At the end of the long day of Whitman’s life, after all the chants had been sung, after the Great Grey Poet immortalized himself as a prophetic icon in the American literary pantheon, our subject has left behind a trail of poems leading to the hope for poetry’s future- science. Wait, science, the supposed great anti-art that will perish the abstract and absolve the human race of all meaning? That appears to be the case.
Much of Whitman’s late work projects a return to the Enlightenment ideals: rationalism, methodology, objective reality, humanism. In his notably candid prose piece A Backward Glance O’er Travel’d Roads Whitman calls on poets “to conform with and build on the concrete realities and theories of the universe furnished by science” (662). On first reading, this endorsement for conformity contradicts everything we know about Whitmanian poetry, both in form and content. As we read on, however, we see that “conform” is used more as a term that looks forward, to adapt, than as a call for homogeneity. Creating “poems of realities and science” is a response to the New World’s needs, a world whose very existence was founded on one’s independence from group-control and superstitious thought. This sentiment is echoed in Whitman’s poem “Going Somewhere,” an ode to his late friend whose lasting message sung the praises of philosophies and sciences alike, claiming they are all part of a cosmic scheme leading somewhere.
Considering the candidness with which Whitman writes A Backward Glance, it is conceivable that he is leaving a hint for future poets to keep in mind as they will presumably struggle to maintain a mass readership decades to come following his death. As idealistic as his poems come across, Whitman was still a perceptive man who understood that artistic products have to earn their relevance within the time and place they are conceived. Given that Whitman’s tenure as a poet surrounded the most turbulent time in our union’s history, it would appear that his style came just in time, just as scientifically inclined authors continue to prosper to this day.
The Whitman / Science intersection, especially later in his career, is really interesting. I like the way to frame “conformity” more as adaptation–a sign that the poet is not constrained, but fully plugged into their surroundings. It was very important for Whitman to be a poet deeply involved with the developments of his own day, even as his voice can seem so timeless.
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