Well, you all know I live in a house with a seemingly friendly but unsettled ghost. But let’s say that it’s gotten more crowded lately. Wednesday night my son called his dad into his room during the night– he said that he was scared of mean faces he thought he’d seen in the room but that he had clearly seen our ghost (not the first time by a long shot, but the first time as part of some larger narrative) and felt protected by it— and the clincher? He had seen the ghost of the aged Walt Whitman in his room, standing by our ghost and also protecting him. Whitmaniacs, dream on.
November 27th, 2009:
Seance at Scanlon’s?
Well, you all know I live in a house with a seemingly friendly but unsettled ghost. But let’s say that it’s gotten more crowded lately. Wednesday night my son called his dad into his room during the night– he said that he was scared of mean faces he thought he’d seen in the room but that he had clearly seen our ghost (not the first time by a long shot, but the first time as part of some larger narrative) and felt protected by it— and the clincher? He had seen the ghost of the aged Walt Whitman in his room, standing by our ghost and also protecting him. Whitmaniacs, dream on.
Stacy, Leaves of Grass (1860) facsimile
On the 150th anniversary of publishing the third edition of “Leaves of Grass”, facsimile edition has been published. The covers of the book remind Whitmaniacs how it looked like so many years ago. Instead of looking up for the old texts on the internet, readers can have this old-new edition in their hands. Whitman’s 1860 edition was a kind of attempt to awake the American nation before the Civil War. He was like a prophet in this turbulent period and his third edition was aimed to be a new Bible for the American nation, a “national salvation”. As he added 146 poems to the 32 from the second edition, the thickness of the book made it look like a religious tome. The way he divided the book into clusters and numbered poems in the third edition, is similar to that in the Bible. Jason Stacy, assistant professor of history at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Whitman scholar, gives a historical and social frame of Whitman’s third edition in the introduction. He is not much concentrated on the literary value of the 1860 “Leaves” but gives a reader a new dimension of interpreting the book. Politics, outbreak of the war, Whitman’s beliefs and perception of the world, theology, the evolutionary theories and phrenology are intermingled in this edition.
Jason Stacy explains that Whitman used religious language because it is a powerful mean to shape public opinion. What I find very interesting in this edition is dating of it : “Year 85 of the States“. Instead of Christ’s birth, July 4, 1776 is set as an important date in historical chronology. Whitman introduced the 1860 “Leaves of Grass” with a new poem “Proto-Leaf” which promised a new religion : “Free, fresh, savage … I strike up for a new world“. In this introduction, Stacy gives a more complete explanation of the terms “amativeness” and “adhesiveness” incorporated in the clusters “Enfans d’Adam” and “Calamus”. “Amativeness” is not just a glorification of heterosexual sex but also the promulgation of the republic. The final result of “amativeness” is healthy next generation, while the final result of “adhesiveness” is love of society, love that maintains unity and egalitarian affection. So, neither “adhesivness” was just an attraction between men but something deeper. Another thing which attracted my attention is that Whitman changed portrayal of slaves in this edition. Slavery was less central theme comparing to the 1855 edition. In “Chants Democratic” he writes : “ In Tennessee and Kentucky, slaves busy in the coalings, at the forge, by the furnace-blaze, or at the corn-shucking; …” These words about slaves were not typical for Whitman and a bit disappointing for me, when I read this passage.
I would recommend not just this edition of “Leaves of Grass” to all Whitmaniacs but also, other editions because each “was formed from a particular set of circumstances in the poet’s life and times”. I really like the design of it : drawings and curvings around the clusters. Also, the letters in an old-fashioned style transcend me to the XIX century. One of the options for Whitmaniacs looking for this edition is internet but also, do not miss to feel it in your hands, smell it and turn the pages instead of clicking on the computer mouse.
Stacy, Leaves of Grass (1860) facsimile
On the 150th anniversary of publishing the third edition of “Leaves of Grass”, facsimile edition has been published. The covers of the book remind Whitmaniacs how it looked like so many years ago. Instead of looking up for the old texts on the internet, readers can have this old-new edition in their hands. Whitman’s 1860 edition was a kind of attempt to awake the American nation before the Civil War. He was like a prophet in this turbulent period and his third edition was aimed to be a new Bible for the American nation, a “national salvation”. As he added 146 poems to the 32 from the second edition, the thickness of the book made it look like a religious tome. The way he divided the book into clusters and numbered poems in the third edition, is similar to that in the Bible. Jason Stacy, assistant professor of history at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Whitman scholar, gives a historical and social frame of Whitman’s third edition in the introduction. He is not much concentrated on the literary value of the 1860 “Leaves” but gives a reader a new dimension of interpreting the book. Politics, outbreak of the war, Whitman’s beliefs and perception of the world, theology, the evolutionary theories and phrenology are intermingled in this edition.
