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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... vision and the relations between its themes , it is crucial , in addition to attending to Whitman's background and the structure of his religious experience , to recognize that he employs a special vocabulary of spiritual terms and ...
... vision of humanity's struggle for spiritual liberation . In promising music for this warfare , Whitman is pledging to provide his readers with a vision that will guide and sustain them in their efforts to develop their souls and ...
... vision of so- called progress , nor a vision of the perfection of man , nor of man's ultimate union in brotherhood.10 Whitman's Achievement a hundred years later our poets still talk about , talk to , talk back to Walt Whitman . -Ed ...
Contents
Reconsidering Whitmans Intention | 1 |
A New Religion | 12 |
Interpreting Historys Meaning | 27 |
Copyright | |
8 other sections not shown