Walt WhitmanThe mid-nineteenth century was a revolutionary time for American poetry, an age of new styles and ideas, and of all the poets of this era, perhaps none was as influential as Walt Whitman. Whitman himself was the very embodiment of what it means to be an American, seeking always to improve himself and the world around him by finding common truths and celebrating them with his work. Above all, he observed everything around him, finding beauty in even the simplest and most common things, never taking anything for granted. In the deepest spiritual sense, he was his poetry, and he used everything at his disposal to try to explain the universe around him. Even when he was gripped by debilitating strokes, he saw in his experiences another opportunity to learn about human nature and to teach others. In defining himself and his world through his writings, Walt Whitman forever altered the paths of American poetry.
Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in Huntington Township on Long Island, New York. His parents, Walter Whitman and Louisa Van Velsor, were direct descendants of early Dutch and Polish settlers on Long Island (Folsom). Walt was the second of nine children, and he was particularly close to his younger brothers, Andrew Jackson, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson Whitman, and his older brother, Jesse Whitman. He had three sisters named Mary, Hannah, and Louisa, and his youngest brother, Edward, was both mentally and physically handicapped. He began attending a public school in Brooklyn at the age of six, and his schooling ended at age eleven. During these years, his family moved frequently, but they never left New York City, and they always lived in one of its boroughs (Malone 144).
During one of his stays in Brooklyn, Whitman took various jobs, assisting a doctor in the office during 1830, and then aiding a lawyer in 1831. In 1832, he took a job as a printer’s assistant for the Long Island Patriot (Kerley 1). These jobs all had a major effect on his adult life, because he gained considerable first-aid knowledge in the doctor’s office, which he later put to use as an army nurse. Later in life, he also sought a career in government due to his experiences working with the lawyer. The most work that influenced him most by far, however, was in the print shop. Before he would establish his writing career, he would work on the staffs of nearly a dozen newspapers (Malone 144). For instance, from autumn 1832 to May 1835, he worked as compositor for the Long Island Star, and in 1833, he moved back to Long Island (Malone 150). From 1835 to 1836, he worked as an independent printer in a small New York- based newspaper, but he became unemployed after a great fire destroyed the printing district during August 1836. After that, he found work as a teacher at schools in East Norwich, Hempstead, Babylon, Long Swamp, and Smithtown, finishing his teaching career in the year 1838 (Folsom Oberman).
In 1855, after he had edited the Brooklyn Eagle for six years, Whitman convinced a local printer to publish a collection of twelve of his poems, titled Leaves of Grass. He named it for the common grass plant because, he said, he wished to create a “democratic document”, named for the “democratic herbage… which grows wherever the land is.” Leaves of Grass was rather unique, for although it is published under the name Walt Whitman, and mentions him vaguely in the poem “Song of Myself” as “Walt Whitman, an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos”, the book never directly names its author (Untermeyer 198). In harmony with its romanticized views of common, everyday objects, the book includes a single photograph of Whitman, dressed not in his usual tailored coat, but instead wearing the flannel shirt and rough, patched trousers of a common worker. The book, the first of eight continually revised editions, is not divided into chapters, and the poems have no titles, but they proceed from poem to poem like a single, continuous train of thought. Whitman believed in what he called the “organic principle”, that poetry should grow freely and naturally, the way a tree grows. In this way, he expanded on his existing writings, adding onto it like the growth rings on a tree trunk (Allen 27). In each successive edition, Whitman edited his writings further, finally perfecting it with his 1891 edition, which was nearly three times longer than the first edition (Luckett 3062). This little book, at first containing only ninety- five pages, caused quite a fuss among the other writers of Whitman’s day, primarily because it completely abandoned all rhyme and meter and instead used free verse, flowing almost like a conversation. With this slim volume, Whitman began his career as America’s favorite poet (Shoop 67).
Although most of Whitman’s peers abhorred his new writing style, one poet in particular found his work revolutionary. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the renowned transcendentalist, wrote a letter to Walt to compliment his work, calling Leaves of Grass “the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed” (Untermeyer 199). Even though he idolized Emerson and took great inspiration from his writings, Walt did not send a return letter to thank Emerson, but he did show the letter to his family and his closest friends in celebration of his poetic triumph. Furthermore, in his second edition of Leaves of Grass, published in 1856, Whitman dedicated his work to Emerson, writing, “Here are thirty- two poems, which I send to you dear Friend and Master….” Later, in 1881 he travelled to Concord, New Hampshire to visit Emerson, one of the last times he left his house before his death (Allen 54).
