Alicia Ostriker Epilogue to Stealing the Language: The Emergence of Women's Poetry in America (1986)
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When Whitman in Song of Myself wrote "Camerado, this is no book. Who touches this touches a man, and "What I assume you shall assume," he articulated an abiding impulse latent within all poetry. The women's poetry movement today is a carrier of that same impulse and makes it possible for us to "assume" more than we did before.

— Alicia Ostriker on Walt Whitman

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "When Whitman in Song of Myself wrote "Camerado, this is no book. Who touches this touches a man, and "What I assume you shall assume," he articulated an abiding impulse latent within all poetry. The women's poetry movement today is a carrier of that same impulse and makes it possible for us to "assume" more than we did before." in the context of "Alicia Ostriker Epilogue to Stealing the Language: The Emergence of Women's Poetry in America (1986)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Walt Whitman" (Quotes about Whitman) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Alicia Ostriker

About Alicia Ostriker

Alicia Suskin Ostriker (born November 11, 1937) is an poet and scholar who is Jewish and lives in the USA.