Links to Walt Whitman Pages on the World Wide Web
Selected Excerpts from the Writings of Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" (from the 1891 edition of Leaves of Grass)
Selected Shorter Works from Leaves of Grass
As countless scholars and readers have recognized, the July 4, 1855 publication of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass represented a true revolution in American literature.  After nearly one-hundred years of American poetry which was largely based on traditional images and forms, Whitman's voice came seemingly out of nowhere (his early years were spent as a little-known New York newspaper writer and journeyman) to permanently change the face of American writing.  Whitman saw himself as responding to the call Ralph Waldo Emerson had presented in his essay, "The Poet" (1844):
 
"...[P]oets are thus liberating gods....They are free, and they make free....
I look in vain for the poet whom I describe.  We do not, with sufficient plainness,
or sufficient profoundness, address ourselves, to life, nor dare we chant our own
times and social circumstances.  If we filled the day with bravery, we should not shrink
from celebrating it....  Doubt not, O poet, but persist.  Say, "It is in me, and shall out."
Stand there, baulked and dumb, stuttering and stammering, hissed and hooted, stand
and strive, until, at last, rage draw out of thee that dream-power which every night
shows thee is thine own; a power transcending all limit and privacy, and by virtue of which
a man is the conductor of the whole river of electricity.  Nothing walks, or creeps, or grows,
or exists, which must not in turn arise and walk before him as exponent of his meaning."

Alive with the energy of antebellum New York, radical Democratic politics, sexuality, and even opera, Whitman boldly proclaimed that "the United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem," and in his self-published first volume of poetry, consisting primarily of the untitled poem we now know as "Song of Myself," Whitman set out to become the bard of this nation, its land, and its people.  Throughout, Whitman epitomizes the individual's quest to place himself in the midst of a larger society, creating a poetic "I" which is at once personal and public, alone and together, narrow and expansive.

During Whitman's lifetime (1819-1892), six editions of Leaves of Grass were published, each adding new poems and changing old ones.  After the first 1855 edition, subsequent editions accentuated not only Whitman's exploration of the "body electric" in the frankly sexual "Calamus" and "Children of Adam" poems, but also his reactions to the body politic, especially in the aftermath of the Civil War, which he witnessed first-hand while serving as a nurse to wounded soldiers.  Many of these editions were controversial, drawing a mixture of criticism and praise from a public which was simultaneously amazed by the power of Whitman's voice and shocked by what it said.  The opposition to Whitman's work reached a pinnacle of sorts in the 1870s, which they were widely banned under the anti-obscenity regulations known as the "Comstock Laws" (for postal inspector and moral crusader Anthony Comstock).  Critics have widely speculated that the negative reaction to his work, along with a series of strokes late in life, mellowed the poet of who had sounded his "barbaric yawp," as reflected in the more tightly crafted and understated  "deathbed edition" of Leaves.  Whether Whitman's voice had been muted or not, however, upon his death, he had left American literature with what is commonly assumed to be its most distinctive, complex, and powerful voice.

Whitman was a complex man who wrote complex poetry which can be read and understood in many ways, especially in light of countless cultural contexts for the poetry--politics, music, sexuality and the body, even photography.  Recent years have seen a number of webpages and web-based exhibitions created in an effort to account for all these complexities and contexts.  Below are descriptions of and links to two of the most useful and academically credible.


 
 The Official Walt Whitman Hypertext Archive

This archive, created by two respected Whitman scholars, Ed Folsom and Kenneth Price, is sponsored by the University of Virginia.  When completed, the archive will include searchable hypertexts of all major editions of Whitman's poetry and prose, as well as visual images, teaching tools, and other online exhibitions related to the poet and his works.  Currently, hypertexts are available for the original 1855 edition, the 1881-82 edition, and the 1891-2 "deathbed" edition from which the readings we will use in our course are taken.  You may find the "Whitman Gallery," a collection of the poet's portraits, and "Reviews of Whitman's Works" of particular interest.

Walt Whitman and the Development of Leaves of Grass

This online exhibition was presented by the University of South Carolina's Thomas Cooper Library during March and April, 1992.
The information is collected into "islands," grouped by stages in the development of the volume and its poems over Whitman's career.  The exhibit is useful in helping see how Whitman's works changed over time.

English 28.4 Home | Course Schedule

created by Mark Simpson-Vos, University of North Carolina
last updated March 15, 1998