Romantic: Walt Whitman

1819-1892 A humanist Part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism Transcendentalism <-- sub of Romanticism

• developing by late 1820's & 30's
• Protest against the general state of intellectualism & spirituality
• Doctrine of Unitarian church taught by Harvard Divinity School was particular concern
• Christian theological movement named for the affirmation that God is one entity
• Trinitarianism - God as 3 persons in one being

Literary Realism: 1865-1914

• Part of the realist art movement beginning with mid 19th century French literature and Russian Literature
• Extending into the late 19th & early 20th C.
• Contrast to idealism
• Attempts to represent familiar things as they are

Naturalism

• Precurser to Neonatalism
• Respons to Emerson's call for poetry

• Father of "free verse"
• Controversial especially "Leaves of Grass" because of sexuality
• Pro equality among blacks and whites
• Common 19th century prejudices against black people
• Homosexual or Bi-sexual but no agreement of which

"The Wound-Dresser"

1. Pain and aftermath of War

• Shows that he's attached on an emotional level with the soldiers
• Realism*
• Modernist~
• Does not Romanticize War
• Realities of War
• Good Connection with People {Transcendentalism}

"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking"

• Movement, Nature & Consciousness --> Boy to Poet, Birth of the poet

• Connection of man & nature
• Cosmic poet - individually goes out the window
• Repetitive word of Love
• Clergy
• Reminiscense
• Sea
• Love song reference
• Birth-death-rebirth
• word death - not negative - accepted as part of life
• -->closer to God
• Mother - bringing life --> bringing death

• dactylic/trachaic meter help drive home the meaning
• The sun & moon, land & sea, stars & sea waves - atmospheric & symbolic scenery

• Avs poetica - a poem about poetry
• The poet discovering he's a poet
• The boy translates what the bird is singing

"Song of Myself"

• "representing the core of Whitman's poetic vision"
• Represents Whitman's fictional autobiography of the cosmic poet that he aspired to be
• It begins "I celebrate myself and sing myself... and every atom as good to me belongs to you"
• Two characters at beginning: Me and you
• Here I am Walt Whitman and I'm talking to you
• Intention was to escape the bounds of mortality and become immortal through his poetry and "Song of Myself" is how he does that
• Human spirit is that which about the human which is immortal; being a human spirit, and it is the job of the cosmic poet to instruct other humans that everyone can be as immortal as him.
• A lot of good about Whitman (optimism, generosity), but wrong about human nature (not moving in a direct line toward perfection)
• Believed society moving toward perfection and he was helping that along with his poetry; Marx believed in this idea of us moving toward perfection, as well. Marx and Whitman = Utopian thinkers
• most acclaimed & influential poem written by Whitman
• Social conservatives denounce the poem due to blatant depictions of human sexuality
• About losing yourself & who you are at the moment as a creature of part of the earth
• Free verse poem
• separating what is him & what is not him
• love, sex, identity, nature, pain, rebirth, birth
• fictional autobiography of the poet he aspired to be
• 2 characters at beginning are me and you
• wanted you to know him intimately (leaves of grass)
• believes in Transcendentalism (Transcendance)
• trans of human ego into cosmic poet who fuses with cosmos (sect 52)
• intention was to become immortal thru poetry
• represents totality of leaves of grass
• by absorbing everything, he can expand himself outward
• Catalogues are all the things he absorbs into the self: "I contain multitudes"
• Cosmic can't be egotistical, he has to absorb everything
• Every atom of me belong to - radical equality - it's all chance (which atoms make up each of us)
• places lines discussing a prostitute and president right next to each other
• one of the first feminists (limited)
• believed human nature & society were moving in a direct line to human perfection
• Utopian thinker
• first American poet to radically experiment with poetic form
• in this way, he is very modern
• 1st 6/7 sections lay out his scheme
• catalogue follows
• couple having sex
• Collage of images in his expansion
• Sect 16 or so: "I am Whitman, the cosmos" shows his expansion to cosmos 
• Then it's pretty cynical
• Looks at all religions and says 'you were okay for your time but now your time is over'
• Last few sections: join me as I tramp my journey; carry it on into the future, this image of human perfection.
• First part (eight sections or so) is linear, but then becomes cyclical and cycles back on itself. Reflects the larger cycle of Leaves of Grass, which also leaves you at the end looking toward the future.
• Historic surprise that Whitman got was Civil War. Instead of moving forward in linear progression there were going to be rough patches.
• "When Lilacs lasted the _________" = tribute to Abraham Lincoln
• "On blue Ontario Shore" = beginning of progress of that expansion
• More aware than ever that development of country was going in direction he didn't like. Best I can say is had my say about it in my own way, but I'll have to leave it to the future.

Epistemological Cataloguing attitude toward people read 1st 20, last couple