Walt Whitman

## Biography

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, on Long Island, New York. He was the second son of Walter Whitman, a house-builder, and Louisa Van Velsor. In the 1820s and 1830s, the family, which consisted of nine children, lived in Long Island and Brooklyn, where Whitman attended the Brooklyn public schools. At the age of twelve, Whitman began to learn the printer’s trade and fell in love with the written word. Largely self-taught, he read voraciously, becoming acquainted with the works of Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and the Bible. Whitman worked as a printer in New York City until a devastating fire in the printing district demolished the industry. In 1836, at the age of seventeen, he began his career as teacher in the one-room schoolhouses of Long Island. He continued to teach until 1841, when he turned to journalism as a full-time career. He founded a weekly newspaper, The Long-Islander, and later edited a number of Brooklyn and New York papers, including the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. In 1848, Whitman left the Brooklyn Daily Eagle to become editor of the New Orleans Crescent for three months.

In Brooklyn, Whitman continued to develop the unique style of poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1855, Whitman took out a copyright on the first edition of *Leaves of Grass*, which consisted of twelve untitled poems and a preface. He published the volume himself, and sent a copy to Emerson in July of 1855. Whitman released a second edition of the book in 1856, containing thirty-two poems, a letter from Emerson praising the first edition, and a long open letter by Whitman in response. During his lifetime, Whitman continued to refine the volume, publishing several more editions of the book.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Whitman vowed to live a “purged” and “cleansed” life. He worked as a freelance journalist and visited the wounded at New York City–area hospitals. He then travelled to Washington, D.C. in December 1862 to care for his brother, who had been wounded in the war. Overcome by the suffering of the many wounded in Washington, Whitman decided to stay and work in the hospitals; he ended up staying in the city for eleven years.

In 1873, Whitman suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. A few months later he travelled to Camden, New Jersey, to visit his dying mother at his brother’s house. He ended up staying with his brother until the 1882 publication of *Leaves of Grass* (James R. Osgood), which brought him enough money to buy a home in Camden. Whitman spent his declining years working on additions and revisions to his deathbed edition of *Leaves of Grass* (David McKay, 1891–92) and preparing his final volume of poems and prose, Good-Bye My Fancy (David McKay, 1891). After his death on March 26, 1892, Whitman was buried in a tomb he designed and had built on a lot in Harleigh Cemetery.

## Historical & Cultural Context

### American Civil War (1861-1865)

America’s westward expansion raised questions about what laws and customs should be followed in the West. Since the nation’s early days, the northern and southern parts of the United States had followed different ways of life. Each section wanted to extend its own way of life to the new territories and states in the West.

The North had a diversified economy, with both farms and industry. For both its factories and farms, the North depended on free workers. The South’s economy, on the other hand, was based on just a few cash crops, mainly cotton. Southern planters relied on slave labor. The economic differences between the two regions led to a conflict over slavery.

#### The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that as of January 1, 1863, all enslaved people in the states currently engaged in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Lincoln didn’t actually free all of the approximately 4 million men, women and children held in slavery in the United States when he signed the formal Emancipation Proclamation the following January. The document applied only to enslaved people in the Confederacy, and not to those in the border states that remained loyal to the Union. But although it was presented chiefly as a military measure, the proclamation marked a crucial shift in Lincoln’s views on slavery. Emancipation would redefine the Civil War, turning it from a struggle to preserve the Union to one focused on ending slavery, and set a decisive course for how the nation would be reshaped after that historic conflict.

### Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism began in the 1830s, just before the American Civil War (1861-1865). As the Civil War unfolded, this new movement of thought forced people to look at themselves, their country, and the world with a new introspective perspective. The impact Transcendentalism had on the American people encouraged them to acknowledge what they saw with honesty and detail. Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1841 essay "Self Reliance" impacted many writers of the time, including Walt Whitman, and later authors like Jon Krakauer. Many American writers today are still impacted by Transcendental ideology that emphasizes one's individual spirit and independence.

**Although not officially part of the Transcendentalist circle**, poet Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892) read Emerson’s work and was immediately transformed. Already a man of self-reliance and deep intuition, Whitman would later write Transcendentalist poetry, such as ‘Song of Myself,’ (from Leaves of Grass, 1855) which celebrates the self in relation to the universe, and ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom,’ (1865) which uses nature as a symbol.

Not I, not anyone else can travel that road for you.

You must travel it by yourself.

It is not far. It is within reach.

