"Is Liberty gone out of place? No never...When the memories of the old martyrs are faded utterly away...when large names of patriots are laughed at in the public halls from the lips of the orators... when the boys are no more christened after the same but christened after tyrants and traitors instead...when all life and all the souls of men and women are discharged from any part of the earth- then only shall the instinct of liberty be discharged from that part of the earth."
The greatest of poets, according to Walt Whitman, are those who are able to seek out liberty and heroism in the souls of everyone. Liberty is described as a strong will to do right, survive, to live fully, and to destroy those who oppress. Walt says that this will always exist as long as the world stays round and does not flip over. As long as time has existed, so has liberty. Martyrs, which no longer exist because of a social backlash that occurs when acts of martyrdom take place, are, to Walt, the perfect example of liberty and heroism. We need more martyrs.
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