The year 2019 marks the 200-year anniversary of the birth of America’s infamous good gray poet, the “weird white father” (Jordan, 408) to which so many of America’s writers owe their literary genealogy. As a result, America has found itself celebrating, critiquing, and thinking about Walt Whitman in new ways that incorporate modern culture. This […]
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Project Pitch: Molly Epps
In a time in which we are constantly bombarded with apocalyptic tragedies, political instability, and protests against inequality and injustices, it’s possible for someone in 2019 to feel many different things when reading Whitman’s poetry, especially regarding his advocation for brotherhood, love, and political unity under poetry. This made me want to explore how Whitman’s […]
The Two Personas of Walt Whitman as Seen in “So Long!” Molly Epps
As a result of being crowned the “Great American Poet”, Walt Whitman’s poetry voice is not only familiar to Western scholars, but almost instantly recognizable for almost every American English scholar. However, what if we were to assert the claim that when we recognize Whitman’s voice in a piece of writing, we’re actually recognizing two […]
Looking at and Teaching ‘Song of Myself’ in 2019
It is undeniable that Whitman is one of, if not the most, influential poets in American literary history, but even though it is important for future generations to continue re-reading his work, we have to be honest with ourselves about some of his more problematic poetic behaviors. ‘Song of Myself’ is one of his most […]