Perhaps you have been on it since you were born and did not know,

Perhaps it is everywhere on water and on land

-Walt Whitman, from "Song of Myself" in *Leaves of Grass*

## Bibliography

* “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” (1855)
* “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” (1859)
* “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (1865)
* “O Captain! My Captain!” (1865)

### Literary Style

* Whitman developed his style to suit his message and the audience he hoped to reach.
* He wrote without the usual poetic ornaments, in a plain style, so that ordinary people could read him.
* Subject matter: Everyday people and everyday life

The poet, writer, and activist Walt Whitman is a foundational member of the American canon of literature and is often referred to as the father of free verse poetry. Most famous for his work Leaves of Grass (1855), Walt Whitman irrevocably changed perceptions of American wildness and wilderness writing. Whitman's work is controversial, sensual, exciting, and rooted firmly in the human body and the individual's placement in society.

**Democracy** is the keynote of his poetry. In his poetry we find newness. As a revolutionary poet, he gives voice to the new urges and aspirations of man in an age of science and democracy. His contribution to the American poetry is praiseworthy. He earned wide acclaim for his technical innovations.  So, for as the poetic technique is concerned, Whitman is a revolutionary technical innovator. He is the greatest American practitioner of **free verse** Writing in the 19th century, he anticipates some of the most vital and daring technical innovations of the 20th century. He does not write in any metre, but his is cadenced verse.

Whitman is a great innovator not only in the field of his subject matter but also in the field of language and diction too. In order to increase the expressive range of his language, he freely used words taken from **trade, commerce and business of America**. He imported words from **foreign languages**. He did not hesitate even to **introduce slang, vulgarism and colloquialism** into the language of his poetry. The result is often incongruous, grotesque and comic.

He even employed some of the traditional devices as assonance, alliteration, repetition, inverse word order, parallelism and many others. Though this poet freed himself from the measured foot, his poetry is filled with a rhythm of its own. His free verse captures the very rhythms of American speech. It reflects the American freedom and break from tradition.

Whitman's poems have a number of recurring images. At each repetition the image gathers more meaning till at last it comes before us as a symbol. His major images are **the grass, the sea, the bird, the celestial bodies and the like.** Thus, his poetry is highly symbolistic. He used symbolism to communicate his apprehension of the mystery of the universe. These symbols are flexible and ambiguous. In the 'Leaves of Grass' certain images appear again and again.

## Song of Myself

* 52-part poem written in free verse.
* Whitman celebrates the human body and its ability to become one with the self and with nature.
* First published without sections as the first of twelve untitled poems in the first 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass.
* Did not take the title “Song of Myself” until the 1881 edition. Main themes
* MAIN THEMES EXPLORED: - Democracy as a way of life- The beauty of the individual- The idea of the self (the over- soul)

In 1856 it was called "A Poem of Walt Whitman, an American" and in 1860 it was simply termed "Walt Whitman." Whitman changed the title to "Song of Myself" in 1881. The changes in the title are significant in indicating the growth of the meaning of the poem.

There are three important themes: the idea of the self, the identification of the self with other selves, and the poet's relationship with the elements of nature and the universe. Houses and rooms represent civilization; perfumes signify individual selves; and the atmosphere symbolizes the universal self.

To Whitman, the self is both individual and universal. Man has an individual self, whereas the world, or cosmos, has a universal or cosmic self. The poet wishes to maintain the identity of his individual self, and yet he desires to merge it with the universal self, which involves the identification of the poet's self with mankind and the mystical union of the poet with God, the Absolute Self. Sexual union is a figurative anticipation of spiritual union. he develops a sense of loving brotherhood with God and with all mankind. Even the most commonplace objects, such as Leaves, ants, and stones, contain the infinite universe.

"Song of Myself' is a good example of the stylistic features of Leaves of Grass. Whitman's style reflects his individualism. He once wrote to Horace Traubel, his biographer: "I sometimes think the Leaves is only a **language experiment**." Words, for Whitman, have both a "natural" and a "spiritual" significance. Colloquial words unite the natural with the spiritual, and therefore he uses many **colloquial expressions**. He is also fond of using **foreign words**. **The catalogue** is another special characteristic of Whitman's poetic technique. He uses numerous images, usually drawn from nature, to suggest and heighten the impression of a poetic idea. These images appear to have no clear organization; yet, in effect, they have a basic underlying unity, usually involving a spiritual concept, which gives meaning and coherence to the apparently disconnected images or scenes.

