WALT WHITMAN: A STUDY OF AMERICAN FREE VERSE

Submitted by

KHUSHAL GURJAR

Faculty In-Charge:

MS. APARAJITA DUTTA HAZARIKA

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERISTY AND JUDICIAL ACADEMY, ASSAM

GUWAHATI
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Problem
1.2 Literature Review
1.3 Scope and Objective
1.4 Methodology
2. EARLY LIFE
3. THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
4. THE FATHER OF AMERICAN FREE VERSE
5. POET OF DEMOCRACY
6. LEAVES OF GRASS (SONG OF MYSELF)
7. CONCLUSION
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 1. INTRODUCTION

The research paper focuses on analysing the free verse or blank verse.Free verse is an open form
of poetry. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern.The main
focus of the paper revolves around Walt Whitman (the father of American free verse) and his
writings. Although free verse requires no meter, rhyme, or other traditional poetic techniques, a
poet can still use them to create some sense of structure. A clear example of this can be found
in Walt Whitman's poems, where he repeats certain phrases and uses commas to create both a
rhythm and structure.

The literary critic, Harold Bloom wrote, as the introduction for the 150th anniversary of Leaves
of Grass: If you are American, then Walt Whitman is your imaginative father and mother, even
if, like myself, you have never composed a line of verse. Walt Whitman has been claimed as
America’s first ‘poet of democracy’, a title meant to reflect his ability to write in a singularly
American character. Whitman wrote in the preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, ``The
proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it’’.1

Whitman took a bold intellectual step in deviating from the traditional mode of writing poetry or
what James Parrin Warren calls Whitman’s “an absolute discontinuity with the traditions of
English verse”2.

The research paper focuses on understanding the use of free verse in Whitman`s poetry. This
paper is going to show a bit history of his early life and then will focus on the achievements that
he gained later on. This project is also going to analyze his poems in which he used free verse
and going to find reasons as to why he was regarded as father of American free verse and as a
poet of democracy.

1
Walt Whitman (335 poems),www.poemhunter.com - The World`s Poetry Archieve,
http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/walt_whitman_2012_5.pdf
2
Technical Innovations in Whitman’s Poetry, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 2 No. 15;
August 2012, http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_15_August_2012/31.pdf
1.1 Research Questions

 Why was Walt Whitman`s considered as the ‘Father Of American Free Verse’?
 What were the controversies related Walt Whitman`s works?
 How did Walt Whitman`s poems revolutionised the poem writing techniques?
 Why was he called the Poet of Democracy?

1.2 Literature Review

Articles-

 Walt Whitman (335 poems), www.poemhunter.com - The World`s Poetry Archieve,

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/walt_whitman_2012_5.pdf.

This is a very good article which gives a detailed view about Walt Whitman`s early life
and also consist the most important of his poems. This article also gives a detailed
account about his style of writing and how is it different from others.

 Technical Innovations in Whitman’s Poetry, International Journal of Humanities and

Social Science, Vol. 2 No. 15; August 2012,
http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_15_August_2012/31.pdf.

This article gives good depiction of the technical points that are connected with
Whitman`s poetry. It also helped me to understanding the reasons why Whitman was
called the father of the American Free Verse. It also gives views about the innovations
that he did with poetry and became one of the most famous poets of all times.
1.3 Scope and Objective

The scope of the project shall be the study of Walt Whitman`s poetry and the objective is:-

 To understand the use of Free Verse in poetry.

 To understand how Free Verse lent Whitman the freedom to write poetry.
 To analyze all the poems in which he used Free Verse.
 To understand the feeling of Democracy and Freedom as propagated by he poem.

1.4 Methodology

The methodology adopted for the project topic is the doctrinal method of research. Books from
the library and articles from various journals have been referred to for the collection of datawith
the limitation of being valid and authentic sources of information.
2. EARLY LIFE

Walter Whitman was born in West Hills, Town of Huntington, Long Island on May 31, 1819.
His parents were Walter and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. He was named Walt to distinguish
from his father as he the second of nine children. Three of his brothers were named after
American leaders: Andrew Jackson, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. The oldest
brother was named Jesse while the youngest brother was named Edward. He moved from West
hills to Brooklyn when he was four, living in a series of homes, in part due to bad investments.
Whitman`s childhood was generally unhappy and restless because of his family's difficult
economic status.

