Minor Prophecy: Walt Whitman's New American ReligionMany of Walt Whitman's earliest readers hailed him as a religious prophet. For them, Leaves of Grass was more than literary art; it was sacred scripture. Recent scholarship has, however, dismissed those early enthusiasts as naive, if not crazy. David Kuebrich's new study of Whitman corrects that academic oversight by giving the early Whitmanites their due as the critics who most clearly perceived the nature and purpose of the poet's labors—to begin a new religion. Kuebrich's thorough, intelligent study, based squarely on textual evidence, offers a revisionist interpretation of America's great poet, returning religious vision and spirituality to the center of Whitman studies. |
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Page 143
... grass , like the grass in " Song of Myself , " 6 , is a symbol of immortality ; and just as Whitman indicated in the " Song " that he did not fully understand the meaning of the grass , so now he states : " Oh I do not know what you ...
... grass , like the grass in " Song of Myself , " 6 , is a symbol of immortality ; and just as Whitman indicated in the " Song " that he did not fully understand the meaning of the grass , so now he states : " Oh I do not know what you ...
Page 148
... grass as the appropriate natural fact for symbo- lizing this love ? In explaining his choice in a letter to Moncure Conway in 1867 , Whitman described calamus as a " very large & aromatic grass , or rush , growing about water - ponds in ...
... grass as the appropriate natural fact for symbo- lizing this love ? In explaining his choice in a letter to Moncure Conway in 1867 , Whitman described calamus as a " very large & aromatic grass , or rush , growing about water - ponds in ...
Page 224
... Grass " : Comprehensive Reader's Edition . Ed . Harold W. Blodgett and Sculley Bradley . The Collected Writings of Walt Whitman . New York : New York Univ . Press , 1964 . Leaves of Grass : Facsimile Edition of the 1860 Text . Ed . Roy ...
... Grass " : Comprehensive Reader's Edition . Ed . Harold W. Blodgett and Sculley Bradley . The Collected Writings of Walt Whitman . New York : New York Univ . Press , 1964 . Leaves of Grass : Facsimile Edition of the 1860 Text . Ed . Roy ...
Contents
Reconsidering Whitmans Intention | 1 |
A New Religion | 12 |
Interpreting Historys Meaning | 27 |
Copyright | |
8 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
afterlife American antebellum argued asserts belief body Brooklyn Daily Eagle Calamus Christian mysticism church Civil conceived consciousness cosmology Cradle creation critics culture democracy Democratic depicts describes discussion divine earlier earth edition Emerson Emory Holloway ence Essays evolutionary existence faith freedom Gay Wilson Allen God's homosexual human human sexuality Ibid ideas immanent immortality interpretation Kuebrich later Leaves of Grass Lilacs literature male manly love millennial millennialist millennium Miller modern moral nation natural fact night passage perfect perfectionism phrenology poem's poems poet poet's poetic political present Press proclaim progress prophet race Ralph Waldo Emerson readers realization reform religion religious cosmology religious democracy religious experience religious symbols religious vision sense sexual society Song soul soul's spiritual development stars suggests theme theory thought tion traditional transcendent understanding Union Univ universe Walt Whitman Whit Whitman believed Whitman's poetry women world view York