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Whitman project blogposts

In 2013, James Franco wrote “Why Walt Whitman Was the Original Kanye West,” an article that draws comparisons between two of the most celebrated creative producers in American history. Franco makes an interesting case for the Whitmanian presence in West, pointing mostly to the self-promoting tendencies each has demonstrated throughout their careers. However, we find […]

Claudia Rankine’s Don’t Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric is one of the more interesting reads of my college career, and it fittingly serves as an extension of (and in my opinion, an improvement from) Ben Lerner’s 10:04. Rankine demonstrates many stylistic similarities to Lerner, including the flexible form which weaves between prose, verse, […]

In class, we have read many texts which directly and intentionally respond to Whitman, but we seldom explored the Whitman energies that went into hiding before making a subliminal resurgence in the late 20th century. One genre that embodies these energies in multitudes is hip-hop, a relatively new art form that projects various dimensions of […]

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 […]

Reading and interpreting Whitman’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle depicting an abstract artist’s work. So many natural objects are attributed agency that it drives me mad trying to pinpoint their interrelations; what do I make of these symbols? How do I flesh out the looming cloud, […]

We find “Scented Herbage of My Breast” in the Calamus section of Leaves of Grass where we once again come in contact with the momentary Whitman, who appears in each poem to take a seat in the middle of a nature walk and report his musings. I admittedly had never heard the word “Calamus,” so […]

Okay, so I spoke a little in class about how Walt Whitman’s work and his overall energies connect strongly to Kanye West’s. With that said, I think this conversation extends well beyond our Kanye case study, as proclaiming one’s own artistic authority has become a verbal paradigm in modern lyrical arts. Throughout history, some of […]

While reading “Song of Myself,” I could not help but to connect this text to one of my favorite books, Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. In this story, the author’s newly adopted religion, Bokononism, advises its followers not to indulge themselves in granfalloons, which are essentially meaningless classifications marked by human ideologies (such as national […]

In Whitman’s Preface to Leaves of Grass, he calls our attention to the poet’s role in America. He says at one point “Whatever stagnates in the flat of custom or obedience or legislation he never stagnates. Obedience does not master him, he masters it.” For Whitman, the poet’s work pulls society forward, drawing out the […]