**Universal "I":** universalizes the concept of "I" to include all of our selves in his experiences.

* **Symbols:**
	+ **Grass:** divinity is in the ordinary - death and life - growth and multiplicity

"the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation" (section 6, stanza 4)

“The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, / And if ever there was it led forward life, and doesnot wait at the end to arrest it, / And ceas’d the moment life appear’d.” (section 6, stanza 12, lines 2-4)

* + **Perfume**: represents individuals,
	+ **Houses and rooms** : represent civilization,
	+ **The atmosphere**; represents the universal. (section 2)

* **Metaphor:**

“And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves “(section6, line 18)

* **Imagery:**

“The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless,” (section 2, stanza 2, line 1);

“The smoke of my own breath, / Echoes, ripples, buzz’d whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine,” (stanza 3, lines 1-2);

* **Enjambment:**

“My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through

my lungs” (section 2, stanza 3, lines 3-4)

* **Alliteration:** (section 6, stanzas 10-13)

“men” and “mothers”

“smallest” and “sprout”

“die” and “different”

* **Ennumeration:**

“One of the great nation, the nation of many nations -- the smallest the same and the largest the same, A southerner soon as a northerner, a planter nonchalant and hospitable,” (section 16, stanza 1, lines 5-6)

* **Assonance:**

“Every kind for itself and its own, for me mine male and female,” (section 7, stanza 4, line 1)

* **Rhetorical Questions** (section 11, stanzas 3 and 4)

* **Anaphora:**

“For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted,

For me the sweet-heart and the old maid, for me mothers and the mothers of mothers,

For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears,

For me children and the begetters of children.” (section 7, stanza 4, lines 2-6)

* **Personification:**

“Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.” (section 3, stanza 7)

“The city sleeps and the country sleeps,” (section 15, lines 104-105)

## Intro Paragraph

Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892) was an avant-garde American poet, essayist, and journalist, considered one of the most outstanding and influential figures of American literature during the second half of the nineteenth century. Often referred to as the father of free verse and the poet of democracy, Whitman was a very controversial and provoking writer who moved away from traditional forms of poetry and focused on a simple style that could appeal to a mass audience. “Song of Myself” (1855), one of Whitman’s main works, constitutes a vivid celebration of the individual spread in 52 parts of a free-verse composition, full of metaphors and instances of imagery that characterize the often-ornamented transcendentalist pieces. Although not officially part of the Transcendentalist circle, poet Walt Whitman read Emerson’s work and was immediately transformed. Whitman’s epic, “Song  of Myself”, constitutes a vivid celebration of the individual spread in 52 parts of a free-verse composition, full of metaphors and instances of imagery by which Whitman masterfully celebrates American democracy and diversity.

Reaching the middle of the nineteenth century, an incipient America was making its way towards economic and political progress. Recently independent and still receiving a prominent influx of immigrants in need, the American society saw the future with hope and optimism. At the same time, the interest of the individuals had shifted from strictly religious topics to more secular, every-day events, searching the truth often times through reasoning rather than on the Bible. A combination of these events led to the American adoption of Romanticism, ground-breaking European-born movement that took inspiration from nature and childhood, and attempted to highlight the beauty of humanity and emotions. In America, thanks to the contribution of intellectuals based on the thoughts of Kant, these artistic and intellectual ideas were reshaped in to a new brand wave: Transcendentalism. Transcendentalists deemed the individual as the center of the movement, focusing on the possibility of progress and evolution throughout hard work a pure connection with the self and nature. One of the main adherents of this movement was Walt Whitman (1819-1892), an American journalist, essayist, and poet whose works often explore the ideas of democracy, love, and friendship. “Song of Myself” (1855), one of Whitman’s main works, constitutes a vivid celebration of the individual spread in fifty-two parts of a free-verse composition, full of metaphors and instances of imagery that characterize the often ornamented transcendentalist pieces. Throughout this upbeat poem, Whitman fuels already heated nationalistic ideas and exalts the beauty of the individual.

Throughout “Song of Myself”, Whitman takes the reader into a joyful journey through the core of the American society, celebrating the union among the nation.

- Different professions / all working in teams

- Sisterhood, brotherhood

- Quote

- The Oversoul

- The foundation of Am society

- Equality

- Quote

“Song of Myself” is also a positive, upbeat poem that reflects the wonders of the self, another topic explored thoroughly by transcendentalists.

- Very first line / the self

- Finding inspiration in nature and isolation

- Beauty in the present (quote)

- Recognition of horrors, but denial of being a part of them (quote)

- Evolution towards the end, life as a cycle

### MLA citation

Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." 1855. *The Portable Walt Whitman*. Penguin Books, 2004, pp. 42-106.