The Controversy In Walt Whitman's Leaves Of Grass

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

America is a country that has been through many different times of trials. Wars and disease have spread across that nation several times. During times of depression, though, a group of people seems to always emerge from the destruction. That group of people are the poets and writers of America. Through trial and strife, writers are able to find inspiration for their works, and are able to give readers hope for a better day. Walt Whitman was an amazing writer who wrote several poems concerning the great United States of America, talking about the people that have built the nation up from the dust. But, a group of people that Whitman forgot to write about on most occasions were the slaves and black people of which America thrived. Langston Hughes was a black man in the 20th century that took note of Whitman's poems, and their lack of recognition towards his people. Whitman wrote a poem called, "I Hear America Singing," in which Hughes wrote the poem, "I, Too Sing America," in response. In the poem by Hughes, there are several different ways that the writing interlaces with Walt Whitman's.

In the 1860's, Walt Whitman came out with the collection of leaves of grass, and in this assemblage of poems, was "I Hear America Singing". This poem talks about all of these different people with their diversity of jobs. While the people are working, they sing. America can only be a great place, if every single one of the people sing their own song., but learns to time together when needed. Also, in all of these different songs, they join together to make one masterpiece known today as America. In addition to this, another poet, by the name of Langston Hughes, wrote a poem titled, "I, Too, Sing America". This is a literary piece than conveys the life of a black man, and how he would get through the struggles, and become strong and independent because of them. He writes about how his owner makes him eat in the kitchen when visitors come, as a result, they will not tell him to leave, but rather see how beautiful he is. In these two texts, it is clear that Hughes saw Whitman as a great influence and wrote, "I, Too, Sing America" in response to "I Hear America Singing".

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.

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

"This is the meal pleasantly set . . . . this is the meat and drink for natural hunger."

For Whitman, this connective trait of humanity symbolized by grass allows him to transcend the individual, suffer with the his fellow American sufferers and celebrate with the celebratory.

Walt Whitman, a great American poet to be compared to Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe, exists at the heart of American culture. Whitman’s work has not lost its appeal because it still applies to America in the new millennia; America is still deeply troubled by issues of division, hypocrisy, and racism—much unlike the America of inclusion and forbearance Whitman envisioned for American in Leaves of Grass. Although Leaves of Grass is often considered Whitman’s most influential work, Whitman spent eighty-five chapters of his autobiography discussing his war experiences, even though his life through 1860 seemed to be the years crucial to the background of Leaves. When considering Whitman’s view that the war

Leaves of Grass is Walt Whitman’s life legacy and at the same time the most praised and condemned book of poetry. Although fearful of social scorn, there are several poems in Leaves of Grass that are more explicit in showing the homoerotic imagery, whereas there are several subtle – should I say “implicit” – images woven into the fabric of the book. It is not strange, then, that he created many different identities in order to remain safe. What Whitman faced in writing his poetry was the difficulty in describing and resonating manly and homosexual love. He was to find another voice of his, a rhetoric device, and his effort took two forms: simplified, and subverted word play.

American Romanticism took place from 1800 to 1850. During this time there was many poets that created wonderful pieces of writing in which they showed their love for natural. One amazing poet during that time was Walt Whitman. He created a book in which he had many incredible poems. In the section “A Child said what is the grass?” of the poem “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman, Whitman uses grass as a symbol to convey the theme that there is true equality for everyone in society. Whitman expresses to the people of America how society will be reborn and equality will sprout by stating, “Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones Growing among black folks as well as among White, Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff…”(lines 9-11). The author

As I read the poem it seems to me like there is a conflict of time between the nostalgic elegy (a poem written to praise and express sorrow for someone who is dead) and a Utopian idealism (modeled on or aiming for a state in which everything is perfect, that is, idealistic). From previous Whitman poems that I have read throughout the week as well as back in high school, I would say that this theme of American Pastoralism is common within his writings. The main point of his text in my opinion still revolves around trying to get an ideal America and less of an appreciation of aesthetics. Nature's value exists implicitly, but not merely in its beauty, or maybe

America by Allen Ginsburg. In this poem, Walt Whitman is upset with America. In the specific lines Walt Whitman talk about his anger towards the government and more. He then goes on to talk about how America once inspired him to become a saint. When he says such, he starts to refer to the American dream. America inspired him to become pure by doing the opposite of what the country was doing. The speaker energy changes in throughout the stanza. Instead of ranting he just wants to come to a mutual agreement with the U.S. Then he refers to another writer William Burroughs who was known for being a good writer, killing his wife during a drunken game, and being a drug addict. The speaker does this to express how his close friend moved to Tangiers to get away. However, when he went he continued to write and do drugs, in other words, he continued to sin. Mr. Ginsburg is asking if America is sinister like Mr. Burroughs. At the end, the speaker has not come to his point, however he’s getting closer to doing so. This stanza shows how the speaker switches from being upset with America to bringing other countries into the

Walt Whitman is considered by many to be one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century. Whitman grew up in New York and was a member of a large family, having eight siblings. Only four of these siblings lived to adulthood. His father was an alcoholic, which led to Whitman becoming more like a father-figure than a brother to his siblings. Whitman quit school at the age of eleven. He then worked as a journalist, as a carpenter, as a teacher, and as an editor before focusing on poetry. Whitman is most well-known for his book of poems, Leaves of Grass. Whitman could not find a publisher interested in his poems; therefore, he published them himself. Whitman rereleased this collection of poems several times, each time with the addition of

Walt Whitman in the poem “I Hear America Singing” mentions that American people are joined together, and they are working together for future development. Even though they have different occupations, and according to their various languages they are ‘singing’ different songs. Also, their various professions helping to develop this country by modernizing the general condition of the country. Whitman focuses on each person, and his jobs.

In Walt Whitman’s collection of Leaves of Grass, he includes many poems that are a compilation of his musings and thoughts. One thing that he does throughout his collection is that he creates goals through each poem to get different messages across. Some of his common messages, or underlying themes, are the Self, democracy, and the individual, but an interesting common theme found scattered throughout Leaves of Grass is the cycle of life and death, especially in comparison to the United States, the Civil War, and life itself. In “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” does such thing. Published in 1865, the pastoral elegy was written after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. This is the best way that Walt Whitman mourns a beloved public figure in his own modern world, and also the way he copes with the natural world. “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” best captures Whitman’s notion what it means to be human: the common understanding of the never-ending cycle of life and death through the form of the elegy, the symbol of the lilac, and the personification of death.