Whitman, Motherhood, and the Ideal Nation
My final project examines Whitman’s ideal of motherhood in relationship to his desire to create the ideal nation.
I propose that women to Whitman were necessary tools in his creation of the ideal nation. Influenced by early eugenic thinkers, Whitman needed women to fulfill his dream of creating a perfect nation of physically fit and intelligent beings capable of understanding the unifying purpose of his poetry.
I analyze 3 poems based on their chronological composition to reveal eugenic influences in his writing:
A Woman Waits for Me
Democratic Vistas
With All Thy Gifts America
I conclude stating that: The woman reader could rejoice in the admiration Whitman had for her reproductive ability. However, women should take caution, for behind the praise is an over-zealous American who prefers what the womb can offer rather than the person attached to it.
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