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Walt Whitman, 1819-1892: He
Created a New Kind of Poetry |
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We celebrate National Poetry
Month with poems by one of America’s greatest poets. Transcript of radio
broadcast: |
VOICE ONE:
I'm
Faith Lapidus.
VOICE
TWO:
And I'm
Phoebe Zimmermann with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell
about Walt Whitman, one of America's greatest poets.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
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A drawing of Walt Whitman |
In the
Nineteenth Century, one of America's greatest writers, Walt Whitman, helped
people learn to value poetry. Whitman created a new kind of poetry.
Walt
Whitman was born in eighteen nineteen in New York City. During his long life,
he watched America grow from a young nation to the strongest industrial power
in the world. Whitman was influenced by events around him. But his poetry
speaks of the inner self. He celebrated great people like President Abraham
Lincoln. He also celebrated common people.
VOICE
TWO:
As a
young man, Whitman worked as a school teacher, a printer and a newspaper
reporter. He was thirty-six years old when he published his first book of
poetry in eighteen fifty-five. He called it "Leaves of Grass."
It had only twelve poems. The poems are written in free verse. The lines
do not follow any set form. Some lines are short. Some are long. The
words at the end of each line do not have a similar sound. They do not
rhyme.
Here
are some lines from the famous poem "Song of Myself" from
"Leaves of Grass." Whitman writes about grass as a sign of
everlasting life.
VOICE
THREE:
A child
said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands;
How
could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he.
I guess
it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.
Or I
guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
A
scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped,
Bearing
the owner's name someway in the corners, that we may see and remark, and say Whose?
…And
now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves,
Tenderly
will I use you curling grass,
It may
be you transpire from the breasts of young men…
…It may
be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out of their mother's
laps.
VOICE
ONE:
One of
America's greatest thinkers and writers immediately recognized the importance
of "Leaves of Grass." Ralph Waldo Emerson praised Whitman's
work. But most other poets and writers said nothing or denounced it.
Most
readers also rejected Whitman's poems. The new form of his poetry
surprised many people. His praise of the human body and sexual love shocked
many people. Whitman was homosexual. He loved men. Some people
disliked Whitman's opinions of society. He rejected the desire for money
and power.
Even
his own brother told Whitman that he should stop writing poetry. But Whitman
had many things to say. And he continued to say them. Readers began to
understand that America had a great new poetic voice.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
The
American Civil War began in eighteen sixty-one. The southern states had
withdrawn from the United States. They wanted to protect their rights
against the central government. They especially wanted to continue owning
black slaves.
The
northern states fought the South to save the Union and free the slaves. Walt
Whitman hated slavery because he believed all people are equal. He
supported the northern cause.
During
the war, Whitman worked for the government in Washington, D.C. He
also worked without pay at army hospitals. He helped care for wounded and dying
soldiers. He sat beside these men for hours. He brought them food.
He wrote letters for them.
Whitman
sometimes saw President Abraham Lincoln riding his horse in Washington.
President Lincoln was murdered soon after the Civil War ended. Whitman
honored him with a poem called "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard
Bloomed." The poem describes Lincoln as a great spirit and a fallen
star. This is how the poem begins:
VOICE
THREE:
When
lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed,
And the
great star early drooped in the western sky in the night,
I mourned,
and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
Ever-returning
spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
Lilac
blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,
And
thought of him I love.
O
powerful western fallen star!
VOICE
ONE:
After
the Civil War, Whitman worked for government agencies. He watched the United
States try to heal itself and increase democracy. To Walt Whitman, democracy
was more than a political system or idea. It was the natural form
of government for free people. Whitman believed democracy is meant to
honor the rights of every person and the equality of all people.
Whitman
denounced people who believed they were better than others in the eyes of
God. He expressed these ideas in his poem "Song of Myself."
VOICE
THREE:
I think
I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained,
I stand
and look at them long and long.
They do
not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do
not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do
not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one
is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one
kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one
is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
TWO:
Walt
Whitman's poems praise the United States and its democracy. The poet
expressed his love for America and its people in many ways.
This
poem is called "I Hear America Singing." It celebrates the many
different kinds of workers doing their jobs to help their country.
VOICE
THREE:