WALT WHITMAN

Walter 'Walt' Whitman was an influential transcendentalist American poet of the 19th
century, and a figure of more than a little controversy. As a transcendentalist, he held views
that weren't necessarily popular at his time, and his poetry, namely Leaves of Grass, was met
with a good deal of criticism when it was first published in 1855.
Walt Whitman was born into a large, poor family on May 31,1819 on Long Island, New
York State. His family then moved to New York City, where Whitman dropped out of school
and went to work at age 11 to help support his family. He experienced the ups and downs of
city life as he worked as a printer's helper, journalist, newspaper editor, and schoolteacher,
though no occupation would suit him as well as poet. He jumped around the country quite a bit,
too, living in both the North and the South, meeting many people, seeing many places, and
having many adventures, most of which influenced his poetry.
Whitman was a controversial figure in American literature.
Whitman began work on the poems that would later comprise Leaves of Grass, including the
famous Song of Myself, as early as 1850. Whitman's style of poetry was unique for his time; he
wrote in free verse, or poetry without meter or rhyme. As meter and rhyme are what people
often use to distinguish poetry from prose, it was often hard for some readers to recognize
Leaves of Grass as poetry at all!
Though now it's considered essential American literature, the highly sensual nature of
Leaves of Grass, along with its unusual form, made it pretty unpopular at the time it was first
published. Though no one knows for certain, most scholars assume that Whitman was either
gay or bisexual, and his explicit descriptions of physical pleasure in the book were highly
offensive to many.
Like most transcendentalist works, Leaves of Grass explores the relationship between man
and nature and the value of the mind and spirit. Transcendentalism started in the first half of the
19th century as a reaction to rationalism, i.e., the idea that human reason and the material world
were all anyone needed. Writer Ralph Waldo Emerson was a major founder of the movement,
and other Transcendentalists included Henry Thoreau and Margaret Fuller. Transcendentalists
believed strongly in the value and creative power of the individual, and they often supported
social reforms, including the abolition of slavery and the rights of women. Transcendentalism
placed great value on the self, and in Book 1 of Leaves of Grass, entitled Inscriptions, the first
poem is actually titled One's-Self I Sing.
Whitman published his first book of poetry, Leaves of Grass, in 1855, and he revised,
expanded, and republished this book several times throughout his life. During the Civil War,
Whitman brought out another collection entitled Drum-Taps, which explores the complexities
and emotions of the war and its soldiers. The poet, although not a soldier himself, spent the war
tending the wounded and, therefore, got a unique look at the Civil War experience.
After the war, two more collections of Whitman's poems appeared, A Passage to India
and Democratic Vistas. The poet also continued to work on Leaves of Grass. Whitman's later
life was challenging, however. He had a stroke in 1873 and was often in poor health after that.
Also, the American public didn't always appreciate Whitman's work. His poems were different
than other poetry. They didn't use the usual rhythms and rhymes, and they tended to be quite
direct and often dealt with controversial themes and ideas. Indeed, Whitman, who passed away
in 1892, was probably a bit ahead of his time, but he has come to be known and loved as one of
America's greatest poets.
Whitman’s lifetime saw both the Civil War and the rise of the United States as a
commercial and political power. He witnessed both the apex and the abolition of slavery. His
poetry is thus centered on ideas of democracy, equality, and brotherhood. In response to
America’s new position in the world, Whitman also tried to develop a poetry that was uniquely
American, that both surpassed and broke the mold of its predecessors. Leaves of Grass, with its
multiple editions and public controversies, set the pattern for the modern, public artist, and
Whitman, with his journalistic endeavors on the side, made the most of his role as celebrity and
artist.
WALT WHITMAN

Whitman’s poetry is democratic in both its subject matter and its language. Democracy
As a Way of Life is a theme Whitman uses in his poetry and he is concerned with cataloguing
the new America he sees growing around him. Just as America is far different politically and
practically from its European counterparts, so too must American poetry distinguish itself from
previous models. Thus we see Whitman breaking new ground in both subject matter and
diction.
In a way, though, Whitman is not so unique. His preference for the quotidian links him
with both Dante, who was the first to write poetry in a vernacular language, and with
Wordsworth, who famously stated that poetry should aim to speak in the “language of ordinary
men.” Unlike Wordsworth, however, Whitman does not romanticize the proletariat or the
peasant. Instead he takes as his model himself. The stated mission of his poetry was, in his
words, to make “[a]n attempt to put a Person, a human being (myself, in the latter half of the
19th century, in America) freely, fully, and truly on record.” A truly democratic poetry, for
Whitman, is one that, using a common language, is able to cross the gap between the self and
another individual, to effect a sympathetic exchange of experiences.
This leads to a distinct blurring of the boundaries between the self and the world and
between public and private. Whitman prefers spaces and situations—like journeys, the out-of-
doors, cities—that allow for ambiguity in these respects. Thus we see poems like “Song of the
Open Road” and “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” where the poet claims to be able to enter into the
heads of others. Exploration becomes not just a trope but a mode of existence.
For Whitman, spiritual communion depends on physical contact, or at least proximity. The
Beauty of the Individual is another theme in Whitman’s poetry. The body is the vessel that
enables the soul to experience the world. Therefore the body is something to be worshipped and
given a certain primacy. Eroticism, particularly homoeroticism, figures significantly in
Whitman’s poetry. This is something that got him in no small amount of trouble during his
lifetime. The erotic interchange of his poetry, though, is meant to symbolize the intense but
always incomplete connection between individuals. The affection Whitman shows for the
bodies of others, both men and women, comes out of his appreciation for the linkage between
the body and the soul and the communion that can come through physical contact. He also has
great respect for the reproductive and generative powers of the body, which mirror the
intellect’s generation of poetry.
The Civil War diminished Whitman’s faith in democratic sympathy. Reconstruction,
which began to fail almost immediately after it was begun, further disappointed Whitman. His
later poetry, which displays a marked insecurity about the place of poetry and the place of
emotion in general, is darker and more isolated.
Whitman’s style remains consistent throughout, however. The poetic structures he
employs are unconventional but reflect his democratic ideals. Lists are a way for him to bring
together a wide variety of items without imposing a hierarchy on them. Perception, rather than
analysis, is the basis for this kind of poetry, which uses few metaphors or other kinds of
symbolic language. Anecdotes are another favored device. By transmitting a story, often one he
has gotten from another individual, Whitman hopes to give his readers a sympathetic
experience, which will allow them to incorporate the anecdote into their own history. The kind
of language Whitman uses sometimes supports and sometimes seems to contradict his
philosophy. He often uses obscure, foreign, or invented words. This, however, is not meant to
be intellectually elitist but is instead meant to signify Whitman’s status as a unique individual.
Democracy does not necessarily mean sameness. The difficulty of some of his language also
mirrors the necessary imperfection of connections between individuals: no matter how hard we
try, we can never completely understand each other. Whitman largely avoids rhyme schemes
and other traditional poetic devices. He does, however, use meter in masterful and innovative
ways, often to mimic natural speech. In these ways, he is able to demonstrate that he has
mastered traditional poetry but is no longer subservient to it, just as democracy has ended the
subservience of the individual.