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Dara Miller
Professor Dinius
ENG 464
11 May 2013
Critical Synopsis of Sowders Walt Whitman, The Apostle
In his article Walt Whitman, The Apostle, Michael Sowders seeks to highlight
the existence of the religious-oriented concepts of negation and conversion that lie
beneath Whitmans constant claims of affirmation. Although he acknowledges that
Whitman often wrote in apparent defiance of the Christian culture of religious
preachingfrom the Great Awakening,(202) he claims that Whitmans rhetorical
reliance on traditional Christian religious structures pervades his poetry, and that his
work operates much like the powerful oratory of a sermon. He further contends that the
religious structures and undertones in Whitmans work purposely produce conversion
experiences in his readersby which [they] would be reborn into Whitmans image of a
new American personality (202). Sowers shapes his argument through a brief discussion
of Whitmans writing in relation to Hegelian philosophy and a more extended close
reading of excerpts from two of Whitmans essays and sections from Leaves of Grass.
Sowder begins by briefly attempting to define the relationship between negation
and affirmation in order to explain the validity of this unlikely model (202) for reading
Whitmans poetry as a call to conversion. He cites, in agreement with contemporary
scholarship, several examples of the affirming language in Whitmans poems that
indicate that Whitmans version of religion is not traditionally Christian, but rather
carved in relief against a religious culture that focused almost entirely on sin,
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renunciation, and a rejection of self and the world (203). However, according to his
analysis, Whitmans affirmations cannot stand separate from underlying tension[s] that
originate from the poetrys persistent desire to reform (203).
From this (rather unsubstantiated) claim, Sowder moves into a philosophical
examination of the concept of negation, specifically as it is connected to reformation.
Drawing on Hegel and Alexander Kojeves interpretation of Hegel, Sowder equates the
negation and transformation, although he maintains that this negation is not purely
destructive, as it produces a new reality. This transformative negation, then, lies dormant
in Whitmans poetry; behind each affirmed and redeemed version of his subjects is
version who must initially have possessed some kind of imperfection (203) that first
needed to be negated and transformed. Through this logic, Sowder implies that
Whitmans subjects the self, the reader, and America (203) must experience a
transformative conversion experience before they can be affirmed.
After this discussion of why he wants to focus on the absent presence of
negation, Sowder shifts to a brief examination of two essays written by Whitman, which
he intersperses with biographical information about the poet. He specifically isolates
quotes that demonstrate Whitmans fascination with the power of religious oratory, and
notes that Whitman tends to remark positively on examples of religious rhetoric that
characterizes people as passive, moldable recipients of enlightenment handed down by a
powerful preacher figure. He connects this preoccupation with making men victims
(204) to the power of oratory back to the food image he mentioned in his discussion of
Hegel, pointing out Whitmans desire to seek out those he could devour (204) with his
lectures and poetry. Sowder differentiates himself from other critics, who he recognizes
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have long noted how Whitmans fascination with oratory transferred to his poetry, by
claiming that it was specifically the power of religious oratory that captivated his
imagination. Like the great preachers of his day, Whitman sought to
produceconversions (204). Sowders further notes that the metaphors Whitman uses
to describe [religious] oratory surgery, penetration, agon, war, victimization, and
devouring suggest a fascination with rhetoric thatoverwhelms, conquers, and
negates (204), and he connects this to the benevolent violence of revivals during the
Great Awakening.
After establishing the context of his reading, Sowders narrows his focus down to
the element of negation at work in the celebration of [Whitmans] own conversion
based on the idea that the poets testifying of his own experience would, following
evangelical tradition, lead to a variety of subsequent conversions in the readers.