In the preface to Leaves of Grass, Whitman leaves no distinction between the past, present and future. The past (who we were) and the present (who we are today) interact together in order to place us in the future (who we will become): The greatest poet forms the consistence of what is to be from what […]
Whitman’s Greatest Poet
In the preface to “Leaves of Grass,” Whitman believes that America “is the race of races” (pg. 7) and that Americans “of all the nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature” (pg. 5). This is a claim which he takes a step further by claiming that there will be […]
Preface to “Leaves of Grass”: The Poet the Prophet and My Awakening to Whitman
With very little knowledge or background on Whitman other than what has been discussed in the first few class sessions, I have always had trouble understanding why Whitman was so intriguing to such a wide variety of people throughout history and even still today. When I was first casually introduced to our dear Walt back […]
Whitman’s Free Form: “What I tell I tell for precisely what it is.”
“He swears to his art, I will not be meddlesome, I will not have in my writing any elegance or effect or originality to hang in the way between me and the rest like curtains. I will have nothing hang in the way, not the richest curtains.” (14) Walt Whitman used the Preface to Leaves […]
The Ecological Whitman
The atmosphere is not a perfume . . . . it has no taste of the distillation . . . . it is odorless, It is in my mouth forever . . . . I am in love with it, I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked, I […]
Walt Whitman: Blog Post #1
Shaina Clingempeel “Whatever would put God in a poem or system of philosophy as contending against some being or influence is also of no account. Sanity and ensemble characterize the great master…spoilt in one principle all is spoilt. The great master has nothing to do with miracles. He sees health for himself in being one […]
