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WORKSHOPS » POETRY » WALT WHITMAN, "[I CELEBRATE MYSELF AND SING MYSELF]" » EXPLORATIONS
Walt Whitman, "[I celebrate myself and sing myself]"
BIOGRAPHY
Reading » Re-Reading » Explorations
Whitman and Song of Myself
Read the rest of Song of Myself. You might also look at Malcolm Cowley's overview of the poem (on Paul Reuben's site). Look for ways in which the promises and assumptions of the initial stanza are carried out in the rest of the poem.
It is difficult to separate Whitman from the poem he wrote and rewrote for years. Read the biographical notes on Walt Whitman
and view the four Walt Whitman Notebooks at the Library of Congress Poet at Work site. You might also view the Voices and Visions video on Whitman (free registration required). Consider whether this information changes your reading of these lines.
Whitman and his readers
Just as Whitman was inspired by his reading of Ralph Waldo Emerson's "The Poet" and works by William Blake, others have been inspired by reading Whitman's poetry. Allen Ginsberg and Galway Kinnell are among the many modern poets who acknowledge a debt to Whitman. Read some of the poems by Ginsberg and Kinnell in your anthology. What do you see in the form and content of any of these poems which you could compare to the form and content of Whitman's poem?
Whitman has also influenced artists and musicians, as David Reynolds describes in this essay. Look at Thomas Hampson's notes and essays on his music inspired by Whitman at the Hampson Conservatory and, if possible, listen to a recording. Consider how his words and music offer a special perspective on Whitman's poetry.
Few people are neutral about Whitman. Some readers, especially in the nineteenth century, attacked Whitman and his poetry. Explore some of these responses, both positive and negative, in Whitman and His Reviewers (in the Walt Whitman Hypertext Archive). Which are most in line with your own response today? Which reflect the sensibilities of the past?
Photographs of Whitman
Even in these opening lines of Song of Myself, a reader can see how Whitman identifies his physical being with his aesthetic and spiritual presence. The many photographs taken of Whitman, and his comments about them, show the care with which he presented himself in image and words as "the poet who speaks for all people." Explore the Gallery of Whitman photographs and the study materials on Whitman and the Rise of Photography.
Whitman and Emily Dickinson
Whitman and Dickinson were contemporaries. Although Dickinson's poetry was published only after her death, she did read Whitman's poems. Despite Whitman's and Dickinson's seemingly contrasting personalities and despite the very different styles of their poetry, what comparisons you can make between the two poets?
Now read what some critics have said about Whitman and Dickinson. How does it help you understand either poet to compare them and to compare what others have said about their work?
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