Maria Ramirez 2/12/2013

Walt Whitman
May 1, 1819- March 26, 1892

Walter Whitman was born May 1, 1819; he was the second of nine children. He left school at age eleven, however continued his education through his own means. He voraciously read anything he could get his hands on, and was primarily influenced by Shakespeare, Dante, Homer, and the Bible. In his childhood however, some of the most significant influences to Whitmans poetry was simply his environment. His favorite thing seems to have been the ferries. They fascinated him. The idea of daily commutes-which he linked to life and death is a common theme in his works. One work in particular, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry served as the most succinct depiction on his feelings toward this idea. His miscellaneous print jobs, which succeeded his education, would also factor into his desire to write. And, in the years to come he would even become an editor for the the New York Aurora, and the Brooklyn Eagle all shortly after creating his own newspaper, the Long Islander. He would spend the next several years attempting to perfect his own writing style. It was during the 1850s that Whitman would begin his call to fame through his newly formed connections. Famously, he quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson as writing I greet you at the beginning of a great career about the first edition of Leaves of Grass, which he had published at his own expense in 1855. The book had a rough start, as many believed it to be scandalous and at times vulgar; not to mention many believed that it was not poetry at all since he had no rhyme scheme, and regardless of how many times he put the word poem in a title, there were critics

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who would simply call his work garbage. However, through his anonymous self-praise as well as that of well respected writers like Emerson. He succeeded in bringing attention to his works. And, although it cost him Emersons friendship, he was quoted on the spine of the second edition of Whitmans book in 1866. It was around this time period that Whitman met Fred Vaughan, this was during a time in which Whitman was exploring the possibilities of a male-male relationship. Unfortunately, Vaughan would marry shortly after their meeting, and this would inspire his work, Calamus, in which he expressed his lament at the failure of the relationship. And, which continued to be dissected for its implications about sexuality for decades. After this time he would spend most of his energy on the publication of the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass, which is arguably the most controversial, in part because of Calamus, but mostly because of Enfans dAdam which he later renamed Children of Adam; a work which was most scandalous in its blunt sexuality, and overt imagery. Interestingly, this was what was most shocking to Emerson as he would try to persuade Whitman to omit these poems from the book. Whitmans life took a sharp turn for the less expected in 1861 with the beginning of the Civil War. Though Whitman did not physically fight in the war his poetry was a kind of weapon, which he wielded for the sake of so many wounded soldiers, for the rest of his life. Walt Whitman was deeply affected as a person and a poet by the Civil War. He had during most of his life enjoyed making hospital visits to the Broadway hospital in New York which housed some of the most gravely injured day laborers. It was another telltale sign of his love for the average person, the working class which he always seemed to admire and lean toward. Many of the people got to know him, and he considered them friends. However, as the

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Civil War wore on ceaselessly, he felt it an obligation to go to Washington, and help as much as he could in the makeshift hospitals. It was during this time when he is said to have remarked that had he not been a poet he would have been a doctor. This could be evidenced in his poetry, through his fascination with the human body. The war did not leave Whitman without his own scars of course, during the course of the war he was led to believe that his brother could have died in combat. And, although he succeeded in locating his brother on the battlefield- something he considered necessary- what he witnessed at the battlefront would affect the soul of the poet for the rest of his life. His writing had always focused on epitomizing the body, and the soul which gave life to it. The piles of amputated limbs, fragments of men who had fought for a union which he himself had glorified, horrified him. His next book in Leaves, Drum Taps, would focus on the lives of these men, who had lost, in Whitmans mind a part of their soul. After the war Whitman would try his hand in politics- working for the department of the interior- and even managed to get help from Emerson to get the job, however when they discovered that he was the writer of Leaves of Grass he was dismissed, as the book was still of ill repute. He was able to stay in Washington with a clerk job for many years. However, one of the most significant occurrences during this time period was that he met Peter Doyle. A southern artillery man from the war, who after the war became an average person who inspired several of Whitmans poems and would remain a close friend to for the rest of his life, although as expressed through several of Whitmans writings were never able to return Whitmans affection with the same magnitude of feeling.

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Whitman suffered a stroke during his time as a clerk, which although not his immediate cause of death, did impede his ability to work as his left leg was left paralyzed. This, coupled with the failing health of his mother would lead Whitman to move to Camden, New Jersey. Where he would continue working on his poetry, and where he met Harry Stafford. As he was seeing less and less of Doyle during this time, his relationship with the then eighteen year old Stafford is mostly a mystery; though Stafford did marry a few years later, and the relationship seems to have been mostly that of a father and son. Stafford remained a friend to Whitman until his death in 1892. Interestingly, he had planned his burial since 1885 when he had a mausoleum built on land which he had acquired years prior. His family is buried with him. Throughout his life, and as the many revisions to Leaves of Grass will attest, Whitman channeled the life around him into his poems. Bringing voice to those who had lost the will to speak, or who were so average, you would not consider the depth of their story. He wrote for the common man, but he also strove to live his life as a common man, regardless of how extraordinary he was. His poems, which at that time were considered unconventional were revolutionary in their style. He would influence the creation of modern free verse. During the early stages of Walt Whitmans career, most literary criticism that didnt originate from him was a mixture of deep appreciation for his work, contrasted by shock at what was considered indecent language. His treatment of sexuality was considered by some to innocent; while others regarded it as [American Literatures] worst disgrace (Thoreau,