Before being one of the greatest poets of all time he worked as an essayist, poet and journalist,
and he even volunteered as a nurse in the course of the American Civil War (1861–65). Walt
Whitman was a part of the shift from transcendentalism towards realism, and his work represents
both views. Walt Whitman is often referred to as "the father of the American free verse".
Whitman completed his formal schooling at the age of eleven. After that he looked for
employment for betterment of economic conditions of his family. He worked as an office boy for
two lawyers and later was an apprentice and printer's devil for the weekly Long Island
newspaper the Patriot, edited by Samuel E. Clements. He learned about printing press and
typesetting and may have written "sentimental bits" of filler material occasionally.

Later Whitman joined the leading Whig weekly newspaper the Long-Island Star and worked
with its Editor Alden Spooner. During this period, he was regularly seen in local library, joined a
town debating society and he even started attending theater performances. Some of his earliest
poetry was anonymously published in the New York Mirror in this period.

After that, in later years, he moved to New York City to work as a compositor. Whitman could
not remember where. In May 1836, he rejoined his family, living in Hempstead, Long Island and
started teaching in various schools until 1838.
After trying his hand on teaching he went back to Huntington and started his own newspaper
named the Long Islander. He sold the publication after working for 10 months to E. O. Crowell.

He again attempted to be a teacher from the winter of 1840 to the spring of 1841. Ten editorials
called "Sun-Down Papers—From the Desk of a Schoolmaster" were published by him during
this time. These essays were a path for his successful career ahead.

He moved to New York and started working for various newspapers for short gaps of time. He
worked as the editor of Aurora in 1842 and later took the same post at Brooklyn Eagle. During
this period he was continuously contributing to freelance fiction and poetry.
3. THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

The civil war was the most horrifying and long war fought on American continent. The causes of
the war were complex and many. The fight was between the south and the north. South was
fighting for state`s right while the North had the intention to keep the United States intact. There
were two armies namely, Confederate Army (army of south) and Union Army (army of north).
The war lasted from 1861 to 1865 and approximately 610, 000 people were dead and 425, 000
were seriously injured.

Whitman's brother George was a part of the Union army. He used to send him vividly detailed
letters of the battle front. On December 16, 1862, a list of soldiers who were killed and injured in
the war included the name of Walt`s brother George. Walt travelled all the way to find his
brother and eventually found him alive with only a superficial wound on his cheek. Whitman
was deeply affected by seeing the wounded soldiers and the massacre everywhere.

He moved to Washington on December 28, 1862 and had no intention to return back to New
York. His brother was being treated in the capital for a wound he suffered in the war. Whitman
ended up staying in Washington for the next several years. He spent much of his time visiting
wounded soldiers, even though he had a part-time work in the paymaster's office. This volunteer
work was a life changing time for him. According to him he roughly visited 600 Hospitals seeing
around 100,000 patients. He wrote about his experience in "The Great Army of the Sick" which
was published in a New York newspaper in 1863 and, 12 years later, in a book called
Memoranda During War.3 The work was very exhausting and took a physical toll but it
eventually helped Whitman to return back to poetry.

3
P.4 http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/walt_whitman_2012_5.pdf
As the American Civil War was beginning, he published a new collection, which represented a
more clear picture and realization of what the Civil War meant for those in the thick of it. This
new collection was called Drum-Taps. Legendary poems like "Beat! Beat! Drums!" and "Vigil
Strange I Kept on the Field One Night" were a part of this collection. A later part included his
elegy on President Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." The poem
"Beat! Beat! Drums!" was considered as a patriotic rally call for the North.

