Walt Whitman was a follower of the two Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson and.
He believed in Emerson and Thoreau's Transcendentalist beliefs. .
Whitman believed that individualism stems from listening to one's inner voice and that one's life is guided by one's intuition. Whitman lent himself to this concept of independence. He once said, "Everything on earth has the divine spark within and thus is all part of a whole." This philosophy of individualism led to an optimistic emphasis on society. Because Whitman immodestly praised the human body and glorified the senses, "Walt Whitman's poems assert the worth of the individual and the oneness of all humanity." .
Whitman's first poem in Leaves of Grass is called "Song of Myself". In "Song of Myself" Whitman tells us that the absolute unity of matter and spirit, and all, which that unity involves, is the dominant conception of this first and most characteristic period. Whitman said, "The true poet is not the follower of beauty, but the august of beauty." Whitman's "Song of Myself" was capable of making whoever withes to be so, wiser, happier, better; and it does these not by acting on the intellect, by telling us what is best for us, what we ought to do and avoid doing, but by acting directly on the moral nature itself, and elevating and purifying that.
This also shows how he really believed in Transcendentalism, which stated strong intense individualism and self-reliance. He used the same theme in all of his poems throughout the book. Its almost seems as if he wrote the book just for one reason. That reason being how important every individual in the world is.
In conclusion, I conclude that Whitman's poems really do express his transcendental beliefs. I believe he really did try to assert the worth of the individual in all his poems. He used great similes and metaphors to pinpoint his beliefs. Also, his frequent use of cataloging, parallelism, and free verse contributed to his beliefs.
