In 1855, Walt Whitman, an influential American poet published his first edition of his collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass, in which a controversial piece was included, “I Sing the Body Electric.” Whitman wrote the poem during the 19th century and pre civil war, within a free verse genre. Harold Bloom, an American critique and professor at Yale University, mentions in his book, Bloom’s How to Write about Walt Whitman, that equality is one of the central standards of the American society and that throughout most of Whitman’s life, “America struggled to fulfill the promise of equality for all” (Bloom 107). That said, the stereotypical male and female of the 1800s were given defined roles in society: “Man with the head, woman with the heart” (Larke). Woman stayed home and performed tasks that defined their role as a wife and mother. On the other hand, the man’s role was to get involved in outside activities. Today, changes in ideas and aspirations differentiate less the roles of men and women. Women still have main responsibilities for the home and children; however, as opposed to the 19th century, there is a greater measure of equality. Whitman sees democracy as a way of integrating individuals’ ideas into the everyday life, such that all are considered equal. The poem is divided into nine sections in which Whitman challenges the conventional gender roles during the 19th century. In “I Sing the Body Electric,” Whitman argues that all bodies are of equal importance regardless of race, gender or social differences, as he expresses his concern towards the limitations of gender roles based on the norms of society during the 19th century. Through the use of parallel structure, Whitman provides a catalogue of the body by enumeration an...
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Works Cited
Whitman, Walt. “I Sing the Body Electric.” Poetry Research Center. Academy of American Poets. 13 February 2011.
Asselineau, Roger. "The Evolution of Walt Whitman." Asselineau, Roger. The Evolution of Walt Whitman. Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, 1999. 814.
Bloom, Harold. "Bloom's How to Write About Walt Whitman." New York: Maple Press, York PA, 2009. 264.
Jeffrey Briggs, Anabel Villalobos, Esther Chow, Thomas Hsieh. The Writing Studio: Wiki Page: I Sing the Body Electric by Walt Whitman". January 2011. 14 February 2011 .
Larke, Sean. Role of Men and Woman in the 19th Century. 2009. 31 January 2011 .
Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself.” 1855 ed. Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Edwin Haviland Miller. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989. 9-11.
Miller, James E., Jr. “Sex and Sexuality.” The Routledge Encyclopedia of Walt Whitman. Ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings. New York: Garland Publishing, 1998. 628-632. Print.
Throughout the span of this semester, much of the literature discussed revolved around the so-called renaissance of American literature and its impact upon both the nation and its people. Of all the authors studied in this time period, Walt Whitman may well be known as the quintessential American author. Famous for breaking every rule known to poetry in the inimitable compilation, Song of Myself, Whitman provided a fresh and insightful commentary upon the dualistic nature of society, love, and life itself. Through defining these essential aspects of humanity, Whitman indeed composed one of the most accurate and enduring definitions of the individual self that literature, American or otherwise, has ever seen. Specifically, this was done through
Werness, Hope B. . " Whitman and Van Gogh: Starry Nights and Other Similarities." Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. no. 4 (1985): 35-41. http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1091&context=wwqr (accessed April 11, 2014).
“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it by yourself. It is not far. It is within reach. Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know. Perhaps it is everywhere” (Whitman 33) is Walt Whitman’s first and one of his most popular works, Leaves of Grass. It was and still is very inspirational to many people including Ralph Waldo and many others after him. He had a major influence on modern free verse. Following a hard childhood in and around New York, Walter Whitman was well known and received in his time for Leaves of Grass which did not use the universal theme, which he became known for in the eighteenth century as well as his way of seeing the world in a view that very few could comprehend in his time.
Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 24-67. Print.
Whitman, Walt “From I Sing the Body Electric” 1855. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 9th ed. Boston:Bedford /St.Martin’s 2012.786-788. Print. 10 May 2014.
Sarracino, Carmine. "Dyspeptic Amours, Petty Adhesiveness, and Whitman's Ideal of Personal Relations." Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 8.2 (1990): 76-91.
Walt Whitman is one of America’s most popular and most influential poets. The first edition of Whitman’s well-known Leaves of Grass first appeared in July of the poet’s thirty-sixth year. A subsequent edition of Leaves of Grass (of which there were many) incorporated a collection of Whitman’s poems that had been offered readers in 1865. The sequence added for the 1867 edition was Drum-Taps, which poetically recounts the author’s experiences of the American Civil War.
Stedman, Edmund Clarence. "An Important American Critic Views Whitman." Critical Essays on Walt Whitman. Ed. James Woodress. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1983. 116-127.
Meinke, Peter. “Untitled” Poetry: An Introduction. Ed. Michael Meyer. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s 2010. 89. Print
Monforton, Nicole. “Whitman and Ginsberg”. Weblog entry. Blog. 1 December 2010. 2 May 2012 .
Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia, eds. An Introduction to Poetry. 13th ed. New York: Longman, 2010. 21. Print.
He crossed the boundaries of the poetry literature and gave a poetry worth of our democracy that contributed to an immense variety of people, nationalities, races. Whitman’s self-published Leaves of Grass was inspired in part by his travels through the American frontier and by his admiration for Ralph Waldo Emerson (Poetry Foundation). He always believed in everyone being treated equally and bringing an end to slavery and racism. Through his poetry, Whitman tried to bring every people in America together by showing them what happiness, love, unison, and real knowledge looked. His poetry and its revolution changed the world of American literature
Whitman's Music as a Means of Expression. In his verses, Walt Whitman eradicates divisions of individual entities while simultaneously celebrating their unique characteristics. All components of the universe are united in a metaphysical intercourse, and yet, are assigned very distinct qualities so as to keep their identities intact. Often times, Whitman demonstrates these concepts through elements of song.