Friendship With Walt Whitman
Ingersoll enjoyed a friendship with the poet Walt Whitman, who considered Ingersoll the greatest orator of his time. "It should not be surprising that I am drawn to Ingersoll, for he is Leaves of Grass... He lives, embodies, the individuality, I preach. I see in Bob the noblest specimen—American-flavored—pure out of the soil, spreading, giving, demanding light."
The feeling was mutual. Upon Whitman's death in 1892, Ingersoll delivered the eulogy at the poet's funeral. The eulogy was published to great acclaim and is considered a classic panegyric.
Read more about this topic: Robert G. Ingersoll
Famous quotes containing the words walt whitman, friendship and/or whitman:
“Walt Whitman, a Kosmos, of Manhattan the son,
Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, eating, drinking and breeding,
No sentimentalist, no stander above men and women or apart from them,
No more modest than immodest.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“Now, in my opinion, a woman has no business with Power—Power admits no equal, and dismisses friendship for flattery. Besides, it keeps the men at a distance, and that is not always what we wish.”
—Edward Moore (1712–1757)
“When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)