I Saw Louisiana

Frances Willard and Walt Whitman are two significant nineteenth century American figures. Although Willard and Whitman are famous for different reasons, they do have one characteristic in common: they have both been accused of being homosexuals. However, most people do not know this because it is not put in history textbooks or taught in the classroom, for good reason. Public school students should not learn about Willard and Whitman’s homosexuality through their textbooks and teachers because it does not affect the significance of what these two Americans had accomplished. Not only does it not affect their importance in United States history, but it also cannot be proven. Teaching public school students that Willard and Whitman were homosexuals would be disrespectful to the brave and inspiring acts they have made towards the history of America.

What Whitman does, though, is reverse Emerson's logic. He takes simple, innocent images in nature and makes them shockingly sexual. Whitman sets the sexual tone stating, "Firm masculine colter it shall be you!" and he continues on stating simple natural images that now seem to represent something more sexual, (Whitman Section 24 Line 34). The maple tree has "trickling sap," the brook is "sweaty," and the wind has "soft-tickling genitals,"(Lines 41-45). All of these natural images serve to represent something very different from what they commonly do. Therefore, the images are symbols in nature that the poet, Whitman, gives meaning to. While this use of symbols illustrates what Emerson discusses in principle 15, Whitman takes the power of what he can do with natural symbols further than Emerson does. Similarly, Whitman takes Emerson's principle of nature symbols and expands them beyond being used only in nature.

"WHITMAN WAS MORE MAN THAN YOU'LL EVER BE," said a student of Louisiana State University. When asked questions of your sexual preference or thoughts on the issue of sex, I would venture to say it makes most people uncomfortable. This is an age-old topic that people know about, yet do not want to talk about. He was particularly reticent about his issues regarding sex and his particular sexual preference. In fact, of Whitman's struggles the most difficult for him to deal with was his ever so strong homosexual desires (Hubbell 283). Whether homosexuality is right or wrong is not for me to decide. Though I feel it should not be used so explicitly in works of

Walt Whitman was a revolutionary poet who let his emotions run free through his poetry. Whitman was never afraid to express himself no matter how inappropriate or offensive his emotions might have seemed at the time. This is why Whitman's poem still echo that same sentiment and emotion today almost as loudly as when the drums were first tapped.

“I’ve always had an interest for Louisiana, especially New Orleans”. That was a quote from the famous, Nicholas Cage. Louisiana is a very interesting state for many reasons, in my opinion at least. Louisiana was the 18th state to become a part of the union and is usually either known for their big Mardi Gras celebration, their great cajun food, or the amount of alligators and crocodiles they have.

Similes and metaphors provide a clear picture of the despondent world that the author lived in. In the poem the dead are “Bound with ropes like the tree’s ball of roots

Walt Whitman, one of the world's greatest journalist and poets, touched the lives of many different and diverse cultures through his many works in which he placed his feet in the shoes of everyday people and the experiences they faced. However, his attitude towards slavery and abolitionism were never permanent as if he was constantly torn between how he really felt or how others who did not agree with him would judge his views. As the saying goes, "your first teachers are your parents." Whitman grew up in a racist environment, in which he was a descendent of slave owners. Therefore, he grew up embodying white prejudice and coming to a conclusion that blacks were shiftless and ignorant. However, as he grew older and became more educated on the

Many people believe that this mimics Whitman's life. Living in a life of social separation much of the time, he still managed to succeed not only with his writing, but also in life itself. However, in line five Whitman goes on to say that he wonders how the tree could grow such joyous leaves while being alone. He himself says that he could not survive if put in the same situation. Whitman did however lead a joyous and happy life in many peoples opinion, even though he did not enjoy the social life many other had during his lifetime. His own opinion of himself not being lonely may be frayed in order to spare the image he proposes to the public in his writings. The next few lines are interesting because of the way they could possible spell out Whitman's life. In the poem, he breaks of a twig, wraps some moss around it, and takes it to he room and places it in plain view. This may parallel his life by way of his memory. The twig may represent pieces of his memory that were enjoyable to him. He then takes the twig and places it in his room signifying that he wants to be able to constantly see those fond memories. Again Whitman replies by saying he did not do this to remind him of his friends, but in reality he may have just said this to help keep a good report with his readers about his lifestyle.

First published in 1894, Kate Chopin’s short story “Beyond the Bayou” explores the effect that fear and loneliness can have on one’s world, along with how love and determination can prompt one to ultimately overcome these emotions. An early childhood trauma has compelled the protagonist of the story, a woman known as La Folle, to choose to remain in the isolation of her cabin and the woods surrounding it, keeping her largely separated from the rest of the world across the bayou. Her master’s house sits across the bayou, and his children revel in visiting La Folle and listening to her stories. The protagonist is closest with the youngest of the children; Cheri. The two share a deep bond, one that is tested towards the end of the story when Cheri accidentally stumbles and his leg is injured by a bullet.