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Notices).Overall, Whitmans Leaves of Grass stirred such controversy in its time that this common mans poet would one day be read by everyone but his intended audience (Whitman). When Whitman wrote his book it was with every intention that the average man and woman be his audience, it was for this reason in part that he wrote in free verse. He believed that the strict nature of a rhyme scheme was ill advised for his chosen audience. However this American bard, failed in that endeavor (Whitman). Though Whitman wrote many of his own overly zealous criticisms in an attempt to sway the masses, it was time which would lead to his following, and also patience. Although many people at the original publication of his poems were scandalized by the nature of the poems, believing them to be inappropriate for reading by a woman, or according to one religious magazine which believed that the book was so detestable that it should never have been written and that this abomination should in short not exist(Notices). Though there was no specific work cited by the critic, he did reference the second publication of the book in 1960- which was unknowingly endorsed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and which in the eyes of this critic, left Emerson in as much fault of moral as Whitman. What would most likely have caused such The Christian Examiner critic to believe that the work was an affront on morality was that the book focused on sexuality openly through poems in Children of Adam, and it most likely didnt help that the same volume contained the work Calamus which depicted same sex relationships, though on a much more affectionate, and less physical manner. This particular critic was on the extreme of antiWhitman sentiment. Though not alone in this feeling, and certainly doing everything in their power to foster dissent in those who read Whitmans work the criticism spent little time on the structure of his poetry. Like many others, they didnt know what to write about his form other than the fact that he lacked it. His works were always free verse and as such, considering the

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times, an anomaly. And that was why so many critics would rant about his works not being poetry. It didnt fit into a bubble. However, as famously quoted by Walt Whitman, he was greeted at the beginning of a great career by one of greatest writers of the time (Schuster). His work was acclaimed to being something simplistic, yet meaningful and even innocent (Thoreau). It seems worth noting that in Thoreaus review of Whitmans poems he points out that the poem only supplies the language, the things which make a person see the work as inappropriate originate in that individuals mind. Since most of his critics chose to focus on the sexual nature of his poetry, for the poem I choose to critique I found it refreshing to look at one of the poems he wrote during the Civil War era. Perhaps not his most patriotic, or most acclaimed work- but not every poem can be as grand as Oh Captain! My Captain! The Wound-Dresser was written by Whitman and published in 1867, the focus of the poem was his experience as nurse during the Civil War. The poem itself is a chronicle, he begins the poem by telling us, the reader, that he is an old mananswer[ing] to children. Stylistically it is almost as though he were telling the story to us, he pauses as though to take a breath by using dashes, and makes comments aside using parenthesis which gives it the impression that he is telling this story. And, he is revising it, letting us know what he thinks of something that happened long ago, although the poem itself would have been written around the time he participated as a medical aid. It is all a story, as if he was an old, bearded bard, sitting before these children, telling them about what he did during the war. He lends credence to his telling by taking no sides the other was equally brave is something he places in parenthesis as a side comment to the children, authors dissonance in a poem as he is expressing his opinion in

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a very direct manner to the reader. It lets us know more about Walt Whitman as a person, and what he valued As the poem progresses there is an evident shift in his story telling, it happens during an aside, he had thus far remarked on those soldiers, those unsurpassd heroes who fought in the war, who were still experiencing life. However he remembers the hardships and few of the joys. It is after this point that he begins to rely heavily on imagery. He saw the war as carnage. And in the poem he uses imagery of the bloody stump left after an amputation and the subsequent putrid gangrene. The blood that reddens the grass is the blood of the heroes which he has come to.. Since he has no fixed rhyme scheme, there seems to be more importance in his punctuation. Because that is what provides the image, as the poem is read aloud, you can visualize what this was like for him, that he was faithful, because he stuck around, and he soothed these men until their death, and if he could he would die for [them]. Overall, this poem vividly depicts a specific time period in Whitmans life, one which impacted him as a person for the rest of his life. The poem itself relies most heavily on imagery which he uses to convey the emotions he felt for these soldiers. And, though free verse, there was a relative pattern to the work, though not at regular intervals, the pauses allowed for interpretation of comments made by Whitman directly through the poem to readers.

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Works Cited

Folsom, Ed, and Kenneth M. Price. "About Walt Whitman." University of Illinois . 1995. Web. 27 Jan. 2013. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/whitman/bio.htm>. "Notices of Recent Publication: Leaves of Grass." The Christian Examiner and Religious Miscellany xxvi.iii (1856): 471-73. Print. Schuster, Lincoln M. "Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his letter to Walt Whitman on July, 21 1855." A Treasury of The World's Great Letters from Ancient Days to Our Own Time, Containing the Characteristics and Crucial Communications, and Intimate Exchanges and Cycles of Correspondence, of Many of the Outstanding Figures of World History, and Some Notable Contemporaries. Simon & Schuster, 1940. 324. Print. Thoreau, Henry D. "Henry D. Thoreau, in his letters to Harrison Blake on December 7, 1856." Letters to Various Persons. Ed. Ticknor & Fields. 1865. 146-48., . . Print. Whitman, Walt. "Walt Whitman and His Poems." The United States Review V.September (1855): 205-212. Print.

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