Preface to Leaves of Grass - 1996 Words

Walt Whitman’s â€Å"1855 Preface to Leaves of Grass† and Captain John Smith’s â€Å"A Description of New England†: Parallel Visions of the American People and the Shaping of the Nation’s Identity Walt Whitman’s â€Å"1855 Preface to Leaves of Grass,† and Captain John Smith’s â€Å"A Description of New England,† articulate the visions each held of the American people, as well as demonstrate the interpersonal and physical facets necessary in fashioning an ideal nation. Composed over two centuries after the publishing of Smith’s treatise, Whitman’s â€Å"1855 Preface† reflects the principles Smith outlines in his quest to create the New World, and the importance of considering individual identities in the formulation of this Nation’s identity. Smith’s â€Å"A†¦show more content†¦Whitman’s â€Å"Preface† echoes Smith’s vision as he marvels at American’s willingness to utilize the experiences of one another, however maintain an identity born from the heart and soul of the common man. One of Whitman’s greatest compliments to the people of the United States reads: Other states indicate themselves in their deputies†¦but the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislatures, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors, but always most in the common people. (996) Both Smith and Whitman recognize the functionality and benefit of each individual in the nation, and with that, acknowledges that while another may compensate for shortcomings in skills or intelligence, no man is better than, or superior to another. Smith suggests and Whitman believes it is the heart and soul of the citizens that identifies the heart and soul of a nation. Whitman’s vision of America is extraordinary, and as a poet, feels his calling is to spread his message of passion for and about America. Whitman believes himself, and his words, to be the link that connects the nation and its people; stating in the fourth paragraph of his â€Å"Preface†: For such the expression of the American poet is to be the transcendent and new. It is to be indirect and not direct or descriptive or epic. Its quality goes through these to much more...Here the theme is creative and has vista. HereShow MoreRelatedWalter Whitman1003 Words   |  5 PagesWalter Whitman â€Å"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars† (Whitman 41). Walter Whitman, also known as Walt Whitman, was born on May 31, 1819, in Long Island, New York, to Walter Whitman and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman. When he was twelve, Walt and his family settled in Brooklyn, up to then his family had lived in a dozen different places (Conarroe 4). Walt worked in many different positions; to some he was even viewed as a drifter. Walt was many different things;Read MoreIndividuality And Free Verse in Walt Whitmans Song of Myself1524 Words   |  7 Pagessatisfying job), the spirit of innovation, individuality and progress remains unchanged. The father of free verse, and perhaps the American perspective of poetry, Walt Whitman embodies these values in his life and work. First published in 1855 in Leaves of Grass, Song of Myself is a vision of a symbolic I enraptured by the senses, vicariously embracing all people and places from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. Sections 1 and 2, like the entirety of the piece, seek to reconcile the individual andRea d MoreLeaves Of Grass By Walt Whitman915 Words   |  4 PagesLeaves on Grass is collection of poems written by an American poet named Walt Whitman. The first edition was published in 1855 but, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting Leaves of Grass, until his death in 1892 at the age of 72. Even though during the time his work was considered immoral later people began to realize the beauty behind his poems and started to appreciate the man who wrote them.Whitman s Leaves of Grass is iconic in American poetry because of the beautyRead MoreWalt Whitman s Life And Accomplishments1731 Words   |  7 Pagestook out a copyright on the first edition of leaves of grass in 1855 which had twelve untitled poems and a preface. He published the voice of leaves of grass himself and send a copy to Emerson in July 1855. Later he released a second edition of the book containing poems, a letter from Emerson parsing the first edition and a long open letter by Whitman in r esponse. Whitman continued to refine the volume and publishing several editions of leaves of grass. At the outbreak of the civil war, WhitmanRead MoreWalt Whitman and His Strange Obsession With God Essay1970 Words   |  8 Pagesself-absorbed, wild heretic. â€Å"I celebrate myself, and sing myself† (Songs of Myself 1). Multiple times in his books and essays he claims to be better than the masses. â€Å"I am as bad as the worst, but, thank God, I am as good as the best† (Preface to a Leaves of Grass). Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune (Songs of the Open Road). Walt Whitman is often thought of as an atheist, but I’m not buying it. In my opinion Whitman deep down believed that there was a God, and not only didRead MoreWalt Whitmans Influences1411 Words   |  6 PagesWalt Whitman’s influence to American Literary History After the Civil War, Walt Whitman realized that the American people were in need of their own identity. Therefore, he wrote the book â€Å"Leaves of Grass† with the goal of creating a literature piece that was authentic and organic to the United States in every sense. Whitman introduced to literature the idea of the â€Å"American Dream† and highlighted how important it was for the American people to develop their own identity. Consequently, he rejectedRead MoreEssay about American Influences of Walt Whitman1476 Words   |  6 Pagesthe increasing distance between it and its British source (Allen 53). Whitman was most familiar with the 1847 edition of Webster’s Dictionary. He depended on this one as he developed his notions of language and as he wrote the first poems of Leaves of Grass. It is in this version of the dictionary that we most clearly find the definitions of words that would become keys for Whitman’s poetic projects (Folsom 14). For Whitman, in certain ways, American culture became a language experiment. HisRead MoreThe Great Divorce Essay893 Words   |  4 Pagesincluding the narrator — gradually realize that they are ghosts. Although the country is the most beautiful they have ever seen, every feature of the landscape (including streams of water and blades of grass) is unbearably solid compared to themselves: it causes them immense pain to walk on the grass, and even a single leaf is far too heavy for any of them to lift. Shining figures, men and women whom they have known on earth, come to meet them, and to persuade them to repent and enter heaven properRead MoreEssay about Walt Whitman as a Voice for the People1185 Words   |  5 PagesWalt Whitman as a Voice for the People The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as much as he absorbs his country. This brilliant quote from Walt Whitman thus ends his preface to Leaves of Grass, and thereafter begins the poem Song of Myself. To many, upon their first reading, this was a crude, shocking and distasteful piece of work. but to me...this was a celebration of life. And not just a celebration of his own life, but of every life, of the American life. WaltRead More The Democratic Value of Whitmans Leaves of Grass Essay3334 Words   |  14 PagesWhitmans Leaves of Grass evince an incipient awareness of the unifying and acutely democratic aspects of the poetry. An article in the November 13th, 1856, issue of the New York Daily Times describes the modest, self-published book of twelve seemingly formless poems: As we read it again and again, and we will confess that we have returned to it often, a singular order seems to arise out of its chaotic verses (2). The Daily Timess identification of order out of chaos in Leaves of Grass parallels