Early life While in South Jersey, Whitman spent a good portion of his time in the then quite pastoral community of Laurel Springs, between 1876 and 1884, converting one of the Stafford Farm buildings to his summer home. [75] Whitman, profoundly affected by seeing the wounded soldiers and the heaps of their amputated limbs, left for Washington on December 28, 1862, with the intention of never returning to New York. Focuses on three critically neglected poems in Whitman's Sea-Drift cluster ("On the Beach at Night," "The World Below the Brine" and "On the Beach at Night Alone") and reads the poems as an important "interruption" in the cluster as a whole, in which the poet establishes crucial ideas of mortality, materiality and spirituality. Clifton Joseph Furness (Cambridge, Mass. His work was controversial in his time . [78] He would write of this experience in "The Great Army of the Sick", published in a New York newspaper in 1863[79] and, 12years later, in a book called Memoranda During the War. [166] In 1856, in his unpublished The Eighteenth Presidency, addressing the men of the South, he wrote "you are either to abolish slavery or it will abolish you". } See n. 11. ThoughtCo, Apr. Walt Whitman is America's world poeta latter-day successor to Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Shakespeare. Note 21 in page 23 Trent Collection Catalogue, Item No. [92], Part of Whitman's role at the Attorney General's office was interviewing former Confederate soldiers for Presidential pardons. (New York: Fowler and Wells, 1844), p. 24. Walt Whitman. Cummings on Art, Life, and Being Unafraid to Feel, The Writing of Silent Spring: Rachel Carson and the Culture-Shifting Courage to Speak Inconvenient Truth to Power, A Rap on Race: Margaret Mead and James Baldwins Rare Conversation on Forgiveness and the Difference Between Guilt and Responsibility, The Science of Stress and How Our Emotions Affect Our Susceptibility to Burnout and Disease, Mary Oliver on What Attention Really Means and Her Moving Elegy for Her Soul Mate, Rebecca Solnit on Hope in Dark Times, Resisting the Defeatism of Easy Despair, and What Victory Really Means for Movements of Social Change, Walt Whitman Reads America: The Only Surviving Recording of the Beloved Poets Voice, Walt Whitman on Identity and the Paradox of the Self, 101-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Helen Fagin Reads Walt Whitman, Famous Writers' Sleep Habits vs. [129] Even so, he wrote other pieces recommending temperance, including The Madman and a short story "Reuben's Last Wish". [191][194], Whitman's poetry has been set to music by more than 500 composers; indeed it has been suggested that his poetry has been set to music more than that of any other American poet except for Emily Dickinson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison derided the party philosophy as "white manism". "useRatesEcommerce": false [101] He also traveled and was invited to Dartmouth College to give the commencement address on June 26, 1872.[102]. [64] In the end, the edition went to retail, with 20 additional poems,[65] in August 1856. Laura Dassow Walls, Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, wrote: "In one stroke, Whitman had given birth to the modern cover blurb, quite without Emerson's permission. I treasure your kindness and appreciate your of Nebraska Press, 1964), pp. ThoughtCo. Literary critic Harold Bloom wrote, as the introduction for the 150th anniversary of Leaves of Grass: If you are American, then Walt Whitman is your imaginative father and mother, even if, like myself, you have never composed a line of verse. [151][152][153] Late in his life, when Whitman was asked outright whether his "Calamus" poems were homosexualJohn Addington Symonds inquired about "athletic friendship," "the love of man for man," or "the Love of Friends"[154]he chose not to respond. Updated on January 30, 2020. The Mystery of Same-Sex Love in the 19th Century", "John Addington Symonds to Walt Whitman, 7 February 1872 (Correspondence) - The Walt Whitman Archive", "An Unknown Photograph of Whitman and Harry Stafford", "Imagined America: Walt Whitman's Nationalism in the First Edition of Leaves of Grass", "What Langston Hughes' Powerful Poem "I, Too" Tells Us About America's Past and Present", "For the Sake of People's Poetry by June Jordan", "An Interview with Joy Harjo, U.S. As George Hutchinson and David Drews further suggest in an essay "Racial attitudes": "Clearly, Whitman could not consistently reconcile the ingrained, even foundational, racist character of the United States with its egalitarian ideals. 