Walt Whitman, Poet and Patriot
Jeff Willis
ERH 206 WX, Section 1
Date Due: 10/29/13
Date Submitted: 10/29/13
Paper No. 3
Help Received: works cited
Walt Whitman was an American poet who embodied many American
ideals. He incorporated transcendentalism and nationalism into his poetry. His poetry is
especially significant because he, through his works, embodied a sense of democracy,
and revolution. At the height of Whitman’s writing, America was just a vast expanse of
mystery and wilderness and Whitman’s works honored the yearning for exploration and
discovery. His poetry begins shortly after America gained its independence and his
writings were influenced by the growing nation. Walt Whitman’s poetry captured a
blossoming America through a time of war and expansion. Walt Whitman was a poet of
his time in that his poetry embodied America through its celebration of democracy,
equality, and discovery.
During the American Civil War, Whitman became a volunteer nurse at a
Union Army hospital. During this time, when Whitman was directly involved with the
war, he was inspired to write nationalist works such as “Beat! Beat! Drums!” which was
a cry for the Union Army. In addition, he also wrote, “The Great Army of the Sick,”
about his time as a volunteer nurse in the Army hospitals. It is patriotic works like these,
and many allusions to democracy in “Leaves of Grass” that have earned Whitman titles
such as the “first poet of democracy”. In his work, “Democratic Vistas”, Whitman
writes, “We have frequently printed the word democracy, Yet I cannot too often repeat
that it is a word the real gist of which still sleeps,”(Frank 402). In this passage Whitman
wants to convey that although democracy was on the tip of every American’s tongue, did
anyone truly understand what it meant to be a democracy? He continues,
“…notwithstanding the resonance and the many angry tempests out of which its syllables
have come from pen or tongue. It is a great word, whose history remains unwritten,
because that history has yet to be enacted,” (Frank 402). Here Whitman seems to be
almost omnipotent. He speaks about the “angry tempests” that have come from the
desire to attain democracy, referring to war, and completes his declaration with the idea
that democracy’s history has yet to be enacted. This is an incredibly patriotic statement
in that Whitman asserts that America’s developing democratic system will be one of
great success. One of Whitman’s British friends Mary Smith Whitall Costelloe was
quoted in saying, “You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman,
without Leaves of Grass... He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would
say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him." It is obvious that
Whitman affected those around him with his poetic sense of nationalism and that he was
sculpted by the growth of America (“Walt Whitman”).
In addition to his patriotic allusions, Whitman was largely opposed to
slavery, and a large proponent of equality. In 1846 Whitman wrote that the interest of the
southern states that did not agree with the nation as a whole, had interrupted the
democratic process, which was insulting to him. In 1856 he wrote an unpublished work
known as “The Eighteenth Presidency”. In this work, Whitman wrote, “you are either to
abolish slavery, or it will abolish you,” (Freeman 2012). Whitman was a large proponent
of equality. In Whitman’s work, “Leaves of Grass,” he writes, "I speak the password
primeval, I give the sign of democracy. By God, I will accept nothing which all cannot
have their counterpart of on the same terms,” (Townsend 2011). In the last statement,
Whitman cries equality! Being an avid supporter of human equality, Whitman became a
great admirer of Abraham Lincoln despite the fact that, as far as historians know, they
never met and were never introduced. Whitman admired Lincoln for his abolition of
slavery and wrote two of what many consider the greatest tributes to Lincoln, “Oh
Captain! My Captain!” , and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”. (Brown
176). In his essay “Walt Whitman and Lincoln” essayist Clarence A. Brown writes,
“Sufficient attention has not been paid to the fact that Whitman’s dedication to the cause
of American democracy and the union of states formed a bond between him and Lincoln
which was deeper and more abiding than any which could have arisen out of occasional
personal contacts,” (Brown 176). Lincoln’s assassination inspired Whitman to write his
famous three-stanza lament, “O Captain! My Captain!” which was published in 1865.
This poem won Whitman critical acclaim and is just one of the reasons he is referred to
as a true “American poet”.
Walt Whitman’s poetry is filled with passages of self-discovery and
natural experience. Whitman embodies freedom and revolution, in the form of selfexploration. This yearning for self-identity and personal discovery through experience is
directly paralleled by America’s coming to fruition as a nation and craving for westward
expansion. In is 1855 preface to “Leaves of Grass”, Whitman writes, “The proof of a
poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it,” (Bildir
2013). Whitman captures the American spirit of a search for self-identity at this time
when the fledgling nation was still being molded into the super power it is today.
Whitman encouraged his audience to experience life and go outside of their comfort
zone. He was a poet of innovation just as America was a nation of innovation in its break
away from tradition in order to create a new union of United States. Whitman was
influenced by the culture surrounding him and his time is reflected through his works
through his discussions of democracy, equality, and self-discovery.
Works Cited:
Bildir, Hata. “Walt Whitman.” Poem Hunter. The Biography of Walt Whitman. 24 Oct.
2013.
Brown, Clarence A. “Walt Whitman and Lincoln.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical
Society. 47.2 (1954): 176-184). Print.
Frank, Jason. “Aesthetic Democracy: Walt Whitman and the Poetry of the People.” The
Review of Politics. 69.4 (2007): 402-430. Print.
Freeman, John. “’Leaves of Grass’ by Walt Whitman”. The Boston Globe. 3 Nov. 2012.
“O Captain! My Captain!”. Library of Congress. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
Townsend, Kathleen K. “Walt Whitman and the Soul of Democracy”. The Atlantic. 8
Jul. 2011. Print.
Whitman, Walt. The Portable Walt Whitman. New York: Penguin Group. 2004. Print