Alone on the Beach at Night

The first part of this book is just Whitman rambling about how amazing America is, which falls more than a bit flat in the 21st century. The second is only marginally better but at least it didn't make me want to commit a crime, so it's progress, I guess? Still, it didn't really feel like poetry to me. For someone who gets called the father of free form poetry, Whitman certainly gives it a bad rep. There is no musicality, no beauty in his verses, it bored me to death.

Moreover, I didn't feel anything during most of my reads. Maybe two or three of these poems moved me, if I'm being generous. There's no substance. The best way I can think to describe this collection is that it is what a man who thinks he has uncovered the secrets of the universe even though ten years old girls had the exact same thoughts as him would write if he was a poet.