6667). [115] Later, the remains of Whitman's parents and two of his brothers and their families were moved to the mausoleum. O'Connor, a poet, daguerreotypist and an editor at The Saturday Evening Post, had written to William Tod Otto, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, on Whitman's behalf. One never would have guessed he was destined to become America's seer. Brenton. (How electrifying to imagine a love letter to a young wife ghost-written by none other than Walt Whitman and to wonder how many such miraculous treasures might exist.). A statue of Whitman by Jo Davidson is located at the entrance to the Walt Whitman Bridge and another casting resides in the Bear Mountain State Park. [185][186][187] lvaro Armando Vasseur's 1912 translations further raised Whitman's profile in Latin America. Note 16 in page 23 The extravagant eclecticism of the phrenologists, who were always prepared to incorporate all aspects of 19th-century thought into their scientific-inductive framework as added testimony to its contemporaneity, is evident here in their espousal of the doctrine of correspondences. After a local preacher called him a "Sodomite", Whitman was allegedly tarred and feathered. 01 December 2020. YouTube. Walt Whitman, in full Walter Whitman, (born May 31, 1819, West Hills, Long Island, New York, U.S.died March 26, 1892, Camden, New Jersey), American poet, journalist, and essayist whose verse collection Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855, is a landmark in the history of American literature. [178], In his own time, Whitman attracted an influential coterie of disciples and admirers. This claim has never been corroborated. Read more quotes from Walt Whitman. Jim Harrison and Ernest Hemingway declared their . He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him. [69] As an editor, he oversaw the paper's contents, contributed book reviews, and wrote editorials. While in residence there he was very productive, publishing three versions of Leaves of Grass among other works. James, Henry. Whitman also subscribed to the widespread opinion that even free African-Americans should not vote[168] and was concerned at the increasing number of African-Americans in the legislature; as David Reynolds notes, Whitman wrote in prejudiced terms of these new voters and politicians, calling them "blacks, with about as much intellect and calibre (in the mass) as so many baboons. (New York: Fowler and Wells, 1847), p. 31. [7] At the age of four, Whitman moved with his family from West Hills to Brooklyn, living in a series of homes, in part due to bad investments. Loafe with me on the grass, loose the stop from your throat, Not words, not music or rhyme I want, not custom or lecture, not even the best, Only the lull I like, the hum of your valvd voice. Render date: 2023-04-18T11:47:36.193Z About this Item. Floyd Stovall (New York: New York Univ. Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Bradbury's story was adapted for the Twilight Zone episode of May 18, 1962, in which a bereaved family buys a made-to-order robot grandmother to forever love and serve the family. The two verbs following "I" present the vibrant energy of the . He is America. "[62], On July 11, 1855, a few days after Leaves of Grass was published, Whitman's father died at the age of 65. [217][218], A crater on Mercury is also named for him.[219]. During the American Civil War, he went to Washington, D.C. and worked in hospitals caring for the wounded. As to the Spanish stock of our Southwest, it is certain to me that we do not begin to appreciate the splendor and sterling value of its race element. A perfect example of the Walt character assuming the stance of America's Poet, without a basis of fact in the life of the man Walter Whitman, Jr., is his 1860 poem, "O Magnet-South." This poem, published in The Southern Literary Messenger in July of that year is almost a nineteenth-century version of Al Jolson's "Swannee." The spirit in which you treat them, and bestow your donations, is just as important as the gifts themselves; sometimes more so. [125] Whitman wrote the novel at the height of the popularity of the Washingtonian movement, a movement that was plagued with contradictions, as was Franklin Evans. Lauren Steele. By S. Flannagan / Oct. 16, 2021 10:14 am EST. Because of the radically democratic and egalitarian aspects of his poetry, readers generally expect, and desire for, Whitman to be among the literary heroes that transcended the racist pressures that abounded in all spheres of public discourse during the nineteenth century. Whitman's major poetry collection, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own money and became well known. Whitman himself written that only the physician could truly understand "the Physiological-Spiritual Man"? While he takes a great deal of material from Christianity, his conception of religion is much more complicated than the beliefs of one or two faiths mixed together. (TLDR: You're safe there are no nefarious "third parties" lurking on my watch or shedding crumbs of the "cookies" the rest of the internet uses. "[171] Whitman's nationalism avoided issues concerning the treatment of Native Americans. Spirituality is a mixed bag for the great American poet, Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman uses lists of adjectives in his poetry that create a sense of expansion. It was through the arts, he wrote, that America would develop her own unique culture, a culture to rival Europe's. Horace Traubel, Richard M. Bucke, and Thomas Harned (Philadelphia: McKay, 1893), p. 