Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
American Literature I
11/22/2004
Cecilia H. C. Liu
Outline
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Introduction: Whitman and Leaves of Grass
Whitman’s Song of Myself
Whitman’s Portrays of Slavery in Song of
Myself (Critic’s comments)
Whitman’s There Was a Child Went Forth
Suggestive Readings
Works Cited
Whitman and Leaves of Grass
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Walt Whitman is one of the 1st generation of
Americans who were born in the newly formed US
and grew up in the stable existence of the new country.
One of the haziest periods of Whitman’s life is the
occurrence of the Civil War, when Whitman encountered
casualties of the war. During this time, he visited
wounded soldiers who moved to New York hospitals, and
wrote about them in "City Photographs" published in
1862.
During the time of his hospital service, Whitman wrote
about the war experience, but not the aftereffects, such
as the moonlight illuminating the dead on the battlefields,
the churches turned into hospitals, wound dressing,
encountering with a dead enemy in a coffin, the trauma
of battle nightmares for soldiers who returned home.
Whitman and Leaves of Grass (2)
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Whitman paid for the production of the 1st edition of his book
and had only 795 copies printed. The book appeared on the 4th of
July, as a representation of literary Independence Day.
Whitman's book was an extraordinary accomplishment: after
trying for over a decade to address in journalism and fiction the
social issues (such as education, temperance, slavery,
prostitution, immigration, democratic representation) that
challenged the new nation).
Whitman expresses with the identification of a new American
democratic attitude, that would make up the diversity of the
country in a vast, single, unified identity.
"Do I contradict myself?" was a question Whitman asked
confidently toward the end of the long poem "Song of Myself":
"Very well then . . . . I contradict myself; / I am large . . . . I
contain multitudes” Other Passages
Whitman & Leaves of Grass (3)
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His work echoed with the language of the
American urban working class and many
corners of the 19th century culture, giving
presentations in the nation's politics, its
music, its new technologies, its
fascination with science, and its
evolving pride in an American language
that formed as a tongue distinct from
British English.
It is clear now the author of Leaves of
Grass is Whitman, but Whitman did not
put his name on the title page until the
1876 "Author's Edition" of the book.
Whitman & His Influences
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Beyond poetry, Whitman has had an extensive
and unpredictable impact on fiction, film,
architecture, music, painting, dance, and other
arts.
Whitman has enjoyed great international renown.
Whitman’s importance not only presents from his
literary qualities but also his standing as a
prophet of liberty and revolution, since he
served as a major icon for socialists and
communists, who fulfilled promise of democracy.
Whitman’s Song of Myself
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He shows suspicions of classrooms, with "Song of
Myself" generated by a question a child would always
ask, "What is the grass?" was defined in the 1st section.
In addition, the term of grass is one of the focus
within the poem as he spends the rest of the poem with
his discoveries of those seemingly simple, the cosmos
in himself.
By the mid-1840s, Whitman began to show awareness
of the cultural resources of New York City, and began
dedicating himself to journalism. For Whitman, serving
the public was to frame issues in accordance with
working class interests, which is usually the
white’s interests.
Whitman’s Song of Myself (2)
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Whitman dreaded slave labor as a "black tide"
that could overwhelm white workingmen. He
believes that slavery should not be allowed into
the new western territories.
Periodically, Whitman expressed outrage at
practices that furthered slavery itself: for
example, he was incensed at laws that made
possible the importation of slaves by way of
Brazil. Like Lincoln, he consistently opposed
slavery and its further extension, even while he
knew (again like Lincoln) that the more extreme
abolitionists threatened the Union itself.
Whitman’s “There Was a Child Went Forth”
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Walt Whitman wrote more frequently about
educational issues and always retained an interest
in how knowledge is acquired.
One of the poems in his first edition of Leaves of
Grass, eventually called "There Was a Child Went
Forth," could be read as a statement of Whitman's
educational philosophy.
