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| For many, Whitman is the quintessential American ]. Born in ], his poetry exposed common America and spoke with a distinctly American consciousness. He utilized creative repetition to produce a hypnotic quality that creates the force in his poetry, inspiring as it informs. Thus, his poetry is best read aloud to experience the full message. His poetic quality can be traced indirectly through religious or quasi religious speech and writings such as the ] poet ]. | For many, Whitman is the quintessential American ]. Born in ], his poetry exposed common America and spoke with a distinctly American consciousness. He utilized creative repetition to produce a hypnotic quality that creates the force in his poetry, inspiring as it informs. Thus, his poetry is best read aloud to experience the full message. His poetic quality can be traced indirectly through religious or quasi religious speech and writings such as the ] poet ]. | ||
| Whitman's break with the past made his poetry a model for the French ] (who in turn influenced the ]) and "modern" poets such as ], ], and ]. The flavor of this power is exhibited in these lines from "Leaves of Grass" (1855) (his most famous poem): | Whitman's break with the past made his poetry a model for the French ] (who in turn influenced the ]) and "modern" poets such as ], ], and ]. The flavor of this power is exhibited in these lines from "]" (1855) (his most famous poem): | ||
| I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine,<br> | :I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine,<br> | ||
| I too walked the streets of Manhattan island, and bathed in the waters around it<br> | :I too walked the streets of Manhattan island, and bathed in the waters around it<br> | ||
| I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me, <br> | :I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me, <br> | ||
| In the day, among crowds of people, sometimes they came upon me, <br> | :In the day, among crowds of people, sometimes they came upon me, <br> | ||
| In my walks home late at night, or as I lay in my bed, they came upon me,<br> | :In my walks home late at night, or as I lay in my bed, they came upon me,<br> | ||
| I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution, <br> | :I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution, <br> | ||
| I too had received identity by my body, <br> | :I too had received identity by my body, <br> | ||
| That I was, I knew was of my body - and what I should be, I knew I should be of my body. | :That I was, I knew was of my body - and what I should be, I knew I should be of my body. | ||
| See the brief essay on Whitman by Galway Kinnell in "Poetry Speaks" (Sourcebooks 2001), which also has on CD what claims to be a live recording of Whitman reading a few lines. | See the brief essay on Whitman by Galway Kinnell in "Poetry Speaks" (Sourcebooks 2001), which also has on CD what claims to be a live recording of Whitman reading a few lines. | ||
Revision as of 21:47, 3 July 2002
Walt Whitman (1819-1892), American poet.
For many, Whitman is the quintessential American poet. Born in New York, his poetry exposed common America and spoke with a distinctly American consciousness. He utilized creative repetition to produce a hypnotic quality that creates the force in his poetry, inspiring as it informs. Thus, his poetry is best read aloud to experience the full message. His poetic quality can be traced indirectly through religious or quasi religious speech and writings such as the Harlem Renaissance poet James Weldon Johnson.
Whitman's break with the past made his poetry a model for the French symbolists (who in turn influenced the surrealists) and "modern" poets such as Pound, Eliot, and Auden. The flavor of this power is exhibited in these lines from "Leaves of Grass" (1855) (his most famous poem):
- I too lived, Brooklyn of ample hills was mine,
- I too walked the streets of Manhattan island, and bathed in the waters around it
- I too felt the curious abrupt questionings stir within me,
- In the day, among crowds of people, sometimes they came upon me,
- In my walks home late at night, or as I lay in my bed, they came upon me,
- I too had been struck from the float forever held in solution,
- I too had received identity by my body,
- That I was, I knew was of my body - and what I should be, I knew I should be of my body.
See the brief essay on Whitman by Galway Kinnell in "Poetry Speaks" (Sourcebooks 2001), which also has on CD what claims to be a live recording of Whitman reading a few lines.