In his first edition of the poem, “Song of Myself”, Whitman’s poem takes a bold move when it strictly focuses on the glorification of himself. Whitman’s use of arrogant diction helps convey a condescending tone that suggests the speaker is superior to others. However, this egotistical belief is complicated in his poem when his use of inclusive diction invokes a friendly welcoming environment. Through his Speaker, Whitman uses these shifts of diction to present contradictions which allow the reader to encounter multiple emotions. At the same time, his use of free verse structure invokes a sense of unpredictability that literally allows the reader to encounter the multiplicity of everyday experiences in life. Hence, the text promotes

Walt Whitman is one of americas greatest poet’s. He was born on long Island at a time before it became a city it was all fields and farms at that time. He left school at age 11; but he kept on educating himself especially he was reading the works of emerson who was a famous author and lecturer. Whitman worked as a newspaper editor in Manhattan but he had the hope and desire to become a Poet. He read emersons essay, “the Poet”, and he started to work on his most famous of all his works which was called “Leave’s of Grass”. It was not a hit at-the-time, the public mostly called it scandalous; because it dealt in part with sexual desire and passion. However, he sent a copy of it to emerson, Emerson was one of the few who praised it. Whitman

Though fellow Transcendentalists adored Whitman’s thought provoking poetry, they were turned off by the explicit sexual content, which was uncharacteristic during this time period. In fact, John Greenleaf Whittier, an influential American Quaker poet, stated that though “he had no fears that ‘any man who has eyes in his head will fail to see the genius in [Whitman’s] poems,’” he still “threw his copy of [“Song of Myself”] into the fire and lost all desire to meet Whitman” (Boller 178). To Whitman there was the fundamental question of the “importance of the material world, therefore of the body, and therefore of sex” (Mott 275).

Leaves of grass are loosely connected but have a broad theme to the poems. This compilation exploits the fundamentals of nature and its beauty along with the ideas of individual humans. The reason why this is important is because Walt Whitman at the time was a known as writing immoral pieces of poetry. There is theory’s of Walt Whitman being a homosexual and that he expresses it through paper and that is why he was bashed at the time. He was a speaker for the people who would not speak at the time; he shows historians the eyes through someone who is different from the rest. On march first 1882 Boston Legal attorney Oliver Stevens wrote to Whitman's publisher, James R Osgood, that Leaves of Grass constituted "obscene literature". His poets would spit on what was politically okay, instead of telling his readers rules, he let them learn from his eyes which is a beautiful way to in vision his poetry and understand him as a

Sexuality was a sensitive topic during the times of Dickinson and Whitman. It was a time dominated by religion and church, where sex is between a man and a woman who are married. The term and idea of homosexuality hadn’t developed in people’s minds yet. Trying to understand two men or two women being attracted to each other was difficult for people. And even if someone could imagine these relationships, there wasn’t a word to describe them like today. Somewhat unfortunately for Dickinson and Whitman, they were born in this time period where they could not be truly understood without these concepts of homosexuality. Writing about sex during this era was dangerous and controversial, but writing about homosexual relations was nearly unheard of. When Whitman published Leaves of Grass, it was overtly sexual. Critics of the book saw it as obscene and vulgar. However, if Whitman were to edit and remove some of the sexuality seen in his writings, it would simply not be a Whitman poem any longer. Dickinson on the contrary used sexual references and sexual language much less often and much more discretely. Her poems did not revolve around the sexual nature of humans the way Whitman did. Whitman throughout his poetry writes against the status quo of prudeness in regards to sexual relations. While Dickinson may have agreed with Whitman and his writings, she was not as influential at changing sexual stigmas as Whitman was.

Bear with me. Walt Whitman, the lecturer, presents a persuasive argument for the de-evolution of society, the abandonment of conventional rules and ultimately, the re-establishment of our naturally divine souls. As evinced through vivid natural imagery, Whitman imagines a golden era before “civilized” strictures constrained the human soul and squeezed out an impure being. This ideal person, as Whitman the lecturer imagines himself to be, is liberated from feeling shame for indulging in vice, demonstrated through creative sexual allusions in language. Metaphorically, through broaching taboo topics, indulging in instinctual desires of sex, and glorifying the natural world while simultaneously condemning ostensibly civilized peoples, Walt provides an argument for why our uncorrupted “savagery” is preferable to civility. Finally, Walt promises happiness to those who leap with him, but Walt asks us to make that choice independently.