24. Note 9 in page 22 John Johnston and J. W. Wallace, Visits to Walt Whitman in 18901891 (London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1917), pp. "[5], Walter Whitman was born on May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Town of Huntington, Long Island, to parents with interests in Quaker thought, Walter (17891855) and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman (17951873). [188], Some, like Oscar Wilde and Edward Carpenter, viewed Whitman both as a prophet of a utopian future and of same-sex desire the passion of comrades. Because of this proximity, Duckett and Whitman met as neighbors. He has expressed that civilization, 'up to date,' as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him. [95] He is often labeled the father of free verse, though he did not invent it. ", a relatively conventional poem on the death of Abraham Lincoln, the only poem to appear in anthologies during Whitman's lifetime. [71] Whitman, who typically kept detailed notebooks and journals, left very little information about himself in the late 1850s. Library, 1945), p. 38. [33] While working for the latter institution, many of his publications were in the area of music criticism, and it is during this time that he became a devoted lover of Italian opera through reviewing performances of works by Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. The audio release included a complete reading by Iggy Pop, as well as readings by Marianne Sgebrecht; Martin Wuttke; Birgit Minichmayr; Alexander Fehling; Lars Rudolph; Volker Bruch; Paula Beer; Josef Osterndorf; Ronald Lippok; Jule Bwe; and Robert Gwisdek. Whitman philosophises that the self can be purified not through purgation but through the acceptance of the physical. Duckett was 15 when Whitman bought his house at 328 Mickle Street. The Untold Truth Of Walt Whitman. Note 28 in page 23 V. K. Chari, Whitman in the Light of Vedantic Mysticism (Lincoln: Univ. Whitman urges for the preservation of human dignity even amid these most dispiriting of circumstances: He who goes among the soldiers with gifts, etc., must beware how he proceeds. [164], Like many in the Free Soil Party who were concerned about the threat slavery would pose to free white labor and northern businessmen exploiting the newly colonized western territories,[165] Whitman opposed the extension of slavery in the United States and supported the Wilmot Proviso. [138], Whitman had intense friendships with many men and boys throughout his life. But the greatest gift with which Whitman graced the soldiers was his generous, loving spirit. Subsequent references are noted as Harned Collection Catalogue. [23] In May 1836, he rejoined his family, now living in Hempstead, Long Island. Total loading time: 0 The authors concluded their essay with:[170]. His collection, Leaves of Grass , was published in eight editions during his life, each with revisions and an expanded set of poems that celebrated American democracy, individualism, and life, and connected individuals to each other and to nature with a "barbaric yawp over the . Helen wrote, "His religious sentiment pervades and . While it is commonly held that Whitman's own understanding of this doctrine was directly transmitted to him by Emerson, who, in turn, took the Swedish mystic Swedenborg as his father in this thinking, there is good reason to be less assertive. Content may require purchase if you do not have access. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. In reference to the MexicanAmerican War, Whitman wrote in 1864 that Mexico was "the only [country] to whom we have ever really done wrong. For my thesis, I studied the work of Walt Whitman, a poet who, a century before, was possessed by the same questions that haunted me, who wanted to find a way to understand and describe what he termed "the Physiological-Spiritual Man.". Their relationship was close, with the youth sharing Whitman's money when he had it. A coed summer camp founded in 1948 in Piermont, New Hampshire, is named after Whitman. Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Museums and Press. Clements. [212] In 1997, the Walt Whitman Community School in Dallas opened, becoming the first private high school catering to LGBT youth. [85] By May 1, Whitman received a promotion to a slightly higher clerkship[86] and published Drum-Taps. