--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When Walt Whitman writes in seeming…" description: "\"When Walt Whitman writes in seeming defiance of tradition, he needs tradition for his protection, for the butcher and the baker and the candlestick-mak..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de2/william-butler-yeats-350_bakers_when-walt-whitman-writes-in-seeming-defi_2932170.png" --- # When Walt Whitman writes in seeming defiance of tradition… ![“When Walt Whitman writes in seeming defiance of tradition, he needs tradition for his protection, for the butcher and the baker and the candlestick-maker grow merry over him when they meet his work by chance.” quote by William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de2/william-butler-yeats-350_bakers_when-walt-whitman-writes-in-seeming-defi_2932170.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de2/william-butler-yeats-350_bakers_when-walt-whitman-writes-in-seeming-defi_2932170.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de2/william-butler-yeats-350_bakers_when-walt-whitman-writes-in-seeming-defi_2932170.png) > “When Walt Whitman writes in seeming defiance of tradition, he needs tradition for his protection, for the butcher and the baker and the candlestick-maker grow merry over him when they meet his work by chance.” [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Highlights that tradition both constrains and protects the poet, influencing his work’s reception. **In simple terms:** Tradition is both a shield and a constraint for the poet. Key Takeaway Balance respect for tradition with innovative expression. Themes poetry tradition creativity Mood contemplative melancholic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - writing workshops - literary criticism - publishing decisions Key Concepts literary theory cultural context Questions to Reflect On - How does tradition shape your creative process? - When should you challenge it? A Different Perspective Traditional expectations can stifle originality. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Chance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance/) [Defiance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defiance/) [Merry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/merry/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Protection](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/protection/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Documentary is, therefore, an approach, which makes use of the artistic faculties to give vivification to fact - to use Walt Whitman's definition of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beaumont-newhall/documentary-is-therefore-an-approach-which-makes-use-of-the-artistic/) [Beaumont Newhall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beaumont-newhall/) > [ “\[Walt\] Whitman would never get in the way of a boy trying to get off with another boy. Bros before prose.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lisa-henry/walt-whitman-would-never-get-in-the-way-of-a-boy-trying-to-get-off/) [Lisa Henry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lisa-henry/) > [I think there were two great gay Americans obviously, and that was Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-sullivan/i-think-there-were-two-great-gay-americans-obviously-and-that-was/) [Andrew Sullivan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-sullivan/) > [Certainly I'm participating in an already established and awesome tradition, but it's a tradition that sort of shoots up and through the mainstream in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lidia-yuknavitch/certainly-i-m-participating-in-an-already-established-and-awesome/) [Lidia Yuknavitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lidia-yuknavitch/) > [In his very rejection of art Walt Whitman is an artist. He tried to produce a certain effect by certain means and he succeeded…He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/in-his-very-rejection-of-art-walt-whitman-is-an-artist-he-tried-to/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [“But something special happened to American poetry in the 19th century when Walt Whitman broke with more traditional English poetics and fashioned an American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-something-special-happened-to-american-poetry-in-the-19th-century/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son, Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, eating, drinking and breeding, No sentimentalist, no stander above men and women or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walt-whitman/walt-whitman-a-kosmos-of-manhattan-the-son-turbulent-fleshy-sensual/) [Walt Whitman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walt-whitman/) > [Our culture is what we did together. What did Walt Whitman represent for all of us? What was his message to us? That is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynton-marsalis/our-culture-is-what-we-did-together-what-did-walt-whitman-represent/) [Wynton Marsalis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wynton-marsalis/) > [When I was young I once found a book in a Dutch translation, 'The leaves of Grass'. It was the first time a book…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karel-appel/when-i-was-young-i-once-found-a-book-in-a-dutch-translation-the/) [Karel Appel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karel-appel/) > [The English tourist in American literature wants above all things something different from what he has at home. For this reason the one American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/the-english-tourist-in-american-literature-wants-above-all-things/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) > [Art is a luxury. It's not necessary for you to - you can work your job and you can make some money and never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wynton-marsalis/art-is-a-luxury-it-s-not-necessary-for-you-to-you-can-work-your-job/) [Wynton Marsalis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wynton-marsalis/) > [“And among the prissiest. Gilder’s method of raising public standards of taste and morality required the production of bloodless pages. As custodian of genteel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-wallace/and-among-the-prissiest-gilder-s-method-of-raising-public-standards/) [Mike Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-wallace/) > [“The last thing I want to hear from a crotch, I yell, is Walt Whitman!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-whipple/the-last-thing-i-want-to-hear-from-a-crotch-i-yell-is-walt-whitman/) Ron Whipple > [I always knew in my heart Walt Whitman's mind to be more like my own than any other man's living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerard-manley-hopkins/i-always-knew-in-my-heart-walt-whitman-s-mind-to-be-more-like-my-own/) [Gerard Manley Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerard-manley-hopkins/) > [If you're going to get up to Walt Whitman and Robert Frost and Langston Hughes and Sylvia Plath you've got to figure out how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hass/if-you-re-going-to-get-up-to-walt-whitman-and-robert-frost-and/) [Robert Hass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hass/) ## More by William Butler Yeats > [Time can but make her beauty over again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/time-can-but-make-her-beauty-over-again/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I would have touched it like a child But knew my finger could but have touched Cold stone and water. I grew wild, Even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-would-have-touched-it-like-a-child-but-knew-my-finger-could-but/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [You know what the Englishman's idea of compromise is? He says, Some people say there is a God. Some people say there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/you-know-what-the-englishman-s-idea-of-compromise-is-he-says-some/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast, Drowning love's lonely hour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/beloved-let-your-eyes-half-close-and-your-heart-beat-over-my-heart/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [That toil of growing up; The ignominy of boyhood; the distress Of boyhood changing into man; The unfinished man and his pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/that-toil-of-growing-up-the-ignominy-of-boyhood-the-distress-of/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I see a schoolboy when I think of him, With face and nose pressed to a sweet-shop window.