Walt Whitman, self-proclaimed poet of the people, strove to represent the national identity of America in his poetry and prose. In the 1872 preface to Leaves of Grass, he identified his purpose to produce a “thread-voice, more or less audible, of an aggregated, inseparable, unprecedented, vast, composite, electric democratic nationality.” As the poet of America, Whitman covered many themes common to humanity, but the themes I am most interested in pursuing are those of human connection through shared experience and his idea of a universal soul. I want to explore Whitman’s claim that the poet is a “channel of thoughts” for the public and would like to develop the idea of artists as a “channel” of public representation from Whitman’s time through to contemporary arts. I also intend to expand his notion of nationality into the present-day topic of globalization. This may seem like a union of disparate parts, but my goal is to explore the Whitmanian idea of connection through human experience by bringing it into a modern context through artistic representations of society. For my final project, my aim is to trace the evolution of Whitman’s national voice throughout his career, to identify his direct and indirect influence on other artists, and finally, to extend the conversation of the artist as voice for the public into the present day.
My intention in this project is multi-faceted: Initially, I want to instill a fundamental understanding of Whitman’s public persona as a mouthpiece for America using Whitman’s work and close analysis of his works as primary sources. Building upon this foundation, I will look to his influence on other artists (his contemporaries through present day) in America and around the world. Part of my exploration of his influence will involve branching out from the literary realm and including other artistic mediums. My final goal is to express the significance of artists in their respective cultures and bring our current cultural vocabulary and discourse into the conversation (I am still compiling contemporary artists).
Because I plan on moving past literature to incorporate various art forms that show the relationship between the artist and society, my project will take shape in blog format to accommodate a multimedia approach. I plan on devoting several blog posts solely to Walt Whitman and his themes of connectivity and several on other artists that continue his themes of human connection and experience. I also feel the necessity to include technology in the conversation and explore it’s influence on human connection and art. In total I plan on publishing 7 or 8 posts, each with a 500 word minimum. My goal is to have a completed annotated bibliography by April 12th and a cohesive draft of the project by April 16th.
Current Sources:
Whitman, Walt. Complete Poetry and Selected Prose.
Dougherty, James. Walt Whitman and the Citizen’s Eye.
Briggs, Arthure E. Walt Whitman: Thinker and Artist.
Edited by Sill, Geoffrey and Tarbell, Roberta. Walt Whitman and the Visual Arts.
Rumeau, Delphine. Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda, American Camerados.
Green, Lelia. Communication, Technology & Society.
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