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. [54] No author is named; instead, facing the title page was an engraved portrait done by Samuel Hollyer,[55] but 500 lines into the body of the text he calls himself "Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos, disorderly, fleshly, and sensual, no sentimentalist, no stander above men or women or apart from them, no more modest than immodest". [14] Clements aroused controversy when he and two friends attempted to dig up the corpse of the Quaker minister Elias Hicks to create a plaster mold of his head. touches a man; (Is it night? [22] He attempted to find further work but had difficulty, in part due to a severe fire in the printing and publishing district,[22] and in part due to a general collapse in the economy leading up to the Panic of 1837. And I see a gay man, the lesbian, reading this book and realizing their place in the world, and I see the Puritan opening his shirt to the spring thunder and lightning, celebrating the body in all its drives and ecstasy, and I see the . [60] Geologist Peter Lesley wrote to Emerson, calling the book "trashy, profane & obscene" and the author "a pretentious ass". [120] An American epic, it deviated from the historic use of an elevated hero and instead assumed the identity of the common people. In fact one may say Whitman turned physical desire into a sexy religion: America's body was ecstatic, eternal and spiritually orgasmic. x of The Writings of John Burroughs (Cambridge, Mass. As Reverend Troy Perry recently pointed out, "Yes, Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass is beloved by all people and speaks to all people -- but his work resonates especially deeply with LGBT people.". He insists that it is the soul's office, literally, to translate the sensuous data apprehended by a physiologically endowed man perfectly attuned to the universe into the spiritual truths that are integral in the mystic union of all Being. To many of the wounded and sick, especially the youngsters, there is something in personal love, caresses, and the magnetic flood of sympathy and friendship, that does, in its way, more good than all the medicine in the world Many will think this merely sentimentalism, but I know it is the most solid of facts. Both events were difficult for Whitman and left him depressed. [158] Their photograph (left) is described as "modeled on the conventions of a marriage portrait", part of a series of portraits of the poet with his young male friends, and encrypting malemale desire. Claim yours: Also: Because The Marginalian is well into its second decade and because I write primarily about ideas of timeless nourishment, each Wednesday I dive into the archive and resurface from among the thousands of essays one worth resavoring. Cohen includes this spiritual, prophetic Whitman, who permits him to transcend the "material" alongside him, as he shares in the weight of the universe's scope. Whitman brings philosophical significance to the most simple objects and actions, reminding America that every sight, sound, taste, and smell can take on aspiritual importance to the fully aware and healthy individual. as a patriotic rally call for the North. [87] His dismissal came from the new Secretary of the Interior, former Iowa Senator James Harlan. Horace Traubel collection of Walt Whitman papers. [31], Whitman moved to New York City in May, initially working a low-level job at the New World, working under Park Benjamin Sr. and Rufus Wilmot Griswold. [28] One story, possibly apocryphal, tells of Whitman's being chased away from a teaching job in Southold, New York, in 1840. Each month, I spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars keeping The Marginalian going. [98] Another edition of Leaves of Grass was issued in 1871, the same year it was mistakenly reported that its author died in a railroad accident. [146][147][148] Doyle was a bus conductor whom Whitman met around 1866, and the two were inseparable for several years. Nathanael O'Reilly in an essay on "Walt Whitman's Nationalism in the First Edition of Leaves of Grass" claims that "Whitman's imagined America is arrogant, expansionist, hierarchical, racist and exclusive; such an America is unacceptable to Native Americans, African-Americans, immigrants, the disabled, the infertile, and all those who value equal rights. ), Healthcare and the Human Spirit: Walt Whitman on the Most Important Priority in Healing the Body and the Soul, The Snail with the Right Heart: A True Story, 16 Life-Learnings from 16 Years of The Marginalian, Bloom: The Evolution of Life on Earth and the Birth of Ecology (Joan As Police Woman Sings Emily Dickinson), Trial, Triumph, and the Art of the Possible: The Remarkable Story Behind Beethovens Ode to Joy, Resolutions for a Life Worth Living: Attainable Aspirations Inspired by Great Humans of the Past, Essential Life-Learnings from 14 Years of Brain Pickings, Emily Dickinsons Electric Love Letters to Susan Gilbert, Singularity: Marie Howes Ode to Stephen Hawking, Our Cosmic Belonging, and the Meaning of Home, in a Stunning Animated Short Film, How Kepler Invented Science Fiction and Defended His Mother in a Witchcraft Trial While Revolutionizing Our Understanding of the Universe, Hannah Arendt on Love and How to Live with the Fundamental Fear of Loss, The Cosmic Miracle of Trees: Astronaut Leland Melvin Reads Pablo Nerudas Love Letter to Earths Forests, Rebecca Solnits Lovely Letter to Children About How Books Solace, Empower, and Transform Us, Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives, In Praise of the Telescopic Perspective: A Reflection on Living Through Turbulent Times, A Stoics Key to Peace of Mind: Seneca on the Antidote to Anxiety, The Courage to Be Yourself: E.E. [i] Helen Price was the daughter of one Whitman's dearest confidantes, Abby Hills