UNFOLDED out of the folds of the woman, man comes unfolded, and is always to
come unfolded;
Unfolded only out of the superbest woman of the earth, is to come the superbest
man of the earth;
Unfolded out of the friendliest woman, is to come the friendliest man;
Unfolded only out of the perfect body of a woman, can a man be form’d of
perfect body;
Unfolded only out of the inimitable poem of the woman, can come the poems of
man—(only thence have my poems come;)
Unfolded out of the strong and arrogant woman I love, only thence can appear the
strong and arrogant man I love;
Unfolded by brawny embraces from the well-muscled woman I love, only thence come
the brawny embraces of the man;
Unfolded out of the folds of the woman’s brain, come all the folds of the
man’s brain, duly obedient;
Unfolded out of the justice of the woman, all justice is unfolded;
Unfolded out of the sympathy of the woman is all sympathy:
A man is a great thing upon the earth, and through eternity—but every jot
of the greatness of man is unfolded out of woman,
First the man is shaped in the woman, he can then be shaped in himself.

Analysis, meaning and summary of Walt Whitman's poem Unfolded Out of the Folds.

5 Comments

  1. daralynn says:

    This poem contains a very sophisticated tone on the ideas of opening the human mind.

  2. jesse roy says:

    Walt took a different perspective for this poem, it was a real great read.

  3. Caterina says:

    this poem ws really awesome, yeah what that amanda girl said!!

  4. Dr. Walker says:

    Walt Whitman never ceases to amaze me. This poem is very well written and conveys a great idea that people should expand their ideas. This also has happy, light-hearted tone.

  5. amanda says:

    wow. this one is awesome. you got it right uncle walt!

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