The civil war years were the most turbulent years in the American history, as the whole nation`s
existence was in jeopardy. But the strong leadership of President Abraham Lincoln prevented
United States from becoming two separate countries. Lincoln was highly praised by Whitman,
which is evident in his poetry, prose, and even in his lecture which he gave on Lincoln after his
assassination. Whitman, just like Lincoln, was a strong believer in democracy and according to
him Lincoln was the leader who could preserve democracy in the country. Whitman also revered
Lincoln for his humble beginnings from lower class to the highest post. He considered Lincoln as
an example of an ordinary person achieving greatness in a democracy.
4. THE FATHER OF AMERICAN FREE VERSE

The work of Whitman's is generally prose-like and breaks the boundaries of poetic form. His
poetry contained unusual images and symbols which includes rotting leaves, tufts of straw, and
debris. He didn`t hesitated in writing about death and sexuality openly. Even though he did not
invent it, he is considered as the Father of the Free verse. His poetry had a special and prominent
feature it gave a sense of nearness, simplicity and closeness to the common people.

Whitman wrote in the preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, “the proof of a poet is that
his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it”. According to him poet and
society should have a vital symbiotic relationship. His he showed his relationship in “song of
myself” by using an all-powerful first-person narration.4

His didn`t use any traditional rhyme, meter or line length but used to write poems in a free verse.

His step was a bold one which helped in deviating from traditional method of writing poetry.
Whitman is called as “an absolute discontinuity with the traditions of English verse” by James
Parrin Warren.5 He used the vernacular language which was used by the common American
instead of the elite language used by the rich class. He helped the general people to understand
the language of poetry which was never done before by any poet. He brought the language of
poetry closer to reality and made it easy to read for common readers.

The use of vernacular language was necessary to convey his ideas and messages very clearly. His
poetry had freshness and a sense of familiarity which could not be found in any other poems.
Free verse was previously used by writers like Wordsworth and French poets like Rimbaud to
help in various revolts. The name free verse was given earlier. But Whitman was the first one to
use this form of writing poetry in American literature. He broke down the barriers between prose
and poetry. He wrote prose with poetic qualities and poetry with the prominent qualities of prose.

4
P.104A Class Unconventional-Biographies-Writers and Poets
By Students' Academy
5
http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_15_August_2012/31.pdf
5. POET OF DEMOCRACY

Walt Whitman is considered as first “poet of democracy” in American history. This title reflects
his ability to write in a singularly American character. A British friend of Walt Whitman, Mary
Smith Whitall Costelloe, wrote: “You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman,
without Leaves of Grass… he has expressed that civilization, ‘up to date,’ as he would say, and
no student of the philosophy of history can do without him”. 6

Whitman was the first American poet to achieve a truly international reputation, and his work
has influenced writers such as Henry Miller and D.H. Lawrence.7

The literary critic, Harold Bloom wrote, as the introduction for the 150th anniversary of Leaves
of Grass: If you are American, then Walt Whitman is your imaginative father and mother, even
if, like myself, you have never composed a line of verse. You can nominate a fair number of
literary works as candidates for the secular Scripture of the United States. They might include
Melville's Moby-Dick, Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Emerson's two series of
Essays and The Conduct of Life. None of those, not even Emerson's, are as central as the first
edition of Leaves of Grass.8

His poetry made him a revolutionary figure. His poems had a central desire for equality and
brotherhood. The poems encouraged people to move forward rather than depending on the
doomed past. He used technique of parallelism in hi works which was used to show a greater
sense of equality which is to be based on spiritual relationship.

Large number of music composers took inspirations from Whitman's poetry. Composers like
Kurt Weill, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius, Paul Hindemith, Karl Amadeus
Hartmann, Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein, Ned Rorem, Ronald Corp, George Crumb,
Roger Sessions and John Adams have used his poetry in their music pieces.9

6
P.28Walt Whitman’s Poetry-An Analytical Approach
7
http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/walt_whitman_2004_9.pdf
8
ibid
9
ibid
Both the subject matter and language in Whitman`s poetry are democratic. Whitman`s concern
was to show the new America which was rowing around him. His model of poetry differentiates
itself from its European counterparts, which evidently shows that he was successful in breaking
new grounds in both subject matter and diction.