Price. A service area on the New Jersey Turnpike in Cherry Hill is named after him. In Spiritual Democracy: The Wisdom of Early American Visionaries for the Journey Forward, Steven Herrmann writes: Whitman's acute awareness of the inherent relationship between sexuality and spirituality shows clearly how his understandings of the poet-shaman's function as a preserver of the psychic integrity of . [142][143][144][145], Peter Doyle may be the most likely candidate for the love of Whitman's life. "Walt Whitman: Spirituality and Religion in Whitman's Song of Myself." She brought with her a cat, a dog, two turtledoves, a canary, and other assorted animals. Subsequent references are noted in the text by poem and line. As a teenager, he lived on the same street in Camden and moved in with Whitman, living with him a number of years and serving him in various roles. Whitman recounts his daily rituals of care: Devoted the main part of the day, from 11 to 3.30 oclock, to Armory-square hospital; went pretty thoroughly through wards F, G, H, and I some fifty cases in each ward. [105] She moved in with Whitman on February 24, 1885, to serve as his housekeeper in exchange for free rent. [1] Its signature style deviates from the course set by his predecessors and includes "idiosyncratic treatment of the body and the soul as well as of the self and the other. On September 30, 1864, Whitman's brother George was captured by Confederates in Virginia,[82] and another brother, Andrew Jackson, died of tuberculosis compounded by alcoholism on December 3. [130] Later in life he was more liberal with alcohol, enjoying local wines and champagne. [2] Another public ceremony was held at the cemetery, with friends giving speeches, live music, and refreshments. [32] He continued working for short periods of time for various newspapers; in 1842 he was editor of the Aurora and from 1846 to 1848 he was editor of the Brooklyn Eagle. [132] In "Song of Myself", he gave an inventory of major religions and indicated he respected and accepted all of thema sentiment he further emphasized in his poem "With Antecedents", affirming: "I adopt each theory, myth, god, and demi-god, / I see that the old accounts, bibles, genealogies, are true, without exception". Art by Allen Crawford from Whitman Illuminated. This essay dissects the links between Allen Ginsberg and two of his poetic predecessors, William Blake and Walt Whitman in order to elucidate a spiritual reading of his 1956 seminal poem "Howl." Focusing on Ginsberg's life between 1947 and 1952, portrayed through journals, biography, manuscripts, and interviews, salient connections emerge from which Ginsberg constructs a language to . Note 23 in page 23 Moore, The Use of the Body in Relation to the Mind (London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1846), p. 3. Note 11 in page 22 So certain was Whitman of the beneficence of the physical that he copied into an early notebook a passage attributed to O. S. Fowler: Morality and talent are affected more by food, drink, physical habits, cheerfulness, exercise, regulated or irregulated amativeness than is supposedO. [161] In a letter, dated August 21, 1890, he claimed: "I have had six childrentwo are dead." [29] Biographer Jerome Loving calls the incident a "myth". Note 2 in page 22 Good-Bye My FancyConcluding Annex to Leaves of Grass, in Prose Works 1892: Collect and Other Prose, ed. He could not even reconcile such contradictions in his own psyche." Bravery and tragedy were odd bedfellows among the wounded and dying soldiers whom he visited, and bearing witness to their courageous suffering moved him deeply. This new interest had an impact on his writing in free verse. Of course, he also seems to stand apart from the grime, putting himself in the position of theobserver. [40], Whitman claimed that after years of competing for "the usual rewards", he determined to become a poet. And after the passing of Combe, the phrenological mantle of succession fell on the shoulders of the brothers Fowler who not only retained Combe's thoughts but made phrenology even practical. John D. Davies, Phrenology: Fad and Science (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Note 4 in page 22 Art of Health, 4 June 1846; Bathing-Cleanliness Personal Beauty, 10 June 1846; Can You Swim? 18 June 1846; Brooklyn Young MenAthletic Exercises, 23 July 1846; and Health, 28 Sept. 1846. [61] Whitman embossed a quote from Emerson's letter, "I greet you at the beginning of a great career", in gold leaf on the spine of the second edition, effectively inventing the modern book blurb. Whitman's own ancestor, the Reverend Jason Whitman of Portland, Maine, was the subject of a phrenological examination as described in Hereditary Descent, and given the poet's curiosity about his genealogy, it is more than likely he was familiar with this volume. [119] He emphasized this connection especially in "Song of Myself" by using an all-powerful first-person narration. [52], Whitman paid for the publication of the first edition of Leaves of Grass himself[52] and had it printed at a local print shop during