A Summary Of Trancedentalism

In early American Literature, there were several famous authors that shaped America and American literature into modern literature. Among those individuals are Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and, Walt Whitman. Of particular interest is Walt Whitman, who has fascinated the masses for over a century with his unorthodox writings. Whitman was inspired by Emerson in the beginning of his career, and later Emerson was the one who helped give Whitman the courage to continue writing after the public did not accept “Leaves of Grass” which was the first work Whitman published. Sadly, Whitman had to publish “Leaves of Grass” privately in the beginning. One poem of importance is from “Leaves of Grass,” that being “For You O Democracy.” As with many of Whitman’s works “For You O Democracy” discussed new ideas and beliefs. The first being the belief that America could stand as one entity; an entity that accepts everyone regardless of their race or social standing. Previously the nation had been divided based upon race and social standing. The second work by Whitman is “America,” a poem which was not published in Whitman’s original work “Leaves of Grass.” Rather, it was one of Whitman’s standalone tributes to the nation. One may wonder why Whitman had to publish his first work privately. Publishing privately had a great deal to do with censorship and the culture during his era. At this time citizens were not open to the idea of accepting the freedom of slaves or homosexuality,

    From looking at the titles of Walt Whitman's vast collection of poetry in Leaves of Grass one would be able to surmise that the great American poet wrote about many subjects -- expressing his ideas and thoughts about everything from religion to Abraham Lincoln. Quite the opposite is true, Walt Whitman wrote only about a single subject which was so powerful in the mind of the poet that it consumed him to the point that whatever he wrote echoed of that subject. The beliefs and tenets of transcendentalism were the subjects that caused Whitman to write and carried through not only in the wording and imagery of his poems, but also in the revolutionary way that he chose to write his poetry.

Walt Whitman, a democratic poet, celebrated himself and his connection with the world by writing “Song of Myself” in 1855. According to Eric Forsythe, “Throughout the poem, Whitman probes the question of how large the new democratic self can become before it dissipates into contradiction and fragmentation, and each time he seems to reach the limit, he dilates even more” (Forsythe). The poem shaped the idea of what it meant to be an American, by bringing citizens together. It also foreshadowed the Civil War, which began in 1861, through a symbol of grass. In “Song of Myself,” Whitman’s themes of individualism and carpe diem developed from the transcendentalist movement.

Whitman wrote broad stanzas and focused on the whole of America as his inspiration. His lines covered a wide range of topics and generated multiple points of view for the reader. He called his life’s work “Leaves of Grass”; stressing the

During the 19th century, Walt Whitman revealed America as precariously perched between becoming a successful “teeming nation of nations” and increasing into divisibility, fractured by resistance to the very diversity that could have been a source of power (Mancinelli, 3). Throughout Whitman’s writing, he has celebrated and elaborated upon the human spirit, soul, and body. He has sung the attributes of a democracy throughout his literature. As America was growing around him, his poetic structures imply his democratic ideals. In Walt Whitman’s famous “Song of Myself” he touches on three important themes

Whitman identifies himself for the first time in section 24 and even then into a balance of scriptural, half-comical outline as “Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son” he strikes readers in a distinctly proud and individual posture and addresses the audience in a doubly straightforward demeanor. He talks about how his body does indeed “spread,”not only from head to toe, but also from from earth to heaven, and from self to others. So now his voice can now represent the nearby and the inaccessible, the life around him and the life a long way from him. The pace begins to diminish as he distinguishes nearly and carefully with one section of society as it were: the injured, the imprisoned, the

Walt Whitman is one of the most influential writers in American History. Although greatly unappreciated in his time, Whitman’s works were truly groundbreaking and served as the basis to usher in a completely new literary movement. Growing up and writing in a era of American History of immense change on numerous spectrums, Walt Whitman’s literary works explored many of these new concepts and ideologies brought forward during this time. As possibly the most important poet of the American Romantic movement, Walt Whitman’s poetry such as “For You O Democracy” and “I Sing the Body Electric” exemplified resurging and new found American ideals stemming from the events of the early to mid nineteenth century. With economic, physical, ideological,

Introduction: He is one of America’s most admired and significant poets. His most famous book, Leaves of Grass, includes a collection of his poems. Although Leaves of Grass was initially ignored because of its harsh and explicit language it quickly became one of the best poems of American History. He had other professions too though, such as: a teacher, a government clerk, and a nurse during the American Civil War. This man, Walt Whitman, significantly changed the poetry realm and encouraged people to become better citizens through the transcendental philosophy that he lived by and based his literature on.