Jason Stacy explains that Whitman used religious language because it is a powerful mean to shape public opinion. What I find very interesting in this edition is dating of it : “Year 85 of the States“. Instead of Christ’s birth, July 4, 1776 is set as an important date in historical chronology. Whitman introduced the 1860 “Leaves of Grass” with a new poem “Proto-Leaf” which promised a new religion : “Free, fresh, savage … I strike up for a new world“. In this introduction, Stacy gives a more complete explanation of the terms “amativeness” and “adhesiveness” incorporated in the clusters “Enfans d’Adam” and “Calamus”. “Amativeness” is not just a glorification of heterosexual sex but also the promulgation of the republic. The final result of “amativeness” is healthy next generation, while the final result of “adhesiveness” is love of society, love that maintains unity and egalitarian affection. So, neither “adhesivness” was just an attraction between men but something deeper. Another thing which attracted my attention is that Whitman changed portrayal of slaves in this edition. Slavery was less central theme comparing to the 1855 edition. In “Chants Democratic” he writes : “ In Tennessee and Kentucky, slaves busy in the coalings, at the forge, by the furnace-blaze, or at the corn-shucking; …” These words about slaves were not typical for Whitman and a bit disappointing for me, when I read this passage.
I would recommend not just this edition of “Leaves of Grass” to all Whitmaniacs but also, other editions because each “was formed from a particular set of circumstances in the poet’s life and times”. I really like the design of it : drawings and curvings around the clusters. Also, the letters in an old-fashioned style transcend me to the XIX century. One of the options for Whitmaniacs looking for this edition is internet but also, do not miss to feel it in your hands, smell it and turn the pages instead of clicking on the computer mouse.
Stacy, Leaves of Grass (1860) facsimile
On the 150th anniversary of publishing the third edition of “Leaves of Grass”, facsimile edition has been published. The covers of the book remind Whitmaniacs how it looked like so many years ago. Instead of looking up for the old texts on the internet, readers can have this old-new edition in their hands. Whitman’s 1860 edition was a kind of attempt to awake the American nation before the Civil War. He was like a prophet in this turbulent period and his third edition was aimed to be a new Bible for the American nation, a “national salvation”. As he added 146 poems to the 32 from the second edition, the thickness of the book made it look like a religious tome. The way he divided the book into clusters and numbered poems in the third edition, is similar to that in the Bible. Jason Stacy, assistant professor of history at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Whitman scholar, gives a historical and social frame of Whitman’s third edition in the introduction. He is not much concentrated on the literary value of the 1860 “Leaves” but gives a reader a new dimension of interpreting the book. Politics, outbreak of the war, Whitman’s beliefs and perception of the world, theology, the evolutionary theories and phrenology are intermingled in this edition.
Jason Stacy explains that Whitman used religious language because it is a powerful mean to shape public opinion. What I find very interesting in this edition is dating of it : “Year 85 of the States“. Instead of Christ’s birth, July 4, 1776 is set as an important date in historical chronology. Whitman introduced the 1860 “Leaves of Grass” with a new poem “Proto-Leaf” which promised a new religion : “Free, fresh, savage … I strike up for a new world“. In this introduction, Stacy gives a more complete explanation of the terms “amativeness” and “adhesiveness” incorporated in the clusters “Enfans d’Adam” and “Calamus”. “Amativeness” is not just a glorification of heterosexual sex but also the promulgation of the republic. The final result of “amativeness” is healthy next generation, while the final result of “adhesiveness” is love of society, love that maintains unity and egalitarian affection. So, neither “adhesivness” was just an attraction between men but something deeper. Another thing which attracted my attention is that Whitman changed portrayal of slaves in this edition. Slavery was less central theme comparing to the 1855 edition. In “Chants Democratic” he writes : “ In Tennessee and Kentucky, slaves busy in the coalings, at the forge, by the furnace-blaze, or at the corn-shucking; …” These words about slaves were not typical for Whitman and a bit disappointing for me, when I read this passage.
I would recommend not just this edition of “Leaves of Grass” to all Whitmaniacs but also, other editions because each “was formed from a particular set of circumstances in the poet’s life and times”. I really like the design of it : drawings and curvings around the clusters. Also, the letters in an old-fashioned style transcend me to the XIX century. One of the options for Whitmaniacs looking for this edition is internet but also, do not miss to feel it in your hands, smell it and turn the pages instead of clicking on the computer mouse.
The American Experience: Walt Whitman
Even though well in the 21st century, most of us are used to the good old-fashioned research; read and read and read. The high quality documentaries (both, production-wise and content-wise) like this one are a good reminder that, in the era of mass media, we have more access to the all sorts of data than ever before. The PBS documentary “The American Experience: Walt Whitman” is a great opportunity to access very easily a great deal of information concerning one of America’s best poets ever.