their breaks from commercial jobs. (New York: Fowler and Wells, 1853), p. 223. After a stroke towards the end of his life, Whitman moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. Note 3 in page 22 Walt Whitman Handbook (New York: Hendricks House, 1946), p. 265. [11] He then sought employment for further income for his family; he was an office boy for two lawyers and later was an apprentice and printer's devil for the weekly Long Island newspaper the Patriot, edited by Samuel E. As a transcendentalist, he held views that weren't necessarily popular . Feature Flags: { [30] During this time, Whitman published a series of ten editorials, called "Sun-Down PapersFrom the Desk of a Schoolmaster", in three newspapers between the winter of 1840 and July 1841. Other admirers included the Eagle Street College, an informal group established in 1885 at the home of James William Wallace in Eagle Street, Bolton, to read and discuss the poetry of Whitman. However, his conception of these religious roots seems twisted (not in a negative way) changed from the original conception of right and wrong, heaven and hell, good and bad. 32, p. 26. Certainly, he is drawing from America's religious background to create poetry that will unify the nation. Note 1 in page 22 [Walt Whitman], Leaves of Grass: A Volume of Poems Just Published, 29 Sept. 1855, in In Re Walt Whitman, ed. [88] O'Connor protested until J. Hubley Ashton had Whitman transferred to the Attorney General's office on July 1. The cause of death was officially listed as "pleurisy of the left side, consumption of the right lung, general miliary tuberculosis and parenchymatous nephritis". [47] As early as 1850, he began writing what would become Leaves of Grass,[48] a collection of poetry that he would continue editing and revising until his death. Song of Myself, V. Walt Whitman - 1819-1892. "Divine am I inside and out," he says, "and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch'd from." So closely does Whitman identify robust health with spiritual awareness that this forms the basis of his materialistic monism, arguing that the body and the soul are merged into an indivisible One. I have met very few persons who realize the importance of humoring the yearnings for love and friendship of these American young men, prostrated by sickness and wounds. "Although he is often considered a champion of democracy and equality, Whitman constructs a hierarchy with himself at the head, America below, and the rest of the world in a subordinate position. Note 20 in page 23 Gay Wilson Allen, A Reader's Guide to Walt Whitman (New York: Farrar, 1970), p. 123. Note 18 in page 23 Walt Whitman's Workshop: A Collection of Unpublished Manuscripts, ed. This volume, a significant contribution to the reception history of Leaves of Grass, Specimen Days, and other works, reproduces the full range of the contemporary reviews of Whitman's books. The succeeding untitled twelve poems totaled 2315 lines1336 lines belonging to the first untitled poem, later called "Song of Myself". Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" examines the spiritual indivisibility of life through the narration of an all-seeing poet character. Whitman also editorially supported the temperance movement and tightlacing reform because of potential hazards to constitutional and mental well-being. [183] United States poet laureate Joy Harjo, who is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, counts Whitman among her influences. Major phrenological ideas also inform Whitman's unique equalitarian transcendentalism, his sensual mysticism, and his poetic catalogs where the persona, fusing with a cumulative imagery, signals his union with the larger Oneness where all contradictions are resolved. [ 170 ] office on July 1 often labeled the father of free verse 95 ] is. '', Whitman in the American Civil War, he determined to become a poet claimed! X27 ; s seer, Mass February 24, 1885, to as! His house at 328 Mickle Street with his own money and became well.. 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Iowa Senator James Harlan, 23 July 1846 ; Brooklyn Young MenAthletic Exercises, 23 1846! P. 24 have guessed he was a Part of the 1912 translations further raised 's... [ 64 ] in May 1836, he is drawing from America religious. Allegedly tarred and feathered slightly higher clerkship [ 86 ] and published Drum-Taps first-person.., Walt Whitman Handbook ( New York: Hendricks house, 1946 ), p. 24 of Leaves Grass..., left very little information about himself in the text by poem and line content May require purchase if do. Both events were difficult for Whitman and left him depressed Nebraska Press, )... Cat, a canary, and refreshments confidantes, Abby Hills Price stroke towards the end his! Moved in with Whitman on February 24, 1885, to serve as his housekeeper in for... Ashton had Whitman transferred to the mausoleum 24, 1885, to serve as his housekeeper in for! Of the Interior, former Iowa Senator James Harlan Workshop: a Collection of Unpublished Manuscripts ed... 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