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Biography
Born on Long Island and raised in Brooklyn, Walt Whitman
left school at eleven and found work as an office boy, a
journeyman printer, and a teacher. He started his own newspaper
when he was nineteen and subsequently went on to edit and
contribute to several prominent New York periodicals. In
1855 Whitman published his first book, Leaves of Grass,
a collection of twelve poems that both placed humankind within
a transcendent spirituality and celebrated physical pleasure.
As a hospital attendant during the Civil War, Whitman cared
for wounded soldiers and in the months following the end
of the war worked for the Interior Department, from which
he was fired for the sexual content of Leaves of Grass,
then in a revised edition. All told, Whitman published six
editions of this book, which eventually contained some 389
poems, including Song of Myself, the Calamus poems, Out
of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking, and When Lilacs Last
in the Dooryard Bloom'd.
Explorations
From the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, Song of Myself has
emerged as Whitman's best-known and most-discussed long poem.
Commentary about it often focuses on Whitman's commitment
to Emerson's poetics and Transcendental
values: the poet as bard for a new nation, speaking of the
whole of human experience in a voice drawn from that nation's
own vernacular and affirming the wisdom and divinity of nature
and the "deathless" unity of all living things. In reading
with Transcendentalism in mind, however, we need to recognize
the range and experimentation which distinguish this poem
as a poem, rather than as a predictable implementation of
Emerson's tenets.
1. Read lines 101 through 139 as a single unit; then
read lines 140 through 192 in the same way. Is there a
tonal difference between these sections? By what logic,
or by what sequence of perceptions, does the latter section
follow the former? What has been resolved, or at least
granted approval, which allows Whitman to tour American
experience in lines 140 through 192?
2. Lines 257 through 325 affirm that a vast variety of
Americans, of all races and creeds, are understood and
empathized with by the "I, Walt Whitman" who speaks in
this poem. Describe this "I," and comment on the risks
that are taken in making such affirmations.
3. In lines 381 through 435, Whitman favors shorter lines;
in lines 714 through 796, he moves back to very long ones.
What connections do you sense between line length, subject,
and mood in Song of Myself?
4. At various points in the poem, Whitman chides himself
for saying too much, tarrying too long, or digressing from
some greater subject. When he enacts departure at the end
of Song of Myself, where is he going? How does this
urge to move, to speak, and to stop speaking create tension,
or even suspense, within the poem?
Other sites to consult:
The
Walt Whitman Hypertext Archive. A growing resource
which now has three versions of Song of Myself (1855,
1881-82, 1891-92); an extensive bibliography from the Walt
Whitman Quarterly Review; a gallery of photographs;
reviews of the various editions of Leaves of Grass;
manuscripts; and classroom teaching materials. It will
soon include biographical materials, introductions
to the works, and more manuscripts. Prepared by Kenneth
M. Price and Ed Folsom of the College of William and
Mary and posted at the University of Virginia site.
Poet
at Work: Recovered Notebooks from the Thomas Biggs
Harned Walt Whitman Collection . From the Library
of Congress, manuscripts of four of Whitman's notebooks
that show the poet's revisions.
Leaves
of Grass. On the Bartleby site, a 1900
edition with illustrations, Whitman's handwritten
biographical note, and indexes to first lines and
poems.
Leaves
of Grass. This electronic version at
Princeton is fully searchable.
Walt
Whitman. From the PAL: Perspectives in American
Literature site. Includes a selected bibliography
and an
overview of the structure and meaning of Song of
Myself taken from Malcolm Cowley's "Introduction
to Leaves of Grass." Maintained by Paul P. Reuben
(California State University, Stanislaus).
Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography by
David Reynolds. View the C-Span
interview with Reynolds and the book
review in New York Newsday. http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=127&CFID=10178891&CFTOKEN=96327670:
A biography, bibliography, poems, and links from the Academy
of American poets.
http://www.iath.virginia.edu/whitman/: The Walt Whitman
archive, an extensive resource that includes information
on manuscripts.
Artists to consider in relation to Whitman:
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