For much of his young adult life, Whitman had sought a career in government, knowing that such an occupation would improve his position in life and his family’s quality of living. Unfortunately, his status as the second son of a poor Quaker family made this goal nearly impossible to achieve. At that time, he still generally referred to himself as “Walter” instead of “Walt”, and he dressed rather foppishly in a vain attempt to gain social distinction. He could often be seen walking through the streets of Washington, D.C., swinging a cane, and wearing a frock coat with a flower in the top button (Ashworth 733). When the Civil War struck America, however, Whitman realized that he would not be able to gain any suitable government position until the war was over. He then learned that his brother, George Washington Whitman, had suffered a bullet wound in battle, so Whitman travelled to Virginia to aid him (Kerley 23). When Whitman saw the intensity of the suffering endured by the other soldiers, he immediately went to Washington, D.C. and sought temporary employment as an army nurse. During the three years he spent nursing, Walt comforted many injured and dying soldiers, utilizing the first aid training that he had received in the doctor’s office as a child. Later, by pulling some strings with the help of his close friend, William Douglas O’Connor (a clerk at the Treasury Department) he obtained a full- time job as a clerk at the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (Shoop 66). Walt’s time in office was to be very brief, however, because in 1865, James Harlan, the new Interior Secretary, ordered that all nonessential personnel be eliminated from his department, especially all individuals who were found lacking in “moral character” (Shoop 67). Harlan learned that Whitman had written Leaves of Grass, which he called an “indecent book”, and he swiftly removed Whitman from his position at the Bureau (Ashworth 734). Afterwards Harlan worked to keep Whitman from working in any government office, but Whitman again used his many political connections to find a job with Attorney General James Speed, where Whitman worked until his first stroke in 1873 (Genoways 2).
During his years as a nurse, Whitman had used his free time to compile another collection of poems, titled Drum Taps. This short book contained poems that focused on the lives of soldiers during the war. One such poem, “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” has a steady, marching rhythm and a short, sharp refrain of “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” at the end of each stanza, imitating both the routine daily patterns of the soldier’s lives and the brief and sudden battles that occurred periodically. It also shows Whitman’s personal feelings about the war and his sense of camaraderie with the men to whom he tended during his years as a nurse. He writes, “O resistless, restless race…. O, I mourn and yet exalt…. See my children, resolute children…we must never yield or falter….” (Folsom). Drum Taps was published shortly after the war, and it saw much greater success than did the first edition of Leaves of Grass. By this time, more Americans had read his poetry and grown to enjoy his unique style, and the critics had begun to value free verse as a serious poetic genre. It pleased Whitman to know that his work was finally so widely accepted, and he commented, “Proof of the poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it” (Luckett 3064).
Like many loyal Americans of his time, Walt Whitman was an ardent admirer of the sixteenth American president, Abraham Lincoln, so it was only fitting that he wrote two of his most widely recognized poems about the death of this iconic figure. He published both of them in Drum Taps during the year after Lincoln’s assassination. The first poem, the famous and frequently quoted “O Captain! My Captain!”, is completely unlike Whitman’s other published works, primarily because it puts heavy emphasis on rhyme and meter, the exact opposite of Whitman’s usual free verse rhythms. It portrays Lincoln as the fallen captain of a great ship, and it treats him not as a person but as the figurehead of a system of government. Its metaphors are extremely obvious, and it is written almost like a ballade that is sung to music. The writing itself, in comparison to his other writings, is almost infantile in its simplicity, and it is considered by most literary critics to be his worst poem (Shoop 66).
The second poem, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, is the lesser known of the two, but it is much more in keeping with Whitman’s established style of free verse and “plain speech”. Its metaphors are much subtler and more original than those in the other poem, and it shows more poignantly the true emotions of its author. In this poem, Lincoln is symbolized as the “great western falling Star”, a source of light and guidance for the poet himself. It tells how the narrator of the poem observes the funeral of the great man, leaving a sprig of lilac on the coffin in remembrance. It portrays Lincoln more as a beloved individual and less as a symbol of the American empire (Untermeyer 202).