Annual Whitman day is celebrated on the poet`s birthday by the Bolton Whitman Fellowship or
Whitmanites. He was also an inductee of the 2009 New Jersey Hall of Fame. A Bridge near his
home in Camden is named after him which crosses the Delaware River.
6. LEAVES OF GRASS (SONG OF MYSELF)

Leaves of Grass are a collection of poems published in 1855. Its origin lies in an essay written by
Ralph Waldo Emerson named The Poet. This essay called for a new poetic character which
would embody in the spirit of America. “Song of Myself” and are some of the amazing works
by Whitman that were a part of Leaves of Grass.

The name of the book in itself has a very important meaning. Grass was the term that was used
by the publishers to show inferior literary works while leaves refer to the pages on which the
work was printed. When the book came out the critics considered as "obscene literature".

Poetry at that time was highly aligned and allegorical. This new type of poetry was not much
appreciated in the beginning but after some time it got the honour that was deserved. Leaves of
Grass is considered as a song to America itself, and it is undoubtedly a masterpiece of American
poetry.

In the first edition of the book no information was given about the author, but the author
mentions his name in the 500th line. The book was highly praised by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Song of Myself:-

One of the original twelve pieces in the 1855 first edition of Leaves of Grass, is considered to be
one of the most famous works by Whitman. Like most of the other poems, it too was revised
extensively, and reached its final form in 1881. “Song of Myself” is a marvelous combination of
biography, sermon, and poetic meditation.

The three important themes in the poem are: the idea of the self, the identification of the self with
other selves, and the poet's relationship with the elements of nature and the universe.

This poem might be regarded as one of the most egotistical poem ever written: it`s all about me,
myself and I.

The poem shaped the idea and helped to make people realize what it means to be an American. It
is a "democratic" poem that draws all different kinds of people and places into itself and tries to
forge them into a unity. As you read "Song of Myself, you might wonder why Whitman is so
eager to be friends with, literally, every single person he has ever met. It might help to remember
that the poem was written only a few years before the outbreak of the Civil War, and Whitman
viewed friendship as the last hope to save a fractured union.

But "Song of Myself" wasn't without its controversies. The poem's frank depictions of
sexuality and eroticism earned it a somewhat scandalous reputation. Themes like identity
visions of America friendship, spirituality and sex could be seen in the poem.

Even though, the word "identity" occurs only a couple of times in "Song of Myself," but it is
easily the central theme of this vast epic. Whitman sees his identity split into at least three
components: his everyday personality, the more inner "self" or "Me Myself," and the universal
"Soul." He was attracted to the American Transcendentalist idea of the "Oversoul," or the soul
that is somehow part of or connected to all other souls in the world. For him, there is no such
thing as "private experience." He experiences the pains and pleasure of all other people in the
world, and even animals and inanimate natural phenomena, because he "identifies" with them.
That is, his innermost identity is connected to all things in the world.

To Whitman, the self is both individual and universal. Man has an individual self, whereas the
world, or cosmos, has a universal or cosmic self.
7. CONCLUSION

Even though he did not invent it, he is considered as the Father of the Free verse. Walt Whitman
was considered as the ‘Father of American Free Verse’ because of his innovation with the
technique and because of him being the first one to use this kind of poetry in America.

Even though this use of free verse could be seen before Walt Whitman also but he was so special
because he revolutionised the process by using it at the time of civil war. He didn`t hesitated in
writing about death and sexuality openly. His way of poetry was different from others and this
led to various controversies at first but after some time he got the response that he deserved.

He revolutionised the poem writing techniques by introducing the world with technique I which
he didn`t used any traditional rhyme, meter or line but wrote poems in a free verse. He is also
regarded as the poet of democracy because his poem helped the general public to integrate and
fight for their rights, freedom and their democracy.

At last I will conclude that Walt Whitman`s contribution to poetic society and the America
nation were very important and cannot be replaced or forgotten.
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Walt Whitman (335 poems),www.poemhunter.com - The World`s Poetry Archieve,

http://www.poemhunter.com/i/ebooks/pdf/walt_whitman_2012_5.pdf
 Technical Innovations in Whitman’s Poetry, International Journal of Humanities and
Social Science, Vol. 2 No. 15; August 2012,
http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_2_No_15_August_2012/31.pdf

 P.104A Class Unconventional-Biographies-Writers and Poets, By Students' Academy