Walt Whitman was born in West Hills, New York on May 31st, 1819. Whitman grew up working and learning in the printing district as he fell in love with writing. Due to his increased reading he was able to largely teach himself the art of writing and the depth of reading. When he came to be seventeen years old he switched careers to become a teacher for five years in Long island until 1841 when he then switched to journalism full time. He then edited for a numerous amount of newspapers and founded the Long-Islander, a weekly newspaper, and the Brooklyn Freeman which was a “free soil” newspaper. Whitman released the first edition of his novel Leaves of Grass in 1855 and would later go on to release eight more editions throughout his lifetime. He also volunteered as a sort of nurse during the civil war to help aid wounded soldiers and comfort them in their time of distress and went on to write a collection of poems inspired by the civil war. Walt Whitman is known as one of America’s greatest and most influential poets who worked to fight traditional mindsets and appreciated love, nature, and the body within the soul. Walt Whitman was a visionary, a seeker of truth, and a representative of an American aesthetic.
Walt Whitman’s writing contained many new a controversial ideas that could label him as a visionary of his time. Many of these visionistic ideas are found in his poem “Song of Myself” which was included in his novel Leaves of Grass. In this poem Whitman aims to explore the boundaries of the self in order to absorb all Americans, the world, and even the cosmos. While exploring the self, Whitman ultimately sparks some controversy from his readers as he talks descriptively of the body and of human sexuality. This is shown very plainly in section 28 of the poem as Whitman says “Behaving licentious towards me, taking no denial, / Depriving me of my best as for a purpose, / Unbuttoning my clothes, holding me by the bare waist,” (625-627). At the time this was published it would have been unheard of to speak like this about something as touchy as sexuality was. Whitman is speaking in a new and visionistic sense about the body and sexuality that was at the time labeled as scandalous because that's just not how you were “supposed” to talk about those things, let alone talk about them at all. Whitman also showed his characteristic of being a visionary when he would talk about absorbing the world and how everything and everyone in the world is connected in a scientific sense. He shows this in section 44 of the poem when he says “Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me, / My embryo has never been torpid, nothing could overlay it. / For it the nebula cohered to an orb, / The long slow strata piled to rest it on, / Vast vegetables gave it sustenance, / Monstrous sauroids transported it in their mouths and deposited it with care. / All forces have been steadily employ’d to complete and delight me, / Now on this spot I stand with my robust soul” (1162-1169). In these lines Whitman is expressing his belief that his identity is entwined with ours and how in his own present moment he embodies existence in itself. His own existence was passed on to him by the materials of the world dating all the way back to the dinosaurs so that he contains the past, present, and the future in which his body and materials will contribute to countless other existences. This would be visionistic at the time due to the new conceptions of of the universe that were revealed with advances in the sciences.
Walt Whitman was also a seeker of truth in his words of poetry in a way that most people weren't. Whitman put an emphasis on finding “the self” and exploring your own mind and body to reveal a new identity that you never knew you had. He shows this in section 1 of “Song of Myself” when he says “I celebrate myself, and I sing myself,” and again when he says “I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard, / Nature without check with original energy” (1, 12-13). In these lines Whitman is urging the readers to explore just how vast the self can be and when we come to see that, we must celebrate the self and return to it many times. This would be a journey in which we discover the “original energy” of “nature without check” where its free and unrestrained by society. He really focused on finding out the truth of the world and of the self without all of the rules and restrictions that have been put on us from traditions and social constructs of our culture. He further exemplifies this in section 2 of the poem as he says “You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books, / You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, / You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self” (35-37). When Whitman says this he is urging his readers to not seek truth from others, or even from Whitman himself, but through their own eyes. He is saying this because each person has a completely different “self” than anyone else so they would interpret the things of the world differently in a way that no one else would if they only looked through their own eyes and not through others.
Whitman can also be labeled as a representative of an American aesthetic through his works. In poems from his civil war collection he especially shows this characteristic. In “Beat! Beat! Drums!” Whitman is telling the story of the drums and bugles that lead the way to battle and how they drown out the sound of everyday American living. He showcases an American aesthetic when he says “Beat! beat! drums! - blow! bugles! blow! / Through the windows - through the doors - burst like ruthless force, / Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation, / Into the school where the scholar is studying; / Leave not the bridegroom quiet - no happiness must he have now with his bride,” (1-5). When Whitman says this he is in a way recruiting the readers and the public to join the American armed forces in the war. Throughout the poem the drums and bugles drown out the sounds of everyone who is living normally and in its place is the beats and blows of the instruments leading the newly recruited soldiers to war. In the same instance the beats and blows of the instruments can be seen as playing “Taps” which would mean they’re leading the fallen soldiers to their grave. In another poem called, “The Wound-Dresser” from Whitman’s civil war collection, he further exemplifies his representation of an American aesthetic. This poem is telling the story of an old man recalling his time as a wound-dresser in the civil war. When Whitman says “To the long rows of cots up and down each side I return, / To each and all one after another I draw near, not one do I miss, / An attendant follows holding a tray, he carries a refuse pail, / Soon to be fill’d with clotted rags and blood, emptied, and fill’d again” he is showcasing his advocation and commitment to the war (30-33). In the poem the speaker says “Yet I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you” (38). When he says this he is expressing the effect of the war for both sides, the soldiers and the help. All that mattered to the wound-dresser was that he could be there for the wounded American soldiers and turn medical care into compassionate caring during these soldiers hardest times.
Walt Whitman was without question one of the most influential American writers and left a lasting impact on American society that still stands with us today. He was a visionary with his words forcing his audience to look deeper into the world and seek voraciously to find the truth in life. He spoke to the souls of all Americans with his recruitment poems that struck deep into the hearts of those who had greatly advocated for and had been most affected by the war. Without Walt Whitman, countless writers would not have been able to find the inspiration that they did to continue making great American literature. Without Walt Whitman, America just wouldn't be the same as it is today.
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