Sex Sexuality in the Poetry of Walt Whitman - 3834 Words

I have not gaind acceptance of my own time, but have fallen back on fond dreams of the future (by Walt Whitman, qtd. in Miller, Sex and Sexuality) SEX AND SEXUALITY IN THE POETRY OF WALT WHITMAN Perhaps, in the following essay I put a quart into a pint pot, because I intend to puzzle out, or rather, find and give a deeper insight into Walt Whitmans sexuality that is still a question on agenda. There are readers and critics who state that it is a shame to humble his poetry to this level, but I think that he was homosexual in his era the topic cannot be left untouched, because therefore this factor was very influential on his everyday life, thinking and hence on his poetry, too. His only volume, Leaves of Grass Ââ€" that was†¦show more content†¦So the concepts of men and women are not exclusive but inclusive ones. As I pointed it before, in the first edition of Leaves of Grass the themes of sex and sexuality appeared namely in the poems Song of Myself, The Sleepers, and I Sing the Body Electric. In 1856, two more poems were added; Poem of Procreation (now A Woman Waits for Me) and Bunch Poem (Spontaneous Me). In the 1860 edition, he collected those poems that are concerned with sexuality into the cluster Enfans dAdam (Children of Adam) and those that celebrate adhesiveness into Calamus. In particular the Calamus poems, written after a failed and very likely homosexual relationship, contain passages that were interpreted to represent the born of a gay man. The name of the poems alone would have sufficed to convey homosexual connotations, since the calamus plant is associated with Kalamos, a god in antique mythology, who was transformed with grief by the death of his lover, the male youth Karpos. In addition, the calamus plants central characteristic is a prominent central vein that is phallic in appearance. Now I intend to turn my attention to concrete examples from Walt Whitmans poetry to provide some evidence of that sexuality played an important role in his poetry, and there are possible readings to find traces for that. Of course, we cannot only rely on selectedShow MoreRelatedThe Most Uneven Great Poet By Tenney Nathanson1102 Words   |  5 Pagesname, Walt Whitman Walt Whitman, termed â€Å"America’s most uneven great poet† by Tenney Nathanson, is one of America’s greatest poets. Born in 1819 in Long Island, Whitman lived during an era when sexuality, especially homosexuality, a term not coined until years later, was a taboo subject not to be discussed in public. Many of his poems centered on his private and public life as well as sexualizing men, women, and objects. Whitman’s poems shaped history by bringing the discussion of sexuality as aRead More References to Homosexuality in Walt Whitmans Song of Myself1210 Words   |  5 PagesReferences to Homosexuality in Walt Whitmans Song of Myself WHITMAN WAS MORE MAN THAN YOULL EVER BE, said a student of Louisiana State University. When asked questions of your sexual preference or thoughts on the issue of sex, I would venture to say it makes most people uncomfortable. This is an age-old topic that people know about, yet do not want to talk about. He was particularly reticent about his issues regarding sex and his particular sexual preference. In fact, of WhitmansRead MoreWhitman and Homosexuality Essay3150 Words   |  13 PagesWhitman and Homosexuality While responses to Whitmans poetry have always been diverse in some ways, the interpretations of his homosexuality can be divided into three stages. In general terms, Whitmans earliest critics tried to deny Whitmans deviance; later critics accepted his homosexuality yet framed it as a marginalized truth; and contemporary critics have exploded in response to these years of oppression, outing Whitman in loud declarations of his intense feelings for men. Read MoreWalt Whitman: An Omnisexual Poet2586 Words   |  11 Pages The homosexual themes displayed in Walt Whitman’s works, especially in his most famous collection of poems Leaves of Grass, raise the question of his own sexuality. Many of his poems depicted affection and sexuality in a simple, personal manner, causing nineteenth century Americans to view them as pornographic and obscene. Based on this poetry, Whitman is usually assumed to be homosexual, or at least bisexual. However, this assumption does not account for major influences of his writing suchRead More Walt Whitman: Homoeroticism in Leaves of Grass Essay1874 Words   |  8 PagesLeaves of Grass is Walt Whitman’s life legacy and at the same time the most praised and condemned book of poetry. Although fearful of social scorn, there are several poems in Leaves of Grass that are more explicit in showing the homoerotic imagery, whereas there are several subtle – should I say â€Å"implicit† – images woven into the fabric of the book. It is not strange, then, that he created many different identities in order to remain safe. What Whitman faced in writing his poetry was the difficultyRead MoreAn Inexplicable Nature of the American Identity Essay1242 Words   |  5 Pagesthe American identity means. Even when authors such as Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Emily Dickinson navigate the American identity, their ideas, although similar in many respects, offer various nuances and perspectives on the topic. By investigating the various idiosyncrasies of their language and the focus each emphasizes, the complexities of the American identity can truly be highlighted. In the case of linear movement, Whitman brings forth a distinct perspective of time as he disregardsRead MorePost Wwii Culture On The United States2399 Words   |  10 Pagesrevolutionary style of poetry, which emphasized individuality in the 1950’s and 60’s inspired anti-materialism, gay rights, and anti-war movements that are still pertinent in present day America. Ginsberg’s poetry sparked a revolution against materialistic ideals, which had run rampant in the United States during the 1950’s and 1960’s. He expressed his disgust with mass consumerism, and materialistic ideals in what is arguably Ginsberg’s most powerful and popular piece of poetry, Howl. In Howl GinsbergRead MoreThe Song Of Myself By Walt Whitman And Howl1353 Words   |  6 PagesBoth â€Å"Song of Myself† by Walt Whitman and â€Å"Howl† by Allen Ginsberg are important pieces of American poetry. â€Å"Song of Myself† was written in the 1850’s and â€Å"Howl† was written about a century later. Both poets were part of groups that wanted to change America – the Transcendentalists and the Beats. Transcendentalists believed in the goodness of people and nature. They believe that people are at their best when they are truly independent. The Beats rejected standard values and materialism. They experimentedRead More Essay on Analysis of Women Rights in Leaves of Grass1591 Words   |  7 Pagesalready taken place in Seneca Falls. According to Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass is a women’s book. In the epigraph of Sherry Ceniza’s Walt Whitman and 19th-century women reformers she quotes him having said â€Å"Leaves of Grass I essentially a woman’s book: the women do it know it, but every now and then a woman shows that she knows it† (Ceniza). The implication here combined with the text in Song of Myself suggest a phenomenon that is all too common. Whitman is seen as and sees himself as a poet beyond racialRead MoreTranscendentalism : The Philosophical Movement1786 Words   |  8 PagesEmerson, however, fails to wholly connect all; because of Emerson’s exclusion of women, â€Å"he did not fully endorse the aspirations of the women in his milieu† (Cole 413). Walt Whitman, on the other hand, was an exceptional transcendentalist in that his philosophy did not on ly apply to land-owning white men, but to women. Whitman argues for women’s equality by analyzing them under the scope of transcendentalism; he deconstructs gender boundaries, redefines women as sexual beings, and defends their