Walt Whitman should have been an APA editor.

A reflection on Walt Whitman's words in a different context.

Walt Whitman should have been an APA editor. Yes, I realize that is an ahistorical thing to say, and coincidentally, the year of the American Psychological Association’s founding, 1892, is also the year of Whitman’s death. However, during my career as a professional writing coach, I have worked with many social scientists, and in rhetorical style, Whitman the poet and humanist, perhaps surprisingly, gave me valuable tools for fostering writing practices among social researchers and scholars.

In his preface to Leaves of Grass, Whitman summarized one part, a substantial part, of his approach to writing:

“The art of art, the glory of expression, is simplicity. Nothing is better than simplicity, and the sunlight of letters is simplicity. Nothing is better than simplicity—nothing can make up for excess, or for the lack of definiteness.”

He doesn’…