Walt Whitman Legacy
Walt Whitman’s Legacy in American Free Verse
An American poet who desired to stand out from the crowd. At the time, free verse appeared to be strange poetry writing format that didn’t have any rules. But Walt Whitman learnt to embrace this form of writing, and is known today for it.
Walt Whitman was a transcendentalist who expressed his beliefs and perspective freely. He chose to cover a diverse array of themes ranging from elegies, democracy, equality , death and growth to sexuality. Thus he employed free verse as his mode of writing since it gave him the liberty to elucidate on various topics and themes.
It was a feat to perfect it at his time, as poets rarely used this type of format. Many would say that Walt Whitman introduced free …show more content…
verse to poetry writing, but he was simply instrumental in bringing it back in vogue.
Free verse, in short, doesn’t use the basic literary devices. In Whitman’s case, it added a narrative touch to it. For example, if we take this piece written by Whitman.
‘ I DREAM 'D in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth, I dream 'd that was the new city of Friends, Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest, It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words.’
Usually we don’t find a distinct rhyme scheme, a rhythm, assonance, alliteration or imagery in particular.
His free verse was mostly prose-like. Whitman simply produced sentences in mere stanzas. This broke the long held norms of writing. Some of the other poems written in this style are ‘The Sleepers’, ‘The Song of Occupations’, ‘Crossing Brooklyn Ferry’, ‘By Blue Ontario’s Shore’ and ‘Song Of The Broadaxe’. If we looked into these pieces, we could analyze the way each was written. It would be apparent that he was attempting to find his writing style and was just experimenting with the freedom that came with free verse writing. However those who have studied Whitman’s works over the years have said there are distinct characteristics that define the kind of free verse writing he did. If we look closely at his work, we will see he used the three main techniques typical of, free verse writing. The first one is called syntactic parallelism. Whitman tend to write in sequences of coordinate clauses, from two to four lines long, based on the parallels between lines based on syntactic units within the …show more content…
lines.
Repetition is another commonly used technique. It is related to syntactic parallelism. Whitman used three kinds of repetition. They are anaphora, the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of the line. Epistrophe, where words or phrases are repeated at the end of the phrase and lastly, symploce where there is repetition of the word in the beginning and end of the sentences.
Cataloguing is another technique which is an expansion of syntactic parallelism and repetition. The catalogue expands beyond the frame of two to four coordinate clauses and it employs parallelism and repetition to build rhythm. (Donald, 2009) In the first two editions of Leaves Of Grass , Whitman constantly experimented with these three techniques creating a sense of a oracular, visionary speaker. His piece, Song Of Myself, being a long poem ensured the use of these techniques. (Donald, 2009)
This excerpt from section 42 of ‘Song Of Myself’.
‘Not word of routine this song of mine,
But abruptly to question, to leap beyond yet nearer bring;
This printed and bound book- but the printer and printing-office boy?
The well-taken photographs -but your wife or friend close and solid in your arms?
The black ship mail’d with iron, her mighty guns in her turrets-but the pluck of the captain and engineers?
In the houses the dishes and fare and furniture –but the host and hostess and the look out of their eyes?
The sky up there –yet here or next door, or across the way?
The saints and the sages in history –but you yourself?
Sermons creed theology –but the fathomless human brain,
And what is reason? And what is love? And what is life?’ Until the last line of this stanza ,Whitman omits any verb at all. The style in this stanza is very dynamic and vivid as the poet uses a pattern of antithesis to balance the lines, yet he also varies the length and syntax of each line by varying the number of syntactic elements he is balancing. (Donald, 2009) The other classic feature of Whitman’s free verse is the usage of strange , unusual symbols to portray an idea or thought. Whitman uses nature symbols and owes his writing to them. Through out whitman’s poetry, plants symbolize the cycle of growth and death. In his poem ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’, he speaks of flowers, bushes, trees and wheat and how they portray regeneration and re-growth after death. The title of his first book ‘Leaves Of Grass’ was titled with great thought. As a transcendentalist would see, beauty is best understood by explaining it through nature. Leaves of Grass highlights the wholeness of beauty that comes with each unique individual. He believed that each blade of grass is special and hence is beautiful in its own way.
Another well-known imagery in a part of the sixth section of Song of Myself, talks about a multitude of grass blades representing democracy.
The colour green is given importance as it a sigh of hope of America achieving democracy. As we journey our way through Walt Whitman’s legacy, we learn how he has adopted the style to cater to his requirements as well as change the way free verse was once used.
We should also know his way of writing was chosen with great purpose. He had written several pieces that depict this style. It meant to convey meaning whilst evoking an emotional response from the reader, as it is being read.
Walt Whitman strove to break away from literary traditions that were inherited from Europe . He felt that American art and culture needed to change. He thought writers of that time could pen down poems and stories to change the way society functioned. Thus ,he intended to popularise free verse in hope to create a difference.
He was a revolutionary with a pen , who looked to improve the future of America, only for the better. Whitman’s style enacted the undissuadable, for it was insistently refused to be confined with conventional literary models. In that sense, his style helped create a ‘newer America’ that he spoke of in his 1856 ‘Letter’. (Donald,
2009)
Walt Whitman died on March 26,1892 ,leaving us with his collection of poems and the title of ‘Father of Free verse’
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Donald, K. D. (2009). A Companion To Walt Whitman. In K. D. Donald, A Companion To Walt Whitman (pp. 383 - 384). United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman
An American poet who desired to stand out from the crowd. At the time, free verse appeared to be strange poetry writing format that didn’t have any rules. But Walt Whitman learnt to embrace this form of writing, and is known today for it.
