Reflection: Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman began a revolution in poetry when he first published "Leaves of Grass" in 1855. Whitman's poetry was realistic, free flowing, and shocking candid (Glencoe Literature).Whitman was the first poet to write extensively in free verse. Free verse is an unregulated form that sounds like the cadences in everyday speech.

Walt Whitman was considered a “tweener.” This title was given to him simply because he was between two periods of Literature. He did not fit all of the characteristics of Realism, but nor did he fit all of the characteristics of Modernism, he was considered to be a “tweener.” Most of the Realism writings were more structured than the writings of Walt Whitman. Walt Whitman’s writing looks like he did not revise anything. Most of his poems are telling some sort of story and go on in the cadences of normal speech. Most examples of Realism writing pertained to real life events or events that could actually happen. In Realism writings, the authors got straight to the point. There was no sugar coating reality. “Whitman's poetry was certainly revolutionary, not only for its expressive language and free verse but also for the intensity of his emotions when discussing his prominent and pervasive themes of love (spiritual and physical alike) and democracy (collectively for the nation and individually for each person's own self-fulfillment). He believed America needed a new poetry, one that related to and embraced more people; Whitman felt that he was the poet who could supply that type of verse”(Connors). Connors backs up the idea that Whitman’s writing was too descriptive for the Realism period.

Whitman may have started the Modernism period. Because his writing was “revolutionary,” he was causing a change in the style of Literature in that era. The writers of the Modernism time period were more of the risk-taking style. They were willing to try weird things in their writing. Modernism writing was not always written in a logical fashion. Because it was a controversial time for religion, there was not always equality amongst the different religions. This may have caused some of the authors to not always tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Walt Whitman fell more into the style of Realism than he fell into Modernism. Whitman knew much information on the topic of politics. Politics was a big topic of discussion in the Realism time period. The Realism time period was a good time to talk about politics because the authors were not dancing around the points. This allowed the public to actually know what was going on in the government system.

Whitman's style of free verse poetry was closely related to the ideas of the Transcendentalist writers, even thought they were popular before his time. Walt Whitman used nature as a major topic of many of his poems, which would be a typical topic for Transcendentalism writers to use. I think that if I had to choose and put him in a time period, it would be the Realism/Transcendentalism era. His writing has both characteristics from the Realism period as well as the transcendentalism period.

Connors, Judith. "Whitman, Walt." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BCWWh02&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 21, 2012). 

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., Douglas Fisher, Beverly Ann. Chin, and Jacqueline Jones. Royster. "Before You Read: Whitman's Poetry." Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2009. 408. Print.