Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is often referred to as the important poet in American history. Known for his love of nature, some parts of his life remain a mystery even today. Within his poetry, Whitman does not only focus on nature; the beauty of the human body, his support of Democrats, spirituality, the cycle of growth and death, and sexuality are all recurring themes throughout his work. As Whitman grew older, however, the types of poetry and the ways that he revised his poetry slowly evolved so that different themes became prominent. Whitman's poetry style changed over the years as well; in fact, every edition of Leaves of Grass was written in a new way. Whitman did use free verse continually throughout his writing career, however, so much so that he is often considered the father of the free verse form (Reynolds 314). His later poetry is significantly different from the poetry that he wrote in his youth. Whitman is a poet of enigmas, with many seeming contradictions and a complex view of life.

Today, Whitman is most famous for his skill at writing free verse, yet even many of his free verse poems have a certain structure to them that was unique to Whitman. Whitman began to dabble in free verse very early in his writing career, publishing poems such as "Blood-Money" in 1843 and "Wounded in the House of Friends" soon after (Whitman 313). However, these poems are the exception rather than the rule; a great deal of Whitman's earliest poetry is very conventional in style. For example, "The Mississippi at Midnight," first published in 1848, is a poem with four-line stanzas of four feet each with a rhyme scheme of abcb (Warren 378). "Dough-Face Song," published just two years later, consists of six-line stanzas with a rhyme scheme of abcbdb, in which the line lengths alternate between three and four feet. It is fascinating to compare something such as

We are all docile dough-faces,

They knead us with the fist,

They, the dashing southern lords,

We labor as they list;

For them we speak'"or hold our tongues;

For them we turn and twist. (lines 1-6)

with a piece of Whitman's poetry from later on, such as "Song of Myself," and recognize how vastly they differ.

Little is known of Whitman's life between 1847 and 1855; whatever did happen during those years, however, transformed him into a powerful poet with a style that was all his own (Snodgrass). Whitman began to use repetition, especially anaphora, and direct address, usually in the form of interrogative questions, in his first version of Leaves of Grass, published in 1855 (Warren 382; Smith). In lines 30-32 of "Song of Myself," Whitman uses both of these techniques at once to ask his readers,

Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd the earth much?

Have you practis'd so long to learn to read?

Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

Whitman's technique of using interrogative questions like these would have been quite startling to the readers of his day, something that Whitman favored. Repetition and direct address are not the only unusual traits within Whitman's poetry; many of his poems open with lines that are in iambic trimeter, tetrameter, or pentameter, although the rest of the lines are written strictly in free verse. These structured lines, including the famous "I sing the body electric" and "When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd," lead the reader to expect that the poem that follows is in a structured pattern that will be easy to follow; instead, Whitman shocks the reader by catapulting them into a poem with almost no structure at all (Snodgrass). Despite his lack of classic rhythm and rhyme schemes, however, Whitman also chose to build up to the climax of his poems through the use of structured line lengths. He would often start each stanza of a poem with a short line, slowly increasing the length of each line until the end of the section. At that point, Whitman would conclude with either the longest or the shortest line of all, often creating a triangular shape (Snodgrass). This form can be seen very well in his first stanza of "Song of the Broad-Axe":

Weapon, shapely, naked, wan!

Head from the mother's bowels drawn!

Wooded flesh and metal bone! limb only one, and lip only one!

Gray-blue leaf by red-heat grown! helve produced from a little seed

sown! Resting the grass amid and upon,

To be lean'd, and to lean on. (lines 1-6)

As over the years Whitman changed the way that he wrote and narrowed his focus upon the art of free verse, his new poetry sometimes appears as if they were written spontaneously, without much thought put into their composition. Nothing could be further from the truth, however; Whitman planned his poems carefully in order to make his descriptions intense and his ideas seem radical (Klatt).

Although many of Whitman's styles changed drastically over the years, he felt the need to make his readers feel powerful emotions throughout his career. Beginning in the 1860's, Whitman began to focus upon the theme of the "electric" within his work. In 1855, he began Leaves of Grass with the line "the bodies of men and women engirth me, and I engirth them." As Leaves of Grass evolved and became more complex, however, this line was displaced and eventually became the second line of "I Sing the Body Electric" in 1867 (Folsom and Price). Aptly, the first line of this section then became "I sing the body electric." In 1860, the words "eternal self" appeared in Leaves of Grass and remained there until 1881, when Whitman started to instead refer to the "electrical self" in "As I Ebb'd with the Ocean of Life" (Folsom and Price). Whitman started to refer to the electric because he wanted his readers to feel "the enthusiasm'"the ecstasy'"of the inspired writer" (Klatt), just as he used direct address and non-patterned lines to shock his readers out of complacency when reading his poetry.

One of Whitman's most prevalent themes that he wrote about throughout his life is the connection between humans and nature. Whitman saw "humans and their creations as an inextricable component of the natural world," and he believed that neither humans nor nature could not be fully understood without knowledge of the other (Sickels). This is a theme that he was most focused upon during his early years, specifically while he was writing the first edition of Leaves of Grass. In Whitman's point of view, humans do not merely watch nature from within civilization; rather, everything that humans do they do because it is natural for them to do so. By following their nature to build and create, humans mimic "the sharphoofed moose of the north, the cat on the housesill, the chickadee, [and] the prairie-dog," all of which follow their natures as well (Folsom and Price). Humans do not and can not be separate from nature; instead, in their own unique way, they join with the hawk in giving their "barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world" (Folsom and Price).

