WHEN I read the book, the biography famous, 
And is this, then, (said I,) what the author calls a man’s life? 
And so will some one, when I am dead and gone, write my life? 
(As if any man really knew aught of my life; 
Why, even I myself, I often think, know little or nothing of my real life;
Only a few hints—a few diffused, faint clues and indirections, 
I seek, for my own use, to trace out here.)

Poet: Walt Whitman
Poem: 7. When I read the Book.
Volume: Leaves of Grass
- 1. Inscriptions
Year: Published/Written in 1900

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