He celebrates unrestricted extracurricular learning,
and shows openness to experience and ideas that
would allow for endless absorption of variety and
difference, which was the kind of education he
particularly valued.
Other Topics Whitman Addresses
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Whitman deals a lot about topics within Slavery,
especially passages in Song of Myself, “The
Sleepers,” and “I Sing.”
He also deals with Civil War, in Drum Taps, sex,
in Calamus and Children of Adam, and the sea,
in Sea-Drift.
Death is also mentioned quite a bit for Whitman,
in his Drum Taps, with passages of the death of
soldiers.
Other Examples
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New voice spoke confidently of union at a time
of incredible division and tension in the
culture, and it spoke with the assurance of one
for whom everything could be celebrated as
part of itself: "What is commonest and
cheapest and nearest and easiest is Me"
(Section 14).
This represents the new American spirit that
Whitman intends to portrays.
Walt Whitman Images
Whitman’s Song of Myself (3)
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"Song of Myself" portrays Whitman's poetic
birth and the journey into knowing launched
by that "awakening."
However, the "I" who speaks is not alone,
since he has included the camerado, "you,"
addressed in the poem's second line, which
is the reader, placed on shared ground with
the poet throughout the journey.
Whitman’s Song of Myself (4)
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The poem opens with the representation of the poet
"observing a spear of summer grass" and extending an
invitation to his soul, clearly prepares him for the soul's visit
of section 5, a section that dramatizes the transfiguring
event, launching the poet on his lifelong quest. Ex: section
1 and 2.
Awakening in section 5 prepared the poet for new
knowledge, as he proceeds on the journey, and extends
through section 32, where leads the poet to more subjects
and themes addressed in Leaves of Grass.
Whitman’s Song of Myself
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“Permit to speak at every hazard, / Nature
without check with original energy" (Section 1).
Leaving "[c]reeds and schools" behind, he goes
"to the bank by the wood to become
undisguised and naked" (Sections 1 and 2).
He presents himself (section 13) as the
"caresser of life wherever moving . . . Absorbing
all to myself and for this song."
Whitman’s Song of Myself (5)
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After the grass imagery in section 6, Whitman
moves to "en-masse," in 7-16.
The speaker, Whitman reveals, in forms of
Whitman himself, American, roaming the
continent, celebrating the scenes of ordinary life.
Example: Section 13
Then, such movement rises in a crescendo to the
extended catalogue of section 15, with exuberant
snapshots of American types and scenes.
Whitman’s Song of Myself (6)
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In sections 18-24, the poet collapses traditional
discriminations, and celebrates "conquer'd and slain
persons" (section 18) along with victors, the "righteous"
the "wicked"—and extends his embrace to include
outcasts and outlaws.
However, his focuses on the equality of body and soul
and ways of rescuing the body from its inferior status.
He turns to himself and his own, and presents in section
24 a nude portrait of himself, with a metaphoric catalogue.
Whitman’s Song of Myself (7)
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In sections 18-32, the poet celebrates the erotic dimension
of all the senses, but he turns to a miraculous touch in
section 28.
In section 33, it begins with higher affirmations of the 2nd
part of the journey. The poet feels no longer bound by the
ties of space and time, but feels that he is able to soar
like a meteor out into space.
Hence, this peak of exaltation in section 33 switches to a
tone to its opposite as the poet identifies with the rejected,
suggests that he has moved obscurely beyond the
knowledge of his previous phase in sections 17-20.
Whitman’s Song of Myself
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"Is this then a touch? quivering me to a new
identity?“ (Section 28).
"Space and Time! now I see it is true, what I guess'd at,
/[ . . . ] when I loaf'd on the grass.“ (Section 33).
"I am the man, I suffer'd, I was there." He becomes the
"old-faced infants and the lifted sick," the mother
"condemned for a witch," "the hounded slave.“ (Section
33).
: "I discover myself on the verge of a usual
mistake.“ (Section 38).