One of the things that made Whitman such a successful poet in America was that he was so distinctly American, both in his personal history and as a poet. As a direct descendant of early immigrants to the United States, Walt felt his national identity most acutely, and he saw America both as a vast frontier to explore and as a wild and pristine land that must be protected at any cost. He felt that Americans did not have the right to tame the land for their own ends, but rather they should act as stewards of the land, enjoying it without owning it (Lionheart 49). He expected people of all generations to preserve and enhance the land, but never to detract from its feral beauty. He loved the natural world and everything connected to it, and he reflected this in many of his writings, which celebrate common things that people generally take for granted. For instance, in his famous poem, “Song of Myself”, he states, “the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven”, and that “a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels!” (Untermeyer 201). Whitman glorified in the lives of American workers, exalting everything from bricklayers to mothers cooking and hanging laundry to dry. Furthermore, in “Song of Myself”, Whitman displays for the first time his skill for self- invention, an almost exclusively American poetic device. This poem speaks from constantly shifting points of view, fluidly changing narrators and eventually cycling back to Whitman himself, saying that he is all of these beings and none of them. “Do I contradict myself?” he asks, “Very well then…. I contradict myself; I am large…. I contain multitudes.” He explains that in the end everyone connects in some way to everyone else (Genoways 2). In addition, many of his readers viewed Whitman’s new and unconventional writing style as a revolution against the old European styles that had so long dominated the atmosphere of American poetry. To them, it was the ultimate symbol of America’s decision to break away from Britain’s influence (The Literature Network).
During the prime of his writing career, Whitman was afflicted by a debilitating stroke in January 1873, the first of many strokes that severely restricted his mobility, but did not diminish his writing. He also endured a crippling heat stroke in July 1885 while visiting some of his friends, and he later suffered another paralytic stroke followed by several other ills in June 1888 (Genoways 2). These three major strokes and several smaller incidences caused him to stay confined to his home in Camden, New Jersey, for most of the remainder of his life. Through all of this, however, he found beauty and poignancy in his pain and committed his experiences to his poetry, using them as fuel for thought instead of allowing them to control him. During this period of his life, he was gaining massive recognition, especially in England, where such writers as Anne Gilchrist and William Rossetti criticized other American poets for not recognizing Whitman’s genius. Their critical support caused his fame to increase dramatically in America, and Americans soon acknowledged that he was the founder of a new and promising movement in poetry (Folsom Oberman). After the 1888 stroke, he underwent a revelation of sorts. He realized that he was his writing, in a personal spiritual sense. Like his poetry, he was constantly revising and remaking himself, constantly improving, and adding on to the richness of his life, even when illness kept him trapped in his house. Physically, he was crippled, but as long as he had his art, he could find a way to make himself whole and immortal. In his poem “So Long”, he says, “Camerado! This is no book….Who touches this, touches a man…. I spring from the pages into your arms….” Through his words, he embraced the world that existed outside him without ever leaving the house (Genoways 3).
The final months of Whitman’s life were a battle of wills between Walt and the multiple illnesses that were afflicting him. He was tended by his close friend Horace Traubel, who kept careful records of his conversations for a later biography, and the nurse Frederick Warren “Warry” Fritzinger. His last words were “Shift, Warry,” asking Frederick to help him move to a more comfortable position in the bed. Walt Whitman died of a severe stroke complicated by tuberculosis on March 26, 1892 in his house in Camden. Before he died, he had commissioned a mausoleum of his own design to be built for him in Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, on a plot that he received as a gift from the cemetery owner shortly after it was opened. Later his parents, his brothers Edward and George, and his sisters Louisa and Hannah would be interred in the same tomb, although their names are not engraved anywhere on its external structure (Folsom Oberman). On his mausoleum are inscribed, “Walt Whitman”, and a portrait of him in profile, wearing a hat and holding a cardboard butterfly, representing the soul or psyche. Under the butterfly’s wings is written the preface to Leaves of Grass as well as the poem, “The Last Invocation”, by John Mason Neale (The Literature Network). In many of his writings, Whitman had stated that he did not fear death and that he considered it a natural part of living. In “Song of Myself” he wrote, “Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born? I hasten to inform him or her that it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.” He had lived a long and fulfilling life, according to his own philosophies. In “Song of the Open Road” he said that the best and freest life allows a man “To see no possession but you may possess it, enjoying all, without labor or purchase….” (Lionheart 49). He knew that nobody truly owns anything any more than the next person does, because a human life is such a temporary thing that no ownership could stand the test of time. Even though he no longer lives, however, he has obtained cultural immortality, and many public facilities such as schools, bridges, and shopping malls have his name on them. Now that he is beyond knowing or owning anything, he receives more recognition than any living poet does.
Through his life and his writing, Walt Whitman defined his world and himself as the same entity, eternally connected, and in doing so, he revolutionized American poetry. He lived the American way, striving always to improve himself and his position in life. He sought to learn from everything and to share his knowledge with others. He embodied the themes and philosophies of his writings and he celebrated the subtle beauty of the simplest and most common things in daily life. He taught humankind to appreciate the freedom and wildness of the land and never to take anything for granted. America owes to Walt Whitman its eternal gratitude for having the courage and the insight to free poetry from the restrictions of conventional rhyme and meter, and for showing to all of humanity that even the most ordinary actions can have a profound effect on the lives of people everywhere.
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