The documentary follows the life of a man who made so much difference not only to the nation he devoted himself to, but to the poetry in general. Through nine sections of this documentary we can follow the development from a sensitive, young Long Island boy to the magnificent and astonishing “the poet of the body and the poet of the soul “. This development has been presented as a process with a numerous factors which influenced it heavily, from the New York City with all its specificities and issues like slavery to the disasters like the Civil War. How influence of these, combined and intertwined, gave rise to an astonishing new philosophy on which the Leaves of Grass and created the “Good Gray Poet” is explained here in an easy and appealing way. The whole story throughout the documentary is backed up by a very powerful reading of Whitman’s poetry. The seas of information aside, these readings, in my opinion, are as valuable as they are moving. The reason is that they show that the poetry of Walt Whitman is basically composed to be read out loud. That Whitman had the idea of poetry as something that one not only enjoys in the privacy of his or her room (and heart) ,but shares by public reading is important information, because it brings us to the way he composed his poems. If we combine it with the information that he was equally concerned with how his poems looked printed on the page, it becomes clear that, while doing our projects, we must bear in mind that the language of the poems was chosen not only having the meaning in mind but also the “sound” and the “look” of it.
And finally, the documentaries like this are a good example, as I have already mentioned, that information today are available via many media, and that there is an abundance of material, well presented and “well packed”, waiting for us to use it.
The American Experience: Walt Whitman
Even though well in the 21st century, most of us are used to the good old-fashioned research; read and read and read. The high quality documentaries (both, production-wise and content-wise) like this one are a good reminder that, in the era of mass media, we have more access to the all sorts of data than ever before. The PBS documentary “The American Experience: Walt Whitman” is a great opportunity to access very easily a great deal of information concerning one of America’s best poets ever.
The documentary follows the life of a man who made so much difference not only to the nation he devoted himself to, but to the poetry in general. Through nine sections of this documentary we can follow the development from a sensitive, young Long Island boy to the magnificent and astonishing “the poet of the body and the poet of the soul “. This development has been presented as a process with a numerous factors which influenced it heavily, from the New York City with all its specificities and issues like slavery to the disasters like the Civil War. How influence of these, combined and intertwined, gave rise to an astonishing new philosophy on which the Leaves of Grass and created the “Good Gray Poet” is explained here in an easy and appealing way. The whole story throughout the documentary is backed up by a very powerful reading of Whitman’s poetry. The seas of information aside, these readings, in my opinion, are as valuable as they are moving. The reason is that they show that the poetry of Walt Whitman is basically composed to be read out loud. That Whitman had the idea of poetry as something that one not only enjoys in the privacy of his or her room (and heart) ,but shares by public reading is important information, because it brings us to the way he composed his poems. If we combine it with the information that he was equally concerned with how his poems looked printed on the page, it becomes clear that, while doing our projects, we must bear in mind that the language of the poems was chosen not only having the meaning in mind but also the “sound” and the “look” of it.
And finally, the documentaries like this are a good example, as I have already mentioned, that information today are available via many media, and that there is an abundance of material, well presented and “well packed”, waiting for us to use it.
The American Experience: Walt Whitman
Even though well in the 21st century, most of us are used to the good old-fashioned research; read and read and read. The high quality documentaries (both, production-wise and content-wise) like this one are a good reminder that, in the era of mass media, we have more access to the all sorts of data than ever before. The PBS documentary “The American Experience: Walt Whitman” is a great opportunity to access very easily a great deal of information concerning one of America’s best poets ever.
The documentary follows the life of a man who made so much difference not only to the nation he devoted himself to, but to the poetry in general. Through nine sections of this documentary we can follow the development from a sensitive, young Long Island boy to the magnificent and astonishing “the poet of the body and the poet of the soul “. This development has been presented as a process with a numerous factors which influenced it heavily, from the New York City with all its specificities and issues like slavery to the disasters like the Civil War. How influence of these, combined and intertwined, gave rise to an astonishing new philosophy on which the Leaves of Grass and created the “Good Gray Poet” is explained here in an easy and appealing way. The whole story throughout the documentary is backed up by a very powerful reading of Whitman’s poetry. The seas of information aside, these readings, in my opinion, are as valuable as they are moving. The reason is that they show that the poetry of Walt Whitman is basically composed to be read out loud. That Whitman had the idea of poetry as something that one not only enjoys in the privacy of his or her room (and heart) ,but shares by public reading is important information, because it brings us to the way he composed his poems. If we combine it with the information that he was equally concerned with how his poems looked printed on the page, it becomes clear that, while doing our projects, we must bear in mind that the language of the poems was chosen not only having the meaning in mind but also the “sound” and the “look” of it.
