Similarities Between Williams And Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman and Tennessee Williams both lived during times of incredible social change in American history. Whitman grew up during the Industrial Revolution whereas Williams grew up when segregation was still prevalent and lived to see its demise. Both of these men channeled their feelings about these changes into literary works that despite further socioeconomic changes, are still relevant today. Whitman speaks of self-acceptance and trying to make a better version of yourself in order to achieve your goals. In contrast, Williams investigates the conflicts between gender, social status, as well as reality and fantasy in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Whitman was born in 1819 (Baym and Levine) thus growing up in the heart of the Industrial Revolution. As such he would have grown up with the ideals of the Pre-Revolutionary Era and as a young adult he would have been exposed to the most fast-paced lifestyle that the Industrial Revolution would have to offer. We can see that Whitman was dissatisfied by this societal change through his Song of Myself which shows a desire
This line can also be interpreted as the speaker coming full circle in his lifetime and saying that he will become part of the earth and even though the reader doesn’t know whom the dirt came from, he will become part of the life cycle of another organism and so one should cherish their life and the best way to do that is to spend time with those whom you love and living as people have for thousands of years – spending time working hard to come home and relax at the end of the day. This idea of becoming one with nature can be further supported by lines 6-7 “My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air, / Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same” (Whitman). In these lines we see Whitman connecting not only to his heritage but to in a more general sense his evolutionary ancestors such as the plants that evolved before the