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-see-a-schoolboy-when-i-think-of-him-with-face-and-nose-pressed-to-a/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Only God, my dear, Could love you for yourself alone And not your yellow hair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/only-god-my-dear-could-love-you-for-yourself-alone-and-not-your/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [We can only begin to live when we conceive life as Tragedy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/we-can-only-begin-to-live-when-we-conceive-life-as-tragedy/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above; those that I fight I do not hate, those that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/i-know-that-i-shall-meet-my-fate-somewhere-among-the-clouds-above/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Great literature has always been written in a like spirit, and is, indeed, the Forgiveness of Sin, and when we find it becoming the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/great-literature-has-always-been-written-in-a-like-spirit-and-is/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Where the wave of moonlight glosses The dim gray sands with light, Far off by furthest Rosses We foot it all the night, Weaving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/where-the-wave-of-moonlight-glosses-the-dim-gray-sands-with-light-far/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [His element is so fine Being sharpened by his death, To drink from the wine-breath While our gross palates drink from the whole wine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/his-element-is-so-fine-being-sharpened-by-his-death-to-drink-from-the/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [We poets would die of loneliness but for women, and we choose our men friends that we may have somebody to talk about women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/we-poets-would-die-of-loneliness-but-for-women-and-we-choose-our-men/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Love is created and preserved by intellectual analysis, for we love only that which is unique, and it belongs to contemplation, not to action,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/love-is-created-and-preserved-by-intellectual-analysis-for-we-love/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) > [Who dreamed that beauty passes like a dream? For these red lips, with all their mournful pride, Mournful that no new wonder may betide,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/who-dreamed-that-beauty-passes-like-a-dream-for-these-red-lips-with/) [William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) [Explore all 652 William Butler Yeats quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/) ## More Bakers quotes > [“Socrates: Have you noticed on our journey how often the citizens of this new land remind each other it is a free country? Plato:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/socrates-have-you-noticed-on-our-journey-how-often-the-citizens-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I don't have a very good relationship with baking. I do bake sometimes, but my natural instinct is to just do what feels right…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thu-tran/i-don-t-have-a-very-good-relationship-with-baking-i-do-bake-sometimes/) [Thu Tran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thu-tran/) > [I learned to read from Mrs. Augusta Baker, the children's librarian. ... If that was the only good deed that lady ever did in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/audre-lorde/i-learned-to-read-from-mrs-augusta-baker-the-children-s-librarian-if/) [Audre Lorde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/audre-lorde/) > [I have a treasure trove of Baker memories, all of which reinforce my sense of Howard Baker as one of the most decent people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-yarmuth/i-have-a-treasure-trove-of-baker-memories-all-of-which-reinforce-my/) [John Yarmuth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-yarmuth/) > [I was always a person on my mother's hip in the kitchen. My mom really wanted her kids at her side as much as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-ray/i-was-always-a-person-on-my-mother-s-hip-in-the-kitchen-my-mom-really/) [Rachael Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-ray/) > [I invite all brats to throw their cookies at the baker's head if they're not sweet, winos to chuck their wine if it's bad,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gustave-flaubert/i-invite-all-brats-to-throw-their-cookies-at-the-baker-s-head-if-they/) [Gustave Flaubert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gustave-flaubert/) > [Bakers of bread rolls and pastry cooks will not buy grain before eleven o'clock in winter and noon in summer; bakers of large loaves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cardinal-richelieu/bakers-of-bread-rolls-and-pastry-cooks-will-not-buy-grain-before/) [Cardinal Richelieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cardinal-richelieu/) > [Kyle Baker's work is really funny, but it's also got a very clear vision](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-sienkiewicz/kyle-baker-s-work-is-really-funny-but-it-s-also-got-a-very-clear/) [Bill Sienkiewicz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-sienkiewicz/) > [Well, the movie isn't bad. For a while, I even told myself I liked it, even as it missed one mark after another. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-edelstein/well-the-movie-isn-t-bad-for-a-while-i-even-told-myself-i-liked-it/) [David Edelstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-edelstein/) > [In those days Mr. Sherlock Holmes was still living in Baker Street and the Bastables were looking for treasure in the Lewisham Road.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-those-days-mr-sherlock-holmes-was-still-living-in-baker-street-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Me writing about tennis is like a baker baking bread.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ion-tiriac/me-writing-about-tennis-is-like-a-baker-baking-bread/) [Ion Tiriac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ion-tiriac/) > [When I was little I always wanted to drive a train. That, and become a baker.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-braff/when-i-was-little-i-always-wanted-to-drive-a-train-that-and-become-a/) [Zach Braff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-braff/) > [I played with a left hamstring injury since playing college football at Washington University. I went to doctors all over the country to find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corey-dillon/i-played-with-a-left-hamstring-injury-since-playing-college-football/) [Corey Dillon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corey-dillon/) > [When George W. 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