Whitman Leaves of Grass Introduction

At the start of Whitman’s introduction to Leaves of Grass, he acknowledges America’s greatness in terms of the nation’s capability of producing poetry. “The Unite States themselves,” Whitman writes, “are essentially the greatest poem” (5). While I admire Whitman’s awe of this country in terms of its power to produce art, I found that after reading further, he begins to contradict himself. Whitman argues that the strength of the United States rests with the common people, rather than “executives or legislators […] ambassadors or authors” etc. (5). However, after praising the common people, Whitman does not go on to describe them, but rather poets, and more specifically the ‘greatest poets.’ Hence, my question for this blog post becomes whether or not Whitman actually believes in the power of the common people when his entire intro describes how poets are essentially above and beyond everyone else both artistically and intellectually?

I would argue that at least from this introduction alone, Whitman definitely pays greater attention to those who are artistically gifted, rather than simply common. He spends pages and pages of his introduction describing why poets are better than pretty much anyone else. For example, he claims, “The poet sees for a certainty how one not a great artist may be just as sacred and perfect as the greatest artist” (9). Here, he is explaining to readers how poets ultimately see the world in a unique way, a way that Whitman definitely finds superior to any normal outlook on life. I got this same sense of Whitman’s belief that the poet’s mind is able to transcend the world differently (and better) when he says, “the others are just as good as he (the poet), only he sees it and they do not” (10). Once again, Whitman’s praise of the poet over the common man is unarguably highlighted. Although he says the two are equal, Whitman nonetheless places poets above any common individual due to their incredible insight into the world, where they can see things normal people cannot.