Whitman's sexuality was an important aspect of his life that had a very strong influence on his work. Although during his lifetime critics and reporters debated about sexual orientation, today there is very little doubt that Whitman was gay. His claims that he had children have never been substantiated, and the fact that Whitman wrote so many homoerotic poems have led the vast majority of scholars to accept his homosexuality as fact. "Live-Oak, with Moss" is a poem so overtly homoerotic that Whitman never had the majority of it published; just a few pieces of it were embedded into Whitman's poem "Calamus" (Tayson). The poem's intimate nature suggests that Whitman originally wrote it in order to express his love for a specific man, though the identity of the man is still debated over today. The poem contains a large amount of homosexual imagery, such as "the one to remain hung on the other's neck and passionately kissed him'"while the one to depart tightly prest the one to remain in his arms" (Section VI, Line 5). Earlier in the poem the speaker, referring to himself as "I," says that " -- the friend I love lay sleeping by my side, / In the stillness his face was inclined towards me, wile the moon's clear beams shone, And his arm lay lightly over my breast'"And that night I was happy" (Section III, lines 10-11). Although Whitman was very careful with his homoerotic poetry, as he was reluctant to let the public know that he was gay, some of it was published during his lifetime. "A Glimpse," first published in 1867, is in its own way just as homoerotic as "Life-Oak, with Moss" despite its lack of graphic imagery. Whitman's tenderness towards and love for the youth with whom the speaker is "content, happy in being together, speaking little, perhaps not a word" is evident (line 5). Whitman wrote many more poems like these, both published and unpublished; homosexual love is a theme that he returned to continually throughout his career.

Whitman is often thought of as "the inventor of American literature," a title that Whitman acquired both because of his ability to write incredible poetry and because of the nationalistic theme that runs throughout much of his work (MacPhail). Whitman was an American to his core, something that he projected clearly through his poetry. In Leaves of Grass, especially, he mentions America often. One of his most famous poems, "I Hear America Singing," manages to encapsulate the most significant parts of America into just a few lines:

I hear American singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

--

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day'"at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs. (lines 1-3, 9-11)

For Whitman, the greatness of the United States does not stem from its government, history, or even its natural landscape; rather, America has developed into the country that it has become because its working class citizens have made it that way. Whitman's above lines from the 1891 publication of "I Hear America Singing" make it clear that he feels a deep love for and connection to America because of its citizens, each of whom is powerful in their uniqueness.

Uniqueness is a common theme throughout Whitman's poetry; he clearly delights in and celebrates the individuality of each person. In his "To You" published in Leaves of Grass in 1891, Whitman tells his readers that "you have not known what you are, you have slumber'd upon yourself all your life -- Whoever you are! claim your own at any hazard!" (Folsom and Price). In this passage, Whitman tells his readers that they have not revealed their true selves, and urges them to do so.

Besides the physical and mental themes that run through his poetry, Whitman also focuses upon spirituality. He often referred to the Bible for stylistic guidance when writing poetry, and he called Leaves of Grass the "new Bible" (Smith). He saw each poem as a religious sermon, aiming to guide his readers to a new understanding of life and their own souls.

Whitman was an extremely interesting poet, full of complexities and deep thoughts. Many of his thoughts will never be completely understood and some portions of his life will always remain a mystery, but it is enough to know that Whitman had a great passion for America, the individual, and nature. He felt driven to share his passions with others through his poetry, and partly because of his many complexities, he has succeeded. His complex and fascinating views of life have made him one of America's most famous and beloved poets.

Works Cited

Foerster, Norman. "Whitman and the Cult of Confusion." Poetry Criticism 3 (1991): n.p. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Mar. 2011.

Folsom, Ed & Price, Kenneth M. The Walt Whitman Archive. The Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska'"Lincoln. 1995. Web. 10 Mar. 2011.

Jones, Paul Christian. "'˜That I Could Look ... On My Own Crucifixion and Bloody Crowning': Walt Whitman;s Anti-Gallows Writing and the Appeal to Christian Sympathy." Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 27.1 (2009): 1+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.

Klatt, L.S. "The Electric Whitman." The Southern Review 44.2 (2008): 321+. Literature Resource Center . Web. 20 Feb. 2011.

MacPhail, Scott. "Lyric Nationalism: Whitman, American Studies, and the New Criticism." Texas Studies in Literature and Language 44.2 (2002): 133. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Mar. 2011.

Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. Print.

Sickels, Robert C. "Whitman's Song of Myself." The Explicator 59.1 (2000): 19. Literature Resource Center. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.

Smith, Ernest. "'˜Restless Explorations': Whitman's Evolving Spiritual Vision in Leaves of Grass." Papers on Language and Literature 43.3 (2007): 227. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.

Sn odgrass, W.D. "Whitman's Selfsong." The Southern Review 32.3 (1996): 572+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.

Tayson, Richard. "Manly Love: Whitman, Ginsberg, Monette." The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide 12.5 (2005): 23. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 Mar. 2011.

Warren, James Perrin. "Style." A Companion to Walt Whitman. Ed. Donald D. Kummings. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2009. 378-382. Print.

Whitman, Walt. Complete Prose Works. Philadelphia: David McKay, 1881. Print.