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Walt Whitman

Born:May 31, 1819 in West Hills Town of Huntington, Long Island
Died: March 26, 1892 in Camden New Jersey

Years Active:
1850 60s 70 80 90

Genre/ Movement
Transcendentalism and Realism
Realism was a movement that sought to portray the world in an objective and concept that became prevalent as the use of photography spread. The goal of Realism in art was to present the subject in an everyday manner, without interpretation or beatification, which can be seen as a direct opposition to the Romantic genre of the 18th and 19th century.

Transcendentalism
Was a concept that emerged in New England during the 19th century that has its roots in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Transcendentalists believed that the spiritual state of man transcends the physical and can only be realized by one's on intuition, that man is created good, with a an emphasis on individuality, nature, self reliance and the rejection of authority.

Example: "I perceive I have not really understood any thing, not a
single object, and that no man ever can,
Nature here in sight of the sea taking advantage of me to
dart upon me and sting me, Because I have dared to open my mouth to sing at all...I mean tenderly by you and all,
I gather for myself and for this phantom looking down
Where we lead, and following me and mine."
Whitman in the this example from As I Ebb'd with the Ocean of Life pays tributes to the role of nature in Whitman's spirituality- his own personal understanding of what the divine is, as he examines the role of the sea as apart of his personal identity. Concluding in the beginning of the poem that his individual perception, like that of any one else's cannot be objective, Whitman fuses the ideals of Transcendentalism and Realism by admitting his perception and awareness of what around his due to his own interpretation, a realistic approach to the unknown, while still seeking his own truth.

Moods:
Spiritual:From all the standards hitherto publish'd, from the pleasures, profits, conformities,
Which too long I was offering to feed my soul,
Clear to me now standards not yet publish'd, clear to me that my soul,
That the soul of the man I speak for rejoices in comrades.

Intimate: "Welcome is every organ and attribute of me, and of any man hearty and clean,
Not an inch nor particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest."

Organic:"Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-
dazzling,
Give me juicy autumnal fruit ripe and read from the orchard,
Give me a field where the unmow'd grass grows..."

Reflective: "Me imperturbe, stand at ease in Nature,
Master of all or mistress of all, aplomb in the midst of irrational things...Me wherever my life is lived, O to be self-balanced for the con-
tingencies,
To confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as the trees and animals do."

Yearning: " As Adam early in the morning,
Walking forth from the bower refresh'd with sleep,
Behold me where I pass, hear my voice, approach,
Touch me, touch the palm of your hand to my body as I pass,
Be not afraid of my body.

Similar Artists:
Henry David Thoreau *
Emily Dickinson*

Emily Dickinson, like Whitman wrote often about spirituality and nature, though her approaches were quite more literal and fixed on Christianity, gardens and death. Both Authors wrote in Free Verse and were deeply influenced by Emerson. Even though both poets wrote about similar subjects the role of their social lives, Whitman a traveler, Dickinson a recluse, led them to very different moods in their poetics.

Henry David Thoreau is another pupil of Emerson, Thoreau spent two years on Emerson's land writing Walden and Civil Disobedience. Although Thoreau wrote mostly prose both authors stressed the importance of being close to nature, the equality of men and questioning authority.

Influences:
Ralph Waldo Emerson*
George Sand*
Anne Gilchrist
George Sand, also known as Amandine Lucile Dudevant was a French Romantic author, who often wrote about sexuality and 'gender destinies" in her fiction. Dudevant who was also a baroness wrote under the pseudonym of George Sand. Dudevant dressed according to comfort, choosing men's clothes over her own and smoking despite public disapproval, a presentation that Whitman admired and later emulated. Whitman often referenced Dudevant's Conseulo as having a great effect on the way he wrote and viewed the world, an outlook that may of lead to Whitman's view of equality for both sexes. Additionally it has been said that the image of the carpenter poet from Leaves of Grass was taken directly from the Consuelo text.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an writer, philosopher and leader of the Transcendental movement. Whitman and Emerson often corresponded and exchanged their published work. Most notable was their correspondence about Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Emerson's enthusiasm help the popularity of his work and also pushed Whitman to publish another edition.

Followers:
Pablo Neruda*
William Carlos Williams
Bram Stoker
Allen Ginsberg
Jack Kerouac

Pablo Neruda, was a Chilean poet from the late 20th century. Neruda has famously said that Walt Whitman was his greatest poetic inspiration, even dedicating several poems to Whitman in his collection of Odes. Neruda, who is also known for his intensely emotional and powerful poems connived a sense truth and the nature of things. Parallel in its effect to Whitman's Work.


Biography:
Early in his career Whitman started out as a typist working for several publications and eventually began volunteer at a local hospital to care for injured soldiers during the American Civil War.
Whitman published his first work Leaves of Grass in 1855 with his own money. Leaves of Grass circulated a lot of controversy because of his discussion of sexuality and equality which was deemed overtly sexual and obscene. Despite this Whitman went on to gain much notoriety as a poet of the people, because of his ties to transcendentalism and realism, genres of writing that became some of the most influential schools of thought in American literature. Leaves of Grass was written by Whitman as an epic that explored urbanization of American that focused on a common American as opposed to a hero archetype.
Many scholars believed that Whitman may have been gay or bisexual, because some of his poems but it is unknown if it had any sexual relations with men. In addition to sexuality, Whitman also got a lot of flack because of his favor towards prohibition and his defense of all religions, in addition to gender equality.


Discography:
Leaves of Grass American Editions (1855), (1856), (1860), (1867), (1871-72), (1881-82), (1891-92)

Post humanously: November Boughs (1888)Democratic Vistas (1871)
Memoranda During the War (1875)
Specimen Days and Collect (1881)
Walt Whitman: Poetry and Prose 1996


Works Consulted:
Walt Whitman an Enyclopedia By J. R. LeMaster, Donald D. Kummings, Wikipedia.com, pbs.org, poets.org, whitmanarchive.org, Leaves of Grass, Selected Poems of Walt Whitman