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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... movements for moral and political reform , the communitarian experiments , and new " scientific " and religious fads which ... movement toward an imminent millennial future . Fur- thermore , an analysis of Whitman's early millennialism ...
... movement of history had brought America to the dawn of the millennial era ; all that was now needed was a just ... movements of the day are all advancing the public to this desirable consummation . The efforts for the abolition of ...
... movement as " mad fanaticism " or a " dangerous fanatical insanity " because , in addition to an apparent personal discomfort with all forms of radical political activism , he feared the tactics of the abolitionists would further ...
Contents
Reconsidering Whitmans Intention | 1 |
A New Religion | 12 |
Interpreting Historys Meaning | 27 |
Copyright | |
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