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Calamus
Calamus, section of Whitman's Leaves of Grass containing 45 poems first published in the 1860 edition. Its theme of the spiritual love of man for man complements that of“Children of Adam.”
The calamus, a plant generally known as the sweet flag, serves as a threefold symbol. Its leaves symbolize mortality; its fascicles, which cling together for support, represent “adhesive” love or friendship; and its perennial pink‐tinged aromatic root is symbolic of immortal life, from which bloom successive transient forms. This mystical group of poems, frequently considered a reflection of the author's homosexuality, was said by Whitman to have “Political significance” in celebrating the “beautiful and sane affection of man for man” which would “make the continent indissoluble” and weld the states into a “Living Union.” The title was used by Richard Maurice Bucke for his edition (1897) of letters written between 1868 and 1880 by Whitman to his friend Peter Doyle, a Washington streetcar conductor. |
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Calamus." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Calamus." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-Calamus.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Calamus." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-Calamus.html |
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Calamus
Calamus (family Palmae) A genus of palms in which the stem is clothed in a spiny tubular sheath, 10 m or more long, and flexuous, rarely short and erect. Leaves are pinnate, often with a long, protruding, spiny tip (cirrus), or with modified, sterile, spiny inflorescences (flagella), rarely both; the spiny whips grapple the surrounding forest. Calamus is dioecious. The inflorescence has tubular, spiny sheaths. Fruits are scaly, often with a thin, sour pulp. Many species produce useful cane, a few entering international commerce. Calamus is the largest of all palm genera, and the most wide-ranging genus of climbing palms (rattans or rotans). There are about 370 species in Africa, India, and southern China, south through the Malay archipelago to northern Australia, and from the western Pacific islands to Fiji.
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Cite this article
MICHAEL ALLABY. "Calamus." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL ALLABY. "Calamus." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-Calamus.html MICHAEL ALLABY. "Calamus." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-Calamus.html |
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calamus
calamus : see arum . |
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Cite this article
"calamus." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "calamus." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-calamus.html "calamus." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-X-calamus.html |
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calamus
calamus
•Lammas • Cadmus • Las Palmas
•chiasmus, Erasmus
•Nostradamus
•famous, ignoramus, Seamus, shamus
•Polyphemus, Remus
•grimace • Michaelmas
•Christmas, isthmus
•litmus
•animus, equanimous, magnanimous, pusillanimous, unanimous
•anonymous, eponymous, Hieronymus, pseudonymous, synonymous
•Septimus
•Mimas, primus, thymus, timeous
•Thomas
•enormous, ginormous
•brumous, hummus, humous, humus, spumous, strumous
•blasphemous
•bigamous, polygamous, trigamous
•endogamous, monogamous
•calamus, hypothalamus, thalamus
•venomous
•autonomous, bonhomous, heteronomous
•Pyramus
•dichotomous, hippopotamus, trichotomous
•Thermos
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Cite this article
"calamus." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "calamus." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-calamus.html "calamus." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-calamus.html |
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