A Comparison Of Ralph Waldo Emerson And Walt Whitman

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman are two of the most iconic American poets of the 19th century. Emerson and Whitman were both revolutionaries in American poetry, in their own time and their own right. When Emerson released his piece “The Poet,” a writing that challenged all of the American poets to become, as he put it, the next “Great American Poet,” which would address all of “the facts of the animal economy, sex, nutriment, gestation, birth.” Of all the poets that read Emerson’s piece, Whitman was the one who decided to “put the living, breathing, sexual body at the center of much of his poetry, challenging conventions of the day” (“Walt Whitman”, The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Baym, Nina, pg. 1005). Emerson and Whitman

At the time of it’s publication, the literary piece Song of Myself was considered quite scandalous for its subtle discussions of sexuality. His use of subtle words to represent sexual things, such as the word “jetting” to describe ejaculation seemed to rub critics and some readers the wrong way, which makes sense considering the time period. He uses this subtle style as a way to define one of the muses of the writer. The act of sex has been an integral part of writing for many years and has inspired many works. Whitman understood this and used it as a way to represent what inspired the writer, as a way to define it. When Whitman wrote in Song of Myself, “Prodigal! you have give me love!.... therefore I to you give love!/O unspeakable passionate love!” (Song of Myself, Whitman, Walt, pg. 18, section 21) he was using this talk of making love as an inspiration, which is incredibly important as a writer, which therefore defines him. The act of love also can be inspired by the writer, which therefore defines what it means to be a writer and what his role in society is. The writer’s role in leading the reader to be in love is what defines him. One of the other roles of the writer is to challenge the status quo, which Whitman did

But both understand that the writer is the reporter of the world. The writer must observe everything around him and make everyone understand the significance of it all. And while they may not see eye to eye about how to go about explaining what defines the role of the writer, they both have done it in their own way and because of it, have become immortalized by the reader and idolized by the writer. Their words have not only taught us all what it means to be a writer, but what a writer is. He is an interpreter of nature. An inspirer of love. A challenger of the status quo. A teacher of society. A representative for the voiceless. And so much