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WALT WHITMAN
Themes approached :
The complete self, The body and the soul; nature; time; cosmic; consciousness;
mysticism; death; transcendentalism; democracy.
For Whitman, spiritual communion depends on physical contact. The body is the
vessel that enables the soul to experience the world. Therefore the body is something
to be worshiped and given a certain primacy. Eroticism figures significantly in
Whitman’s poetry. This is something that got him in no small amount of trouble
during his lifetime.
Whitman shows an affection for the bodies of others, both men and women.