Picture Connecticut: A Little Intellectual Reflection

WEST HARTFORD, CT — This week's stop on the Picture Connecticut tour presents a bit of a juxtaposition. It's a pause for intellectual reflection next to an athletic field.

It's the Walt Whitman tribute at the Kingswood Oxford School.

The inscription reads, "For beings, groups, love, deeds, words, books ..." and sits on a plaque embedded into a stone surrounded by plantings. It is located adjacent to the upper athletic fields on the K-O campus.

The stanza is part of Whitman's reflective poem, "Thanks In Old Age," found in his noted work, "Leaves Of Grass."

The poem begins, "Thanks in old age—thanks ere I go," and the stanza on the K-O rock is located in about the middle.

Leaves of Grass dates back to 1855, but, scholars tell us, Whitman spent most of his professional life adding to the work that represents his philosophy on life and humanity, praising nature and a person's role in it.

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Picture Connecticut is a weekly Patch series featuring unique images of the state, past and present.Previous featured images:

• The indoor bush plane, East Hartford
• The Big Pink Chair, Ellington
• The Notch, Granby
• The CT 9/11 Monument, Westport
• Vintage Gas Pump, Somers
• Tobacco Harvest, East Windsor
• Late Afternoon, Lakeside, Coventry
• Fogarea, New Haven County
• Judy Black Memorial Park and Gardens, Washington Depot
• Connecticut River Police Boat, Rocky Hill
• The first dentist, Windsor
• The Frog Bridge, Willimantic
• The World War Bridge Rapids, Putnam
• The Peeking Cow, Tolland County
• The Ivy Lacrosse Tournament, New Canaan
• The Bradley International Airport runway, Windsor Locks
• The Underground Railroad, Unionville
• The cow carousel, Ellington
• Charles Island, Milford
• State Veterans Cemetery, Middletown
• Glastonbury-Rocky Hill Ferry, Glastonbury/Rocky Hill
• The Old County Jailhouse, Tolland
• Agent Orange Monument, Andover
• The Sunken Garden, Farmington
• Lafayette Tour Monument, Vernon
• The Pinchot Sycamore, Simsbury
• Bob's Discount Furniture Studios, Manchester