In 1819, a little boy was born in a farmhouse near South Huntington, Long Island, USA. Unlike other children, this child showed great interest in poetry from an early age. When the little boy was about seven or eight years old, he was already quite famous in the local area, because, in everyone's eyes, his little mind had become a "poetry processing factory", and he could come up with verses at any time.
Because he could hear other people's compliments every day, the little boy began to think that he was a talented poet, and his inner self-esteem was greatly inflated. After this, the little boy's enthusiasm for learning poetry decreased. Not only that, from then on, the little boy always looked arrogant and airy wherever he went.
The little boy’s father is a farmer. Although this dutiful farmer does not have much knowledge, he is still worried about his child’s changes.
One day, his father led the little boy to a manor on a hillside. In order to facilitate watering, the manor owner hired people to drill many wells in the manor a year ago. However, it is now the dry season and many wells have no water.
"Son, can you find any wells that still have water?" the father asked his son.
"Of course, you will know after you take a look." Next, the little boy ran and jumped like a bird to check the well.
Not long after, the little boy came back out of breath. He proudly told his father: "There are twelve wells in the entire manor, but only one has water!"
< p>The father nodded, then pointed to a well at the bottom of the hillside and said, "I can tell there is water in that well without looking."The little boy looked at his father in surprise and asked: "How do you know?"
"Oh, it's very simple, because the well is at the bottom of the hillside." The father said calmly.
"Oh, I understand, because water always flows to a lower place." The little boy is a smart child, and he understood as soon as his father's words came out of his mouth.
"Yes, a well can only hold more water if it is willing to be at the bottom of a hillside." Isn't that the same as being a human being? Be a low-key person, do things with a high profile, be broad-minded and have high aspirations. Only when one is wise and foolish can one have insight into current affairs; only when one is neither arrogant nor impetuous can one suddenly gain clarity. He may appear to be ordinary, but in fact he has a hidden agenda; although he is silent, he understands the mystery clearly. Throughout history, almost every successful person hid his or her own strength before success, because only in this way can he accumulate more strength. On the contrary, people who are high-profile are generally superficial. Such people spend all day thinking about how to make themselves famous, so how much time do they have to do what they should do? Therefore, if you want to make achievements in poetry, you must learn more, think more, and show off less. Only poems written through continuous learning and thinking can impress people, and only such people can become real poets! ”
After listening to his father’s words, the little boy had a profound understanding. From then on, he was no longer impetuous, but spent most of his time studying and thinking. Time passed day by day, and it was not until the age of 36 that he wrote 12 poems such as "Swinging All the Way Across the Brooklyn Ferry", "Song of the Broad Ax" and "Song of the Road". When these 12 poems were named after "Leaves of Grass" After it was published, it quickly shocked the United States.
At this point, you can easily guess who this little boy is - yes, his name is Walt Whitman. , Whitman rose like a new star. After 1859, he successively wrote "From the Ever-Swinging Cradle", "Song of Democracy", "The Children of Adam" and "Reed Flute". Poems, *** published 9 editions of "Leaves of Grass". These works made Whitman a global sensation and became an immortal star in the world of poetry in that era and even today.
"My achievements come from long-term calm observation and thinking. If my father hadn't told me the philosophy that the well with water is always at the lowest place, I might still be a ridiculed and self-righteous poetry hooligan to this day! "Whitman wrote this passage in his diary before his death in 1892.