Walt Whitman was a wonderful poet in his lifetime. He with many others influenced the American Literature during the time of the Great Depression. He was an American poet, essayist, novelist, short story writer, journalist, and editor. His work was revolutionary in both its style and content. Whitman promoted himself as the poet of American democracy and of the common man. His exploration and exaltation of sexuality and homosexuality has been downplayed. I plan to talk about Walt Whitman and his life of a poet.

Walt Whitman was considered one of America’s most influential poets. He was born on May 31, 1819 in New York. He grew up in a family that had so much love for America; therefore his poems reflected his love for America and the nature of the American experience and its democracy. He published about 300 poems in the collection of Leaves of Grass; it became one of the most popular collections in the history of American Literature. Each poem represents Whitman’s honor of his attitude towards life and humanity. During the Civil War, Whitman, moved to Washington D.C. where his brother was fighting for the Union. He stayed there for several years helping wounded soldiers. Due to Whitman’s love for America, after the Civil War he continued visiting

Walt Whitman’s careers in journalism gained him interest in literature and journalism. His interest inspired him to write journals, poetries, and novels. When he was 15 years old, he was able to publish his first article “In Olden Times” when working at the Star in 1834 (Oliver 9). In 1855, Walt Whitman published his famous book of poems Leaves of Grass. Whitman introduced a new style of poetry to the poetry history which now called the free verse. Whitman was also famous with his revision of Leaves of Grass. Throughout his life, he published eight different edition of Leaves of Grass. Besides Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman also produced another great work of literature Drum-Taps.

After the Civil War, Walt Whitman realized that the American people were in need of their own identity. Therefore, he wrote the book “Leaves of Grass” with the goal of creating a literature piece that was authentic and organic to the United States in every sense. Whitman introduced to literature the idea of the “American Dream” and highlighted how important it was for the American people to develop their own identity. Consequently, he rejected the European writing styles and adapted the use of free-verses to his writing, making it a popular writing style in American poetry. Whitman valued of humanity, nature and spirituality. Therefore, he joined the Transcendental literary movement and

In his first anthology of poems entitled “Song of Myself”, Walt Whitman reveals some of his views on democracy through the use of symbolism and free verse poetry. His use of symbolism and free verse poetry creates indeterminacy, giving the reader hints rather than answers about the nature of the poem. In the sixth part of “Song of Myself”, a child asks the narrator of the poem, “What is the grass?” (Whitman). Instead of simply giving an answer, the narrator cannot make up his mind, and stumbles on how to explain the grass to the child. Through the use of specific symbolisms, Whitman, as the narrator, explicates his views while remaining under the façade of explaining grass to the child. The views Whitman conveys remain indeterminate and

“I celebrate myself, and sing myself / and what I shall assume you shall assume” (Whitman 1-2). These lines not only open up the beginning of one the best poems of the American Romantic period, but they also represent a prominent theme of one of this period’s best poet, Walt Whitman. In Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself, Whitman deals with his time period’s most prominent theme of democracy. Whitman tells readers that they must not only observe the democratic life but they must become one with it. As Whitman states, “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (3). Democracy provides a connection with all people. It is as if Joseph Stella felt this connection and decided to depict it in his collection of paintings entitled “Americans in the Rough.” The individual is of no greater or lesser worth than anyone else. Beatrice Marovich states that, “It is a song for fellow Americans, about the American body politic” (349). An analysis of Song of Myself portrays that understanding and becoming one with democracy through political collectivity essentially sets the stage for the American democratic self. Joseph Stella does a great job of interpreting and depicting Whitman’s ideals of democracy through his illustrations representing every facet of an American democratic life.

In his poems and life, Walt Whitman celebrated the human spirit and the human body. He sang the praises of democracy and marveled at the technological advances of his era. His direct poetic style shocked many of his contemporaries. This style, for which Whitman is famous, is in direct relation to several major American cultural developments. The development of American dictionaries, the growth of baseball, the evolution of Native American policy, and the development of photography all played a part and became essential components of Whitman’s poetry.