Analysis of Women Rights in Leaves of Grass

In 1855 when the first edition of Leaves of Grass was published, the first Women’s Convention had already taken place in Seneca Falls. According to Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass is a women’s book. In the epigraph of Sherry Ceniza’s Walt Whitman and 19th-century women reformers she quotes him having said “Leaves of Grass I essentially a woman’s book: the women do it know it, but every now and then a woman shows that she knows it” (Ceniza). The implication here combined with the text in Song of Myself suggest a phenomenon that is all too common. Whitman is seen as and sees himself as a poet beyond racial and gender distinctions but like many in a position of privilege, their appropriation of the pain felt by these opposed groups serves only to make these communities feel uncomfortable. Throughout Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself he represents women in varying ways. In some instances he equalizes them, making them on par with men in his eyes, similar to what he does with the slave. In other passages he defends and honors them from the demeaning words and actions of other countrymen. Despite some of his more receptive passages about women and their place in society there are times when what Whitman says is problematic in the context of women’s rights. Whitman’s dynamic representation of women in Song of Myself points to the fact that while he imagines himself a forward thinking male, a champion of women’s rights in some instances he cannot help but put women back where they have always been in literature.

Despite all the inequalities of the world Whitman has a habit of calling on the oppressed party in American society and lumping himself in with them. His bold claims say that he too, regardless of his privilege is a part of this group...

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...hat he merely sees women as receptacles for what Whitman gives them, Simpson misses the fact that Whitman sees these women as below him. Whitman mentions protests on their part in the sense that he cannot be called off from what he wants. It implies that he believes in him knowing best, that despite a woman not wanting it, he is more knowledgeable and he knows it will be good for both them and society. Overall, Whitman’s attitude reminds me of many people who claim to be a part of a marginalized group. Whitman does this with the slave as well, he claims to feel the pain, to be supportive of this group that has been systematically oppressed by those more privileged. However, Whitman’s ideal of being a part of this group is a folly because while he attempts to support the female in one poem, he makes sure to take away any agency he may have given her in the next.