Walt Whitman was a transcendentalist who expressed his beliefs and perspective freely. He chose to cover a diverse array of themes ranging from elegies, democracy, equality , death and growth to sexuality. Thus he employed free verse as his mode of writing since it gave him the liberty to elucidate on various topics and themes.
It was a feat to perfect it at his time, as poets rarely used this type of format. Many would say that Walt Whitman introduced free …show more content…
verse to poetry writing, but he was simply instrumental in bringing it back in vogue.
Free verse, in short, doesn’t use the basic literary devices. In Whitman’s case, it added a narrative touch to it. For example, if we take this piece written by Whitman.
‘ I DREAM 'D in a dream I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth, I dream 'd that was the new city of Friends, Nothing was greater there than the quality of robust love, it led the rest, It was seen every hour in the actions of the men of that city, And in all their looks and words.’
Usually we don’t find a distinct rhyme scheme, a rhythm, assonance, alliteration or imagery in particular.
His free verse was mostly prose-like. Whitman simply produced sentences in mere stanzas. This broke the long held norms of writing. Some of the other poems written in this style are ‘The Sleepers’, ‘The Song of Occupations’, ‘Crossing Brooklyn Ferry’, ‘By Blue Ontario’s Shore’ and ‘Song Of The Broadaxe’. If we looked into these pieces, we could analyze the way each was written. It would be apparent that he was attempting to find his writing style and was just experimenting with the freedom that came with free verse writing. However those who have studied Whitman’s works over the years have said there are distinct characteristics that define the kind of free verse writing he did. If we look closely at his work, we will see he used the three main techniques typical of, free verse writing. The first one is called syntactic parallelism. Whitman tend to write in sequences of coordinate clauses, from two to four lines long, based on the parallels between lines based on syntactic units within the …show more content…
lines.
Repetition is another commonly used technique. It is related to syntactic parallelism. Whitman used three kinds of repetition. They are anaphora, the repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of the line. Epistrophe, where words or phrases are repeated at the end of the phrase and lastly, symploce where there is repetition of the word in the beginning and end of the sentences.
Cataloguing is another technique which is an expansion of syntactic parallelism and repetition. The catalogue expands beyond the frame of two to four coordinate clauses and it employs parallelism and repetition to build rhythm. (Donald, 2009) In the first two editions of Leaves Of Grass , Whitman constantly experimented with these three techniques creating a sense of a oracular, visionary speaker. His piece, Song Of Myself, being a long poem ensured the use of these techniques. (Donald, 2009)
This excerpt from section 42 of ‘Song Of Myself’.
‘Not word of routine this song of mine,
But abruptly to question, to leap beyond yet nearer bring;
This printed and bound book- but the printer and printing-office boy?
The well-taken photographs -but your wife or friend close and solid in your arms?
The black ship mail’d with iron, her mighty guns in her turrets-but the pluck of the captain and engineers?
In the houses the dishes and fare and furniture –but the host and hostess and the look out of their eyes?
The sky up there –yet here or next door, or across the way?
The saints and the sages in history –but you yourself?
Sermons creed theology –but the fathomless human brain,
And what is reason? And what is love? And what is life?’ Until the last line of this stanza ,Whitman omits any verb at all. The style in this stanza is very dynamic and vivid as the poet uses a pattern of antithesis to balance the lines, yet he also varies the length and syntax of each line by varying the number of syntactic elements he is balancing. (Donald, 2009) The other classic feature of Whitman’s free verse is the usage of strange , unusual symbols to portray an idea or thought. Whitman uses nature symbols and owes his writing to them. Through out whitman’s poetry, plants symbolize the cycle of growth and death. In his poem ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’, he speaks of flowers, bushes, trees and wheat and how they portray regeneration and re-growth after death. The title of his first book ‘Leaves Of Grass’ was titled with great thought. As a transcendentalist would see, beauty is best understood by explaining it through nature. Leaves of Grass highlights the wholeness of beauty that comes with each unique individual. He believed that each blade of grass is special and hence is beautiful in its own way.
Another well-known imagery in a part of the sixth section of Song of Myself, talks about a multitude of grass blades representing democracy.
The colour green is given importance as it a sigh of hope of America achieving democracy. As we journey our way through Walt Whitman’s legacy, we learn how he has adopted the style to cater to his requirements as well as change the way free verse was once used.
We should also know his way of writing was chosen with great purpose. He had written several pieces that depict this style. It meant to convey meaning whilst evoking an emotional response from the reader, as it is being read.
Walt Whitman strove to break away from literary traditions that were inherited from Europe . He felt that American art and culture needed to change. He thought writers of that time could pen down poems and stories to change the way society functioned. Thus ,he intended to popularise free verse in hope to create a difference.
He was a revolutionary with a pen , who looked to improve the future of America, only for the better. Whitman’s style enacted the undissuadable, for it was insistently refused to be confined with conventional literary models. In that sense, his style helped create a ‘newer America’ that he spoke of in his 1856 ‘Letter’. (Donald,
2009)
Walt Whitman died on March 26,1892 ,leaving us with his collection of poems and the title of ‘Father of Free verse’
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Donald, K. D. (2009). A Companion To Walt Whitman. In K. D. Donald, A Companion To Walt Whitman (pp. 383 - 384). United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman