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Final Project Blog

Here’s a link to my blog investigating how the Civil Rights Movement has affected our modern understanding of Leaves of Grass. […]

Lincoln follows me home for Thanksgiving…

Hey Whitmaniacs, I seriously doubted that I would be back on the blog within 3 hours of leaving class. But I couldn’t resist- So Im sitting in my living room with my mom and sister, watching the History Channel special on the history of Thanksgiving…and who signed the proclamation establishing Thanksgiving? Old Abe. I feel […] […]

Where I Found Whitman…

Fredericksburg has been my home for many years. After a few years on what my parents have affectionately named my “East Coast College Tour,” I ended up back here, at UMW, the one college that I thought I would never attend. Sometimes this place can seem quite stale, but this semester I began to look […] […]

Courtney for 11/17

It has been nearly impossible for me to categorize Whitman. One week I read a poem and find myself completely overcome by inspiration; the next week I’m totally frustrated and just want to scream, “C’mon, Walt! Get to the point already!” I am beginning to see that it is the confliction that has made Walt […] […]

Courtney for 11/10

Before I get in to my official post, I’d like to make a quick comment about Longaker’s “The Last Sickness and the Death of Walt Whitman.” First of all, definitely one of the creepiest things I’ve read in awhile. It was so eerie following the process of Whitman’s slow decline. In one passage, it would […] […]

Courtney for 11/3

This passage occurs in both versions of ‘Song of Myself’- Have you reckon’d a thousand acres much? Have you practis’d so long to learn to read? Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems? Well, have we? I do feel like I, or I guess I should say, we, have been […] […]

Courtney for 9/27

Whitman and myself have been spending a lot of time together recently. What with a 12+ hour excursion through his old stomping grounds accompanying the usual weekend hours dedicated to him. Although my understanding of Whitman as a man has been illuminated, there’s still one thing that I can’t quite figure out: the Lincoln crush. […] […]

Material Culture Museum Entry- Stove Pipe Hat

Atop over six feet of President Lincoln’s thin body sat what is perhaps his most recognizable feature: a top hat. Besides his other obvious contributions to America’s history, Lincoln also started a major fashion trend. While most top hats of the time were about seven inches tall, Lincoln urged his higher and higher, sometimes wearing […] […]

Courtney for 10/20

Whitman himself warned an admirer, “You must not construct such an unauthorized and imaginary ideal Figure, and call it W.W. and so devotedly invest your loving nature in it. The actual W.W. is a very plain personage, and entirely unworthy such devotion.” I think that this quote reveals a lot about Whitman and his attitudes […] […]

Courtney for 10/6

In class last Tuesday we mentioned a certain part of Memorandum where Whitman sort of casually mentioned that the war was over and then went about accounting on the patients he was seeing and his daily duties and activities. We talked about how, for Whitman, the war was not yet over. He was not concerned […] […]

Clara Barton Barbie?

Hey Whitmanics, I found this today while doing some research for my oral report- That’s right…Civil War Nurse Barbie. Note the complete medical kit, the shiny white apron and, of course, the golden smile. Now, for a little contrast- […]

Courtney for 9/28

I spent most of this weekend doing research for my oral report, which is on Civil War medicine and hospitals. I browsed through hundreds of images: Creepy ten-types of soldiers with vague expressions and stumps for legs. Dozens of wounded soldiers lying under trees waiting for medical attention, their arms and legs contorted like broken […] […]

Courtney for 9/22

The first thing I notice that’s different about the 1867 version of Leaves of Grass (for pretty obvious reasons) is the first poem that Whitman chooses to introduce. The deathbed edition features “One’s-Self I Sing” about halfway through the book, under the broader section, “Inscriptions.” In the 1867 version this poem is featured at the […] […]

Are you afraid of the dark?

What was Walt Whitman afraid of? WW brazenly tells his readers to hit the road, love freely and explore everything openly. But what road would he have been afraid to take? […]

Courtney for 8/15

When I first started reading “Children of Adam” I was thinking that this was pretty far out for the 1890s. An excessive amount of literature theory classes have taught me to consider context and time frame when reading a given work, but I still have in my mind this archaic […] […]

If I was WW, where would I be?

I friend of mine came down to visit last weekend. She’s from Philadelphia and over the summer she was in a play about Walt Whitman’s life. The coolest thing is that the play was in Camden and they performed it in the graveyard where he’s buried. When I told her about this class she was […] […]

Image Gloss

From ‘A Song for Occupations” …The work and tools of the rigger, grappler, sail-maker, block-maker, of gutta-percha, papier-mache, colors, brushes, brush-making, glazier’s implements… What is Gutta Percha? Gutta percha is a plant, native to tropical areas like Southeast Asia. In the 1850’s, it was used in the Western world mainly to carve furniture and jewelry. Established in 1847, the Gutta […] […]

Courtney for 9/8

When Whitman writes about nature, he notices every detail. He reveals the majesty in the simplest of things. Likewise, when he writes about the city, he seems to study every individual. His observations reveal to the reader something familiar, but in an illuminated way. The America that Whitman saw in the bustling crowds of New […] […]

Courtney for 9/1

As Walt Whitman stares at me nonchalantly from the first page of “Leaves of Grass,” I feel that he is taking subtle revenge on every picture-taker that has forced a smile out of his subjects. I am reminded of picture day at school and I think how much happier I would have been had I […] […]

Song of Courtney

Myself moving forward then and now and forever, Gathering and showing more always with velocity, Infinite and omnigenous, and the like of these among them, Not too exclusive toward the reachers of my remembrancers, Picking out here one that I love, and now go with him on brotherly terms. I am most comfortable on the move. Too long in one […] […]

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