Whitman
Very few people will contest that Walt Whitman may be one of the most important and influential writers in American literary history and conceivably the single most influential poet. However many have claimed that Whitman’s writing is so free form as evident in his 1855 Preface to Leaves of Grass and Song of Myself that it has no style. The poetic structures he employs are unconventional but reflect his very democratic ideals towards America. Although Whitman’s writing does not include a structure that can be easily outlined, masterfully his writing conforms itself to no style, other then its own universal and unrestricted technique. Even though Whitman’s work does not lend itself to the conventional form of poetry in the way his contemporaries such as Longfellow and Whittier do, it holds a deliberate structure, despite its sprawling style of free association. When people say Whitman has no style, they are making a statement about his adherence to conventional standards of poetic form. Style, though, is something completely personal, not conventional. Whitman dared to go outside the conventional boundaries of poetic expression because he seldom followed the standards in rhyme, meter, and stanza form. However, hasn
And what I assume you shall assume, I loafe and invite my soul, (SOM 2096) The universality of Whitman’s style can be pointed out once again in line 3 of Song of Myself. The reason why he says that every atom belonging to him as good as belonging to the reader because once one can see the world from a deeper level, one is able to see that we are all made of the same universal material. Whitman’s style of unrestricted rambling associations is a reflection of his desire to make his work universal because of his attempt to include anything and everything in his writings. Whitman’s writing clearly does not fall into the typical framework of poetry as established by his predecessors, however his work has established its own style. This is what makes his poetry so suitable for expressing one’s soul. Whitman not only speaks of the soul, gives evidence of the soul, but his writing is an extension of the soul. His style literally expresses the dynamic, open, and unrestricted independence of the soul. This technique is a circular one, returning upon itself in its celebration of identification, awareness, wisdom, and celebration of individual and universal unification. Song of Myself opens with Whitman “observing a spear of summer grass” and comes to a close over 1300 lines later with this same idea of recognition of universality: “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, / If you want me again look for me under your boot soles” (SOM 2138). These lines provide evidence to support the claim that Whitman is trying to make a very personal connection with his readers to allow the work to not only be a representation of himself but a representation of everyone and everything. L
Some topics in this essay:
Whitman’s Song,
Longfellow Whittier,
Leaves Grass,
Civil War,
Song Whitman,
America Whitman’s,
Walt Whitman,
Whitman Emerson,
Emerson Whitman’s,
Grass Song,
whitman’s writing,
leaves grass,
whitman’s style,
run-on sentences,
line 3,
style statement,
whitman style,
whitman emerson,
paths leading,
atom belonging,
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Approximate Word count = 1169
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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