, for not living true to oneself while there is still time.
Just as compromise so often becomes not the oil that lubricates the bearings of the machine and keeps it ticking, but the thick, sticky resin that slowly clogs up everything until it stops working, moderation slows down our pulse, creates a jaded weariness and ennui that slowly eats away at our core, until nothing of us is left and we crumple and turn to dust.
As Dr George Sheehan the Running Doctor used to quip: 'Everything in moderation? Yes — especially moderation!'
4
I learned today that Walt Whitman had "homoerotic love" and was a racist. I won't be wasting my time by reading any of his junk.
3
You must lead a very sheltered life or have a very incomplete education if you didn't know Whitman was homosexual or that most people in the nineteenth century had racist ideas. Anyway, it's probably a moot point because Whitman is hard to read and a challenge even for dedicated lovers of poetry.
43
Better not read the Bible then, either.
43
So you abhor racists but also loathe gay people.
How interesting for ypu.
How interesting for ypu.
41
The meat he recommended was all organic, grass fed, local. Nothing else existed. I doubt he would recommend just "eat meat" today. He also said that at a time when the population was MUCH lower, and there were fewer cows producing methane. No industrial feedlots. So, let's be clear about what Whitman was advocating.
68
Lots else existed. By the middle of the nineteenth century, industrial food production was well along on its way to changing American eating habits, and food adulteration was a huge problem (read about the contaminated milk supplies of that time period, for example).
12
And, all those lead contaminated tin cans on the local shelves
7
And don't forget people were outside working their butts off more during Mr. Whitman's time. They were probably reading more books and communicating more intensely with one another.
They didn't possess the abominable need to be connected 24 hours a day seven days a week reading gossip via Facebook and Twitter.
I read years ago in a college literary class that Mr. Whitman actually enjoyed sunbathing in the nude. He was truly a naturalist.
They didn't possess the abominable need to be connected 24 hours a day seven days a week reading gossip via Facebook and Twitter.
I read years ago in a college literary class that Mr. Whitman actually enjoyed sunbathing in the nude. He was truly a naturalist.
7
Both the doggedness of Mr. Turpin and his faith in the research enterprise deserve high praise. In a world where it seems as if everything has been said and done, and perhaps even already digitized in Google Books, we need reminders such as this one that there is more than is dreamt of in our philosophy. The advent of new digital tools helps, but is not enough. Research and intellectual discovery still require an agent, someone to draw the salient connections, to put the links together. Today the world is better for Mr. Turpin's efforts. As the bard himself wrote: "Be copious!"
45
I always knew I liked him.
Must fully read and apply to real life
Must fully read and apply to real life
9
Whitman really advocated “getting up early, having a walk, getting the benefit of fresh air and lots moderate exercise,” Mr. Reynolds said. “One could do worse than follow his advice.”
If I didn't know better, I would swear Walt came back in another life as my Mother - her philosophy perfectly matched Mr. Whitman's. Who knew they would be visionaries one day. Their advise is still spot-on!!
24
harry truman lived to a ripe old age
he claimed it was not eating till he was full and taking a long brisk walk every day
simple enough
he claimed it was not eating till he was full and taking a long brisk walk every day
simple enough
7
There is a great blog I read that talks about the diets and meals of iconic authors: PaperandSalt.org
And we follow a low carb diet ourselves with the help of PlateJoy.com and Whole Foods :)
And we follow a low carb diet ourselves with the help of PlateJoy.com and Whole Foods :)
More information to "digest."
Yay…?
Guess all my attention to cute cats, Kardashians and orange tinted politicians will have to be put on hold.
Good luck with a predominantly meat diet.
I know a good cardiologist on the upper east side.
Yay…?
Guess all my attention to cute cats, Kardashians and orange tinted politicians will have to be put on hold.
Good luck with a predominantly meat diet.
I know a good cardiologist on the upper east side.
