Walt Whitman: The Influential Poet of Democratic Vistas

1. Democratic Vistas Walt Whitman “Song of Myself” from Leaves of Grass (1855)

2. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) • born on Long Island, New York, was raised in a milieu of carpenters (he enjoyed no academic education) - „the most influential poet the United States has ever produced“ • published his first twelve poems anonymously in 1855 in his own small publishing company - “Free Verse” • Out of these, the volume Leaves of Grass was developed, on which Whitman worked for over 36 years - “Open Road” • strong influence on 20th century writers: Hart Crane, William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg, and Jack Kerouac

3. I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to youI loafe and invite my soul,I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. My tongue, every atom of my blood, form‘d from this soil, this air.Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. „Song of Myself“ (title first used in 1871)

4. I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to youI loafe and invite my soul,I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. Themes - The self (“the Dionysian self”) - The body - The soul - Nature (summer grass, soil, air) - Cycle of nature (birth – death) - Democracy (“from parents the same”) Style - Free verse My tongue, every atom of my blood, form‘d from this soil, this air.Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. • rejection of metric and poetological patterns - “Democratic poetry” • text becomes a field of poetic subjectivity

6. Transcendentalism Key message: The ideal spiritual state “transcends” the physical and empirical. This “ideal state” is realized through self-reliance and intuition rather than through traditions and established values. -> distrust of “logical” arguments –> validation of the senses –> “pantheistic” world-view I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature (1836), p. 269.

7. Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and knowledge that pass all the argument of the earth,And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own,And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own, And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers,and that a kelson of the creation is love, And limitless are leaves stiff or drooping in the fields,And brown ants in the little wells beneath them […] „Song of Myself“, p. 722-723.

8. Bodily pleasures I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul,The Pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me, The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter I translate into a new tongue. Democracy I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man „Song of Myself“, p. 734

9. New York City Panoramic view of Broadway, 1851-55

10. “Mannahatta” Origins of the City: Manhattes (Indian tribe that lived on the island I was asking for something specific and perfect for my city,Whereupon lo! upsprang the aboriginal name.Now I see what there is in a name, a word, liquid, sane, unruly,musical, self-sufficient,I see that the word of my city is that word from of old,Because I see that word nested in nests of water-bays, superb […]Immigrants arriving, fifteen or twenty thousand in a week,The carts hauling goods, the manly race of drivers of horses, thebrown-faced sailors,The summer air, the bright sun shining, and the sailing clouds aloft,The winter snows, the sleigh-bells, the broken ice in the river,passing along up or down with the flood-tide or ebb-tide,The mechanics of the city, the masters, well-form'd,beautiful-faced, looking you straight in the eyes,Trottoirs throng'd, vehicles, Broadway, the women, the shops and shows,A million people--manners free and superb--open voices--hospitality--the most courageous and friendly young men,City of hurried and sparkling waters! city of spires and masts!City nested in bays! my city! Immigration: “immigrants arriving” (democracy, cosmopolitanism) Mechanics of the city: “the masters” (progress) City as a giant organism (summer/winter)

11. “Song of Myself” The author himself becomes the focus of the poem (“I, Walt Whitman”) Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son,Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, eating, drinking and breeding,No sentimentalist, so stander above men and women or apart from them,No more modest than immodest. Unscrew the locks from the doors!Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs! p. 737 He epitomizes the world (“Walt Whitman, a kosmos”) The author is visible as a body (“fleshy, sensual, eating, drinking and breeding”) The poem is a vehicle not only of self-expression, but also of poetic liberation (“Unscrew the locks from the doors”)

12. For the next session “Deconstructing the American Dream”: Read and prepare William Dean Howells From The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885)