Suggestions

by Walt Whitman · 1871
Published 01/07/1871

THAT whatever tastes sweet to the most perfect person

      —That is finally right.


That the human shape or face is so great, it must never be made ridiculous;

That for ornaments nothing outr can be allowed,

That anything is most beautiful without ornament;

That exaggerations will be sternly revenged in your own physiology, and in other persons' physiol-ogyphysiology also;

That clean-shaped children can be jetted and conceiv'd only where natural forms prevail in public, and the human face and form are never caricatured;

And that genius need never more be turn'd to ro-mancesromances.

(For facts properly told, how mean appear all ro-mancesromances.)


I have said many times that materials and the Soul are great, and that all depends on physique;

Now I reverse what I said, and suggest that all depends on the sthetic, or intellectual,

And that criticism is great—and that refinement is greatest of all;

And that the mind governs—and that all depends on the mind.


With one man or woman—(no matter which one—I

      even pick out the lowest,)

With him or her I now suggest the whole law;

And that every right, in politics or what-not, shall be eligible to that one man or woman, on the same terms as any.

#aesthetic philosophy #beauty standards #walt whitman

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