Walt Whitman

Chapter 3
Using Emerson’s Self-Reliance as a guide, Whitman
and Dickinson both fully lived the ideal of what it
meant to be self-reliant, but in very different ways.

Walt Whitman worked with bold strokes on a broad

canvas; Whitman was the public spokesman of the
masses and the prophet of progress.
Whitman could be considered an “American Success”
since he went from job to job until he boldly
published Leaves of Grass on his own in 1855 making
him famous.
Whitman was extravagant with words, careless with
repetition and self-contradiction.
Whitman develops a cadence in his poetry that is
unique—a long easy sweeping sound heard when
orators or preachers speak.
This cadence is the basis for his free verse—poetry
with no rhyme or meter.
Born on May 31, 1819 to parents of Dutch and English
descent.
Was lucky enough to know his American
grandparents allowing he and his seven siblings to
commute from the country to an urban setting in a
new city– Brooklyn.
Attended school until he was eleven—yes, eleven. He
worked various jobs such as an office clerk, printer’s
assistant, taught school and even worked in
journalism.
Despite the fact that Whitman was a voracious reader
(he read Sir Walter Scott, the Bible, Shakespeare,
Homer, Dante and ancient Hindu poetry to name a
few) he never continued with school so many don’t
consider him a scholar in the traditional sense.
Whitman took a working vacation when employed by
The Crescent he went by train, horse-drawn coach,
river boat so that he could see first hand all that
America had to offer. On his way home he became
enthralled with New Orleans and the unique French
Catholic culture within the city.
 Back in Brooklyn Whitman works as editor of the Brooklyn
Freeman as well as a carpenter and building contractor to
supplement his income.
 In 1855 Whitman—at his own expense published Leaves of
Grass.
 The book of poetry was considered to strange to be
reviewed by literary critics so Whitman wrote to people he
thought endorsements would be useful—like Ralph Waldo
Emerson.
 ----Emerson wrote “I give you joy of your free and brave
thought. I have great joy in it” (Letter from Emerson to
Whitman, 1855).
Whitman, the man we know promoted and sold his
image. P.T. Barnum (the Greatest Sow on Earth fame)
could’ve learned from him.
Whitman was a walking contradiction. He had
theatrical flair of a con-artist and the selfless dignity
of a saint; the sensibility of an artist , but carefree
spirit of a hobo.
The figure he carefully crafted and put on display was
not just a persona, but who he was.
Whitman’s peers saw him as an artist who
permanently changed art.
Whitman modified the new standard of the king’s
English, and abandoned traditional rhyme schemes,
formal meters in favor of rhythms and speech
patterns of free verse.
Whitman’s risk allowed his poetry to sing and speak
about everything under the sun.
Whitman freed poetry so that organized word
structures no longer mattered. Whitman showed that
it was the poems totality that mattered rather than
specific lines or verses.
 Whitman died in 1892 achieving a great personal goal. He
enlarged the possibilities of American poetry to lyricism of
simple speech and the grand design of the epic. How is
Leaves of Grass an epic? Epics require the hero go on a
journey. In Leaves of Grass the poet’s journey is the one that
the speaker takes as he becomes a poet.

 “…I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul …
I am the poet of the woman the same as the man...”

 By the end of the epic journey, the poet has been

transformed. The “I” has become identified with every
element in the universe and reborn into something divine.
Nothing like this has ever been done in America before.
Now, go to the blog and read, “Oh Captain, My
Captain” and prepare for a discussion on Thursday.