Visionary, prophet, tyrant, racist, bigot. It is perhaps sufficient in saying that no other poet can hold as many of those modifiers as Walt Whitman. From scholars and poets ranging in ethnic background and sexual orientation, the response to Whitman has been incredibly varied. Many see his work as a stepping stone for future generations, […]
Tag Archives | Whitman
Who is Walt Whitman? – A Critical Look at the Good Gray Poet in Popular and Academic Culture
Over the course of the semester, we have seen Walt Whitman through various lenses from academic culture. We have viewed Whitman through the lense of African Americans, Native Americans, Queer poets, and women, all with their varying degrees of disdain and praise for the controversial poet. We have also studied Whitman’s influence over popular culture […]
How Gay Was Walt Whitman?
In his essay, “How Gay Was Walt Whitman?,” Arnie Kantrowitz analyzes the multitude of evidence brought forth in both Whitman’s writing and that of gay critics to determine if the grey poet was a homosexual. Kantrowitz writes how “it is difficult for modem gay readers to imagine Whitman as anything other than one of us […]
I Am Here like an Old Hulk Driven Up on the Sand: A Newly Discovered Letter by Walt Whitman
Whether it is deciphering a text or researching the historical context surrounding it, readers are always trying to analyze an author’s true intention in their work/s . However, sometimes new discoveries can open our eyes to the mind behind the pages. In the essay, “I Am Here like an Old Hulk Driven Up on the […]
Into the Horizon: Death and the Afterlife in “Now Finale to the Shore”.
With the title of his selection of poetry called, “Songs of Parting,” Whitman founded this collection around goodbyes, so longs, and farewells. With no sense of illness during this time, and thirty years prior to his actual death, it is odd that Whitman grounded many of his poems around death and the afterlife. Regardless […]
Diversity in Whitman: Section Thirty-Three of ‘Song of Myself’
Maire Mullins, a professor at Pepperdine University, details in her article, “Diversity in Whitman: Section Thirty-Three of ‘Song of Myself,” the various poetic methods and techniques that Walt Whitman employed in his “Song of Myself”, more specifically section Thirty-Three of the work, to emphasize his passion for diversity in America and unity in nationhood. Mullins […]