Whitman’s Song of Myself (8)
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Section 38 opens with strong rejection of the role
of beggar he has assumed resets the direction for
the poet on his journey. This stage, in which the
poet is confident in his transcendent power,
extends through the closing sections, 38-49.
In section 43 the poet affirms all religious faiths,
and in section 44 he celebrates his place in
evolutionary theory: both religion and science
contain the seeds that provide the source for
his supreme power.
Whitman’s Song of Myself (9)
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In section 50 the poet seems to have
emerged from a trance-like state, similar to
what he experienced in section 5
The "it" could refer to the transcendent
meaning of Whitman’s experience on his
dream-like journey. Example
Whitman addresses "brothers and sisters"
first evoked in section 5, and includes a
word that could convey some idea of the
transcendent meaning on his journey. Ex
Whitman’s Song of Myself
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"Wrench'd and sweaty--calm and cool then my
body becomes, / I sleep--I sleep long." Coming
out of his deep sleep, the poet stammers almost
incoherently: "I do not know it . . . it is a word
unsaid, / It is not in any dictionary, utterance,
symbol" (Section 50).
Something it swings on more than the earth I
swing on, / To it the creation is the friend whose
embracing awakes me" (Section 50).
"It is not chaos or death--it is form, union, plan-it is eternal life--it is Happiness." (Section 50).
Whitman’s Song of Myself (9)
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As the In the last two sections (51-52), Whitman
addresses the idea of camerado from the
beginning, "you," once more.
Whitman does not deny but dismisses his
"contradictions, (see more), and describes
himself "not a bit tamed,“and
"untranslatable," His journey is over, he
prepares for departure,as he return “to the dirt
to grow from the grass", and says humorously,
"If you want me again look for me under
your boot-soles."
Whitman’s Song of Myself
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“I am large, I contain multitudes” (Section 50).
On beginning his journey (section 1) he
promised he would "permit to speak at every
hazard, / Nature without check with original
energy."
At the end, the poet admonishes his readers to
"keep encouraged" and continue their search for
him, promising: "I stop somewhere waiting for
you" (Section 52).
Portrayals of Slavery in Song of Myself
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In section 10, Whitman
addresses the
runaway slave, and
reminds us is the
tremendous need for
grammar in this world,
the tremendous need
for structural provisions
unattached to particular
persons, and
responsive to all
analogous persons.
Portrayals of Slavery in Song of Myself
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Whitman portrays the African
American in a sort of figure
that one could identify and
sympathize, such as the
hunted figure in section 33
crucified by his pursuers
and with whose passion the
speaker identifies; and the
figure of the black drayman in
section 13, in command of his
horses and himself.
Portrayals of Slavery in Song of Myself
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Another implication of the slaves could be seen in
Section 11, the 28 bather, and in this passage Whitman
encourages us to forget is the condition under which the
slave is admitted, that they are trapped and unable to be
let out, as one of its representative figures in his poetry.
Indeed, these figures--the trapper and his bride, and the
bathing young men--must be forgotten as well. Thus,
this reveals a sort of tender forgetfulness—that the 28
young men, bathers, do not realize that the woman had
left her house and began to join in the dances and
activities with them, touching them, because it is simply
not registered as antecedence.
Suggestive Readings
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Calamus (Sex)
Children of Adam (Sex)
Drum Taps (Death and The Civil War)
Sea Drift (How Whitman Portrays the Sea)
Memories of President Lincoln and Drum
Taps (Death and Memories in America)
Specimen Days (Memories of Whitman)
Works Cited
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The Walt Whitman Hypertext Archive. Ed.
Folson and Kenneth M. Price.
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/whitman/
Miller, James E., Jr. “Song of Myself.”Ed. J.R.
LeMaster and Donald Kummings. Walt
Whitman: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland,
1998.
Whitman and Slavery Critical Positions.
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/fdw/vol
ume1/price/positions.html