The Open Road by Walt Whitman

Summary: In The Open Road by Walt Whitman, the speaker talks about an almost unrestricted journey on a road

Characters: The speaker

Section 1:

  • The speaker begins a journey without anything worrying his soul
  • The speaker has no health problems and thinks about where to go bound only to the ends of the world
  • The speaker follows a path unrestricted to him
  • The speaker seems to say that just his existence alone is good-fortune and that he needs nothing else
  • The speaker takes the "open road" feeling strong and without the need for anything in particular

Other Notes:

  • This road could be a road to a journey within his mind and may not be just restricted to world-bound traveling
  • The poet might be inferring that life is a journey, where our travels are bounded only by our own abilities to cope and "travel the open road"

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