And finally, the documentaries like this are a good example, as I have already mentioned, that information today are available via many media, and that there is an abundance of material, well presented and “well packed”, waiting for us to use it.
Intimate Script and the New American Bible: “Calamus” and Making of the 1860 Leaves of Grass By Ed Folsom and Kenneth M. Price
This, fourth chapter of Folsom’s and Price’s article was particularly interesting to me, and I believe it will be more than helpful. It not only concentrates on the very edition and the very cluster we are interested in, but it also provides a great deal of information about the circumstances that (might have) influenced Whitman right about the time he was working on the 1860 edition of Leaves. Knowing the cultural situation and as many factors as we can about all the factors that lead to the publication of such poetry as the “Calamus” cluster or the “ Enfans d’Adam” cluster o the 1860 edition will help us understand better the texts themselves and the impact they have been having ever since.
To begin with, Folsom and Price discussed the prominent people – artists and radical thinkers that Whitman had met and with whom Whitman established, in some cases, lifelong friendships. These were writers, like Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, or visual artists like Henry Kirke Brown, Elihu Vedder, Gabriel Harris, or women’s rights activists like Abby Price, Sarah Tyndale, Sara Payson Willis. All these people influenced his poetry one way or another, directly or indirectly.
Even though this cultural framework of Whitman’s 1860 collection is one of the main focal points of the chapter, Folsom and Price deal with the poetry itself as well. They also address the theme of homoeroticism, emphasizing the difficulty Whitman must have experienced while trying to express something that did not even have a name in a language lacked the expressions whit which to express it. As the authors claim, at the time Whitman was writing the Live Oak, with Moss, there was no such a concept which would combine the spiritual love and a physical love between two men. The existing vocabulary (and the state of mind of the people) made a clear cut distinction between these two. Consequently, Whitman almost had to re-invent meanings of words and phrases to fit the emotions and experiences he felt the need to express.
Another very important issue that Folsom and Price deal with here is the ‘direction’ of poetry. Many consider the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass the most inward directed or the most intimate, the inward instead of outward turning at the very brink of the war, but the authors proceed to make appoint that the poems of the 1860 edition have political significance as well and that Whitman is really, through the concepts of love and comradeship try to bring the divided nation together.
All in all, this article is a very interesting reading, apart from being highly informative. It can, if nothing else, provide some useful insight into the general situation in America and in Walt Whitman during the creation of the wonderful Leaves of Grass.
Intimate Script and the New American Bible: “Calamus” and Making of the 1860 Leaves of Grass By Ed Folsom and Kenneth M. Price
This, fourth chapter of Folsom’s and Price’s article was particularly interesting to me, and I believe it will be more than helpful. It not only concentrates on the very edition and the very cluster we are interested in, but it also provides a great deal of information about the circumstances that (might have) influenced Whitman right about the time he was working on the 1860 edition of Leaves. Knowing the cultural situation and as many factors as we can about all the factors that lead to the publication of such poetry as the “Calamus” cluster or the “ Enfans d’Adam” cluster o the 1860 edition will help us understand better the texts themselves and the impact they have been having ever since.
To begin with, Folsom and Price discussed the prominent people – artists and radical thinkers that Whitman had met and with whom Whitman established, in some cases, lifelong friendships. These were writers, like Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, or visual artists like Henry Kirke Brown, Elihu Vedder, Gabriel Harris, or women’s rights activists like Abby Price, Sarah Tyndale, Sara Payson Willis. All these people influenced his poetry one way or another, directly or indirectly.
Even though this cultural framework of Whitman’s 1860 collection is one of the main focal points of the chapter, Folsom and Price deal with the poetry itself as well. They also address the theme of homoeroticism, emphasizing the difficulty Whitman must have experienced while trying to express something that did not even have a name in a language lacked the expressions whit which to express it. As the authors claim, at the time Whitman was writing the Live Oak, with Moss, there was no such a concept which would combine the spiritual love and a physical love between two men. The existing vocabulary (and the state of mind of the people) made a clear cut distinction between these two. Consequently, Whitman almost had to re-invent meanings of words and phrases to fit the emotions and experiences he felt the need to express.
Another very important issue that Folsom and Price deal with here is the ‘direction’ of poetry. Many consider the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass the most inward directed or the most intimate, the inward instead of outward turning at the very brink of the war, but the authors proceed to make appoint that the poems of the 1860 edition have political significance as well and that Whitman is really, through the concepts of love and comradeship try to bring the divided nation together.
All in all, this article is a very interesting reading, apart from being highly informative. It can, if nothing else, provide some useful insight into the general situation in America and in Walt Whitman during the creation of the wonderful Leaves of Grass.