Walt Whitman (1819–92)

“I always go back to Emerson” — Walt Whitman [1]

Walt Whitman set out to be America's national poet, modelling his work according to Ralph Waldo Emerson's concept of the same. When Whitman's work first appeared, Emerson and several of his associates were very enthusiastic about Whitman's poetry, which was novel and radical, though it was influenced by Emerson in numerous respects:

It should not, then, come as a surprise that Emerson was so enthusiastic about Whitman. After all, Emerson had pronounced in his essay The Poet (1844) that America was in need of a national poet:

"We have no genius in America, ... yet America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination and it will not wait long for metres."

Could this have been a prophecy begging to be fulfilled?

Whitman, indeed, sent Emerson a copy of Leaves of Grass, with an introduction that spoke directly to Emerson's well-known beliefs:

"The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem." [2]

When I first encountered Whitman's poetry, I was a young man also reading the likes of Allen Ginsberg, and I was awestruck by Whitman's spirit and originality. Now I must say that the more I get to know Emerson, the more I am seeing him in Whitman's verse.

One of Whitman's trademarks is his celebration of every man, but we ought not forget that he got that trademark from Emerson:

“every man is so far a poet as to be susceptible to these enchantments of nature: for all men have the thoughts whereof the universe is the celebration. ... hunters, farmers, grooms, and butchers, ...” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Poet” (1844)

Who can forget Whitman's immortal statement “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself ...” in Song of Myself? That goes back to an equally famous statement of Emerson:

“Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? ... A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds”— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance” (1841)

Whitman considered himself the "the greatest poetical representative of German philosophy," [3] German Idealism having been recognized as the primary inspiration of American Transcendentalism. This was a characteristically egotistical claim, especially in light of the influence of the poet Goethe on Emerson and other Transcendentalists.

In line with Emerson's vision of the poet, Whitman strove to celebrate the transcendental in each person:

"It is ... not consistent with the reality of the soul to admit that there is anything in the known universe more divine than men and women." [2]

Whitman is generally recognized as the first modern poet of the English language, though Emily Dickinson was first published in 1850, five years before Whitman. His sprawling, all-embracing, and celebratory verse is to many a reflection of his country.

"a bard is to be commensurate with a people ... the expression of the American poet is to be transcendent and new." — Walt Whitman [2]

Whitman was not always forthcoming about Emerson's influence on him, as he was insistent on fostering an image of himself as self-inspired, but he did occasionally let a bit of the truth slip:

"My ideas were simmering and simmering, and Emerson brought them to a boil." [5]

It would probably have been more accurate to say Emerson's ideas brought Whitman to a boil, or even that Whitman's ideas were born of Emerson, but Whitman could never admit so much; he had a public image to protect.

Though Whitman's vision of "the American poet" was heavily influenced by Emerson, Whitman had a style all his own. Emerson may have encouraged the idea of free verse, but it's doubtful that even he ever imagined verse as free as Whitman's.

When we speak of influence, we ought never overlook the direct influence of America herself on all transcendentalists; especially Whitman. For him, the Transcendentalist Oversoul was national as well as personal.

"A live nation can always cut a deep mark and can have the best authority the cheapest ... namely from its own soul." [2]

Whitman's behavior and thinking were sometimes erratic, and he was egotistical and sometimes megalomaniacal. Still, he had a profound impact on modern literature, just as he apparently knew he would. He certainly put himself at a crossroads in history, but was his genius more poetic or strategic?

Sermon of Myself

Let us look at Whitman's seminal work, Song of Myself. This composition, if it can be called that, does more preaching than singing. It preaches doctrines of oversoul, universal perfection and equality, bodily love, and reincarnation. Whitman commits himself to the refrain "I am the poet of ...", often without providing examples or—God forbid—symbols or images. He proclaims, "I do not decline to be the poet of wickedness also", but what image does he provide, besides mentioning a prostitute, a drug addict, a venerialee, or a thief? Does he empathize with the slave trader, the rapist, the murderer? Where is the image? Where are the people, the all-too-human characters that we can embrace? Whitman is too impatient to build characters: he must ever move on to his next proclamation.

Song of Myself does not mourn, nay more it is contemtuous of mourning, for it preaches absolute faith of doctrine—reincarnation, to be precise. Is not mourning also a part of life to be reverenced? Apparently, Whitman did not always believe so; and Song of Myself is about what Whitman believes—let there be no doubt of that.

As much as I have been guilty of admiring Song of Myself in my youth, I have never really been able to read or recite it from beginning to end. It is not truly a composition to be sung, and leaves the mind scattered and the heart sedated.

Song of Myself is more a wandering elaboration of an Emerson essay—with some sexual deviancy tossed in—than a poem; hence I can see why Emerson loved Leaves of Grass so much, but he must have been blinded by his attachment to his own ideas. It is prerhaps telling that Parnassus, an anthology of favorite poems that Emerson published later in life (1874), did not include Whitman. He may yet have had nice words for Whitman, but how much of his integrity was he willing to risk when the rubber hit the road?

Favorites

Leaves of Grass, First Edition (1855)

A revolutionary bit of literature. Its faults are many and manifold, but it was undeniably influential within the sphere of poetry. It was in many respects an instantiation of Emerson's idea of the American poet, so we may give Emerson partial credit for much of Whitman's work, though Emerson never took his own words to the ends that Whitman was willing.

Leaves of Grass, Second Edition (1856)

Whitman at his most contrary, egomaniacal, and perverse, yet he was able to pen some great stuff before he slipped into a fog of self-delusion. This edition was even more of a failure than the first.

Drum Taps (1865)

An collection of unremarkable yet touching Civil War poems.

Sequel to Drum Taps (1865–66)

Leaves of Grass, Sixth Edition (1876)

 

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Sources & Notes

1.Traubel, “With Whitman in Camden”, cited in “Emerson: The Mind on Fire”, by Robert D. Richardson Jr.
2. Introduction to Leaves of Grass (First Edition, 1855).
3. Quoted in The New Walt Whitman Handbook , p. 258.
4. Emerson, Evolution, and Transmigration by Robert C. Gordon, PhD
5. John T. Trowbridge, cited in Emerson: The Mind on Fire, by Robert D. Richardson Jr., pp. 527-8.