The Most Uneven Great Poet By Tenney Nathanson

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,

"Why should I pray? Why should I venerate and be ceremonious?……I find no sweeter fat than sticks to my own bones." (pg 40)Nature and all of her wondrous facets, especially the human body, was Whitman's religion. Walt Whitman was indeed an intensely spiritual man in his own unconventional way. His epic classic "Song of Myself" demonstrates these attitudes of his, and in his view how the proverbial "poet" of his America should believe. Humanity yearns for spiritual fulfillment and Whitman believed that everything around us and even ourselves were walking testaments to what true ethereal life is.

"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

Whitman’s use of organic form in his poetry also displays his views on the political standing of his country. For Whitman America needed a new form of poetry that was separate from its European counterpart and thus would embody the new political system that was taking effect in America being democracy. His organic form is very clearly seen as he writes that, “rhyme, and of uniformity that it conveys itself into its own roots in the ground out of sight” (Whitman, 10). Whitman is dictating to his readers his belief that poetic form must come naturally and not be forced as it should mirror the content of the poem. The form of his poem “A song for occupation” is made up of many catalogs of men and women, something that is more commonly associated with the epic poetry of ancient Greece. One such catalogue that emphasizes the duality and importance of each citizen in society for Whitman is seen when he writes that it

In a letter he wrote to a love one he stated “…I go every day without fail, & often at night – sometimes stay very late – no on interferes with me, guards, doctors, nurses, no any one – I am let to take my own course.” Given that he volunteered in half a dozen hospitals. He was known in D.C. for writing poems for some of those that were close to death. Walter Whitman used a distinct style of poetry. He often wrote about experiences, most of them heartfelt and spiritual. This man had a goal to symbolize the connection between each individual. A lot of this affection was brought up from his experiences during the Civil War. Also, the cycles of life were frequently focused on. This included birth, aging and reproducing, and death. Additionally, many believe that Whitman was homosexual or bisexual based on his poetry expressing feelings. An example is the editions of Leaves of Grass because it was given the label of obscene. The style of Whitman’s poetry remains similar throughout his years of writing; he does not typically use traditional poetic devices, such a rhyme schemes. On the other hand, he did include poetic diction. Walt wrote poems using common slang and regional

James E Miller wrote Sex and Sexuality, a piece that focuses on Walt Whitman’s fixation in sex as a theme of his writings. Here he tackles Emerson's involvement in silencing Whitman’s horny nature, how Whitman was fired from his job and charged with writing “indecent poems”, and how flamboyant his writing was. Here he says “He very early adopted two phrenological terms to discriminate between the two relationships “amativeness” for man-woman love and “adhesiveness” for “manly

In 1914, Basil de Selincourt in his work, Walt Whitman: A Critical Study, fights desperately against the homosexual innuendos and imagery in the "Calamus" poems, failing to name directly, in the process, that of which he is trying to prove

The poem I Sing the Body Electric, by Walt Whitman is one of the poems from the original 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass. In I Sing the Body Electric, Whitman explores the physical body in connection with the soul. In this poem Whitman establishes the links between the body and the soul by celebrating perfection of the male and female body and the importance the body castes upon the soul and bodies connecting with one another. In this poem Whitman depicts the image of the perfect body for both male and female by listing specific characteristics that our soul and physical body connect with to make that body perfect. In I Sing the Body Electric Whitman bridges the gap between our thoughts and our bodies, arguing that they are both one divine entity. In this writing Whitman argues the two characteristics of this entity that rely on each other to become one and create the masterpiece. Whitman explains how the beauty of the body is dependent upon the thoughts in our mind and our thoughts are in turn the force that allows our body to contort beautifully in an outward expression of movement. For example, in section one Whitman questions, “And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?” Knowing the answer Whitman continues on to answer the body is the soul, our thoughts, our soul, is the body. In section six, Whitman explains how “The male is not less the soul nor more”.

“Whitman claimed that after years of competing for the usual rewards he was determined to become a poet,” (Cambridge University Press, 1996). At first he experimented with a variety of literary genres that would appeal to people’s tastes of the period, although, he intended to write an American epic and used free verse based on the Bible. In 1850, he began writing poetry that would

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.

Individualism is important. This statement is made clear in Walt Whitman’s book, Leaves of Grass, published in 1855. Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection composed in the nineteenth-century, during the Westward Expansion. Contrary to a popular poetic style in that period, Whitman wrote in free-verse, meaning there was little to no rhyming or tempo. Individualism is a theme that sets the tone of Whitman’s poems. Whitman uses the literary devices of repetition, asyndeton, imagery, and conflict to create the idea of individualism to set the tone.

Walt Whitman was a famous poet, who wrote many poems in a book called “Leaves of Grass.” However, once Whitman’s book was published, it failed because people disliked what he wrote, but Whitman didn’t give up; Whitman was determined to make a revised copy to prove that he resembled an American poet. One of Whitman’s poems that he revised was called “The Soul, Reaching, Throwing Out for Love,” which Whitman improved and called “A Noiseless, Patient Spider.”

Ginsberg and Whitman both wrote about topics against what other writers would talk about. Whitman would write about sexuality/the human body and it scared off some of his readers. For example in “Song of Myself” on page 28-29:

“Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos,/Disorderly fleshy and sensual…. Eating drinking and breeding,/No sentimentalist…. no stander above men and women or apart/ from them…. no more modest than immodest” (499-501).

Three of the most well known Western genii of poetry are Alfred Lord Tennyson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. All of these men have exemplary traits and attributes in their respective sectors of poetry. Tennyson, Hughes and Whitman all played a major role in the world of poetry and many factors of theirs’ are still influencing prose to this day. Despite being among the most influential poets of the American canon, Walt wasn’t born quoting Shakespearean poetry. He was born in New York to a poor family and was the second of nine children. After concluding formal schooling at the age of eleven, Walt started to work for the local printer. He became an active member of his local library, joined a public speaking club, and started watching theatrical performances. At his local library, he studied history, theatre, literature, music, geography, and many other sciences. At the age of thirteen Walt anonymously published his first ever poem in the “New-York Mirror”. After a temporary collapse of the printing industry and variety of different jobs, Whitman started to indulge in freelance fiction and poetry writing.