Walt Whitman 1819-1892

1. Walt Whitman 1819-1892 “The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he absorbed it.” -1855 preface to Leaves of Grass

2. Whitman’s Birthplace

3. Early Years • Parents gave him an upbringing based loosely on Quaker values • Only 5-6 years of formal schooling • Voracious reader • Worked as a printer, teacher, journalist, building contractor, and editor • Volunteer nurse and correspondent for the Civil War

4. Walt Whitman • Mixed reaction to his poetry • Emerson/Lincoln loved it • Whittier hated it—threw it in the fire • Medic during the Civil War • Anti-slavery; Free Soiler • Themes: Nature, Democracy, Common Man • Introduced Free Verse to America

5. 1840s

6. Purpose of His Poetry • To make “an attempt to put a Person, a human being (myself in the latter half of the 19th century, in America) freely, fully, and truly on record.” • To show his appreciation for the linkage between the body and the soul and the communion that can come through physical contact.

7. 1850s • 1855-self-published first edition of Leaves of Grass at age 36; now considered one of the greatest collections of poetry ever written. • Reaction against European standards, constraints of Romanticism and the classics • Book was celebrated by few, dismissed by most as barbarism, filth, “exotic and vulgar” language, and gross yet elevated writing • Radically new style of writing • Made his own rhythms • Created his own mythic world • Free-verse unorthodoxies

8. His formless, free verse departed from poetic convention with: • Unique incantations and boasts of individuality • Celebration of sexuality • Commonplace experience of the worker, common man • Ecstatic perceptions of humans and nature (united and divine) • Glorified all humanity and human qualities including: sex, womanhood, maternity, bodily functions, etc. • Disorganized and raw experiences

9. 1860s • In his lifetime, read mostly by literary enthusiasts and intellectuals. He fell short of his goal of being the poet of the masses.

10. 1870s • Leaves of Grass went through about five editions (1871) at which time he received increasing critical recognition in England and America. Readers seemed more accustomed to him.

11. 1880s • Considered the “bard of democracy” • Poetry centered on ideas of democracy, equality and brotherhood. • Public poet who celebrated democratic men and women “en-masse.” • Urgent desire to incorporate the entire American experience into his life and poetry • Wanted to create a new Frontier voice, vigorous and free, that represented America • Celebrated the self—of the poet in everyman, in the worker, in the individual

12. Unique Structure • Avoided rhyme schemes, but used meter in masterful and innovative ways, often to mimic natural speech • Repetition • Parallelism • Catalogs (listings) • Alliteration • Onomatopoeia • Imagery

13. Structure • Frequently, the purpose of the structure was to reflect his democratic ideals: • Ex. Listing items without imposing a hierarchy • Uniqueness of the individual—democracy does not mean sameness

14. Perception • Perception more than analysis was the basis for his poetry • Used few metaphors or symbolic language

15. Anecdotes • Transmitted a story to give the readers a sympathetic experience which would allow them to incorporate the anecdote into their own history.

16. Obscure, Foreign, Invented Words • Signified his status as an individual • Difficulty of the language mirrors the necessary imperfection of connections between individuals: no matter how hard we try, we can never completely understand each other.

17. Final Thought • A truly democratic poetry, for Whitman, is one that, using a common language, is able to cross the gap between the self and another individual, to effect a sympathetic exchange of experiences.

18. 1890s • Required Reading: • I Hear America Singing (TP-CASTT) • I Sit and Look Out (TP-CASTT) • Oh Captain! My Captain! • A Noiseless Patient Spider • Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking (TP-CASTT)

19. I Hear America Singing I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing him as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deck-hand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.