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Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass.' (Walt Whitman)

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From: The Explicator
Date: 19930622
Author:Hawes, David P.

Walt Whitman's use of the phrase 'I love them quits and quits' in relation to 'The great laws' portrayed in the 11th of 12 poems in 'Leaves of Grass' is examined. Several possible meanings are presented although the most likely is their use as adverbs meaning to 'carry through a task' and 'separate on equal terms.'

In the second stanza of the poem that first appeared as the eleventh of the twelve untitled poems included in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman says of "The great laws": "I love them quits and quits" (Norton Critical Edition 394). The footnote to the poem in ...

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