6
Actually Mr. King, my cardiologists (on the Upper East Side in fact), and many others have totally changed their minds after the latest studies showing that carbs cause arterial plaque and not meat or fat. Switched me to a low carb diet last year and told me to go ahead and eat meat and order it instead of pasta or rice in restaurants. Lost 25 pounds and eat full fat foods - and my cholesterol levels plummeted. But I make any red meat I eat is non-factory farmed and non-processed.
16
Yeah...I suppose Asians (rice eaters)with the some of the lowest incidence of heart disease in the world didn't get the news yet.
5
The Masaai, also with very low heart disease, did get the news quite a long time ago and they are doing fine eating meat and milk. It isn't so simple.
Congratulations to Mr. Turpin on his amazing find! I very much look forward to reading this rediscovered Whitman essay in a forthcoming issue of the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, which, by the way, recently made it's back issues available for free online.
30
No apostrophe for "its" as a possessive.
8
Actually, the Walt Whitman Quarterly Review is an open access journal, and you can read the entire text of Whitman's "Manly Health" right now at the WWQR website: ir.uiowa.edu/WWQR/
11
Yes, indeed, I just downloaded it and saved it as a .pdf, for future reading.
I think it would be interesting to analyze all of the tips/insights/recommendations that Walk makes and compare to what is prescribed today by so many experts. Was he 50% correct? 70%? Where was he off on what's good (or not good) for you.
In just some scanning, it reads (albeit heavy) very similar to so many self-help/motivational articles and books that one sees in so many bookstores.
In just some scanning, it reads (albeit heavy) very similar to so many self-help/motivational articles and books that one sees in so many bookstores.
4
What is correct? Consensus or belief today might be viewed as quackery tomorrow.
But, I certainly agree, this is a great find. Let's hear it for the researchers!
But, I certainly agree, this is a great find. Let's hear it for the researchers!
3
I have no idea what you're talking about.
If only Walt had lived in the age of the talk show.
Great find!
I bet that also Whitman never proclaimed "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"
Sounds like he is espousing the Atkins diet 120 years before Atkins.
Moderation was also the theme of Dr. Edward Dewey's writings in his "No Breakfast Plan" which he developed in the late 19th century after serving as a Civil War physician.
I bet that also Whitman never proclaimed "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"
Sounds like he is espousing the Atkins diet 120 years before Atkins.
Moderation was also the theme of Dr. Edward Dewey's writings in his "No Breakfast Plan" which he developed in the late 19th century after serving as a Civil War physician.
2
The genius who wrote "Song of Myself," among other revolutionary poems, could have written a manual on properly cutting one's toenails and I would have read it with relish. Walt was an original, in everything that he did, and his penchant for reinventing himself--in prose and life--puts to shame the lame dilettantes that pass for American regeneration today. Whitman was a cosmic shaman light years ahead of everyone else--and we are still catching up to him today.
93
Eric, I couldn't agree more. And as far as catching up to him, he said he'd stop somewhere and wait for us - we're not there yet.
13
After reading this, I immediately called my world famous doctor for an appointment. I need some advice on my writing career and I now know where to look for it.
Many years from now, that advice will be discovered by some scholar of the history of medicine, who will want his/her name in lights. When the Times finds out about it, they can then publish it because of its obvious importance to their readers.
Many years from now, that advice will be discovered by some scholar of the history of medicine, who will want his/her name in lights. When the Times finds out about it, they can then publish it because of its obvious importance to their readers.
3
First, thanks for this article reminding us - rabid STEM advocates, listen up here - that academic study in the humanities and literature is brilliant, worthwhile use of a young person's mind and abilities. Politicians and the captains of industry who are their co-conspirators may dream of a world in which the only use of a human is to serve the machine that enriches the 1 percent, but who will tell the gene pool? Babies like Mr. Turpin (and me) will go right on being born every day; are they all to be faced with the Hobbesian choice of a life either spent toiling at something they have neither affinity nor proclivity for, or one of abject poverty? Viva the lit majors among us, whose work is devoted to exploring the record of human experience. As this latest Whitman news shows us, humans are bound through the centuries by certain commonalities - in this case, common-sense treatment of our health - and it's beneficial for such to be proven and illustrated from time to time in the historic record, as this discovery does. Context, and seeing ourselves in it, is everything.
But second, a tip of the cap to so-often-maligned digital technology. I'm as aggravated by it, occasionally, as the next 50-something guy or gal, but how wonderful is it that such finds as this one are so much more easily had thanks to the new technology. Imagine what the humanities grad student of the future has yet to uncover, to the great, mutual benefit of us all. Go forward and conquer!
But second, a tip of the cap to so-often-maligned digital technology. I'm as aggravated by it, occasionally, as the next 50-something guy or gal, but how wonderful is it that such finds as this one are so much more easily had thanks to the new technology. Imagine what the humanities grad student of the future has yet to uncover, to the great, mutual benefit of us all. Go forward and conquer!
163
Wow Sarah. I'm in love. You my dear are a gentlewoman and a scholar. Thank you.
11
Respectfully, Sarah, perhaps you meant "Hobson's Choice" as in locked into an alternative, rather than my namesake's "Hobbesian choice"? In truth , Brother Hobbes would have fully understood your wonderful paen to the humane letters.
2
What?! No one admires the writings of Whitman more than me, and I put him in the pantheon next to Shakespeare, Chekov, and Swift, but really, me thinks, you go a bit overboard here!
2
I guess I'm an ignorant fool, but Whitman's poetry did nothing for me. I need an interpreter for 'Leaves of Grass'.
Give me Robert Frost any day.
Give me Robert Frost any day.
1
Take another road.......less traveled.....
7
I guess you are. Sometimes the words and the reader just don't match up.
2
Both are excellent. Enjoying Frost's "Generations of Man" in particular right now.
1
Yes, Walt was the poet of the body and the soul - but mostly he was the poet of mystical love and brotherhood best manifested, he believed, in American democracy. As for speculation regarding his specific views on health and eugenics, he covered that too when he said "Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes."
37
Ha, the next time my wife corners me in an argument I'll look out the window any repeat this beauty!
2
Whitman was horrified by the bloodshed of war while urging a total-meat diet. This in itself discredits his entire treatise.
8
Any anthropologist will tell you meat is what made our brains big enabling us to invent computers like the one I'm typing on.
27
Walt Whitman was capable of differentiating between human bodies in the battle field, and meats of food animals on your table. Well, not yours, vegans do not like the nutrients of meat. You also cannot tell the difference among both I believe.
If a man, much brighter than any vegan posting in the NYT can recommend a diet, I'll listen to him.
Go enjoy your quinoa, whatever that is.
If a man, much brighter than any vegan posting in the NYT can recommend a diet, I'll listen to him.
Go enjoy your quinoa, whatever that is.
24
I have been a vegetarian for 25 years, and I find your comment pretty ridiculous, as if the whole world agreed with your implied assumption that animal and human life are of equal value. Whitman, like nearly everyone else, did not believe this. Hence there is no logical contradiction.
45
It is false to describe this as a discovery of a lost item, when librarians and libraries expended work to preserve and digitize these newspapers in the first place. To do so erases the incredible work and dedication of librarians, archivists, and other cultural heritage professionals.
148
No one could read it. We didn't know for sure that it existed. It was undiscovered. There is no conflict between recognizing Mr. Turpin's achievement and having respect for librarians.
41
Your sentences contradicted each other.
3
And he lived to be 73.
2
Unfortunately, I can never look at Whitman the same way after I learned of his caustic racist attitude toward the Native Americans.
13
Judge the artist, not the man.
10
You are about to lose Mark Twain, too, then. Sorry about that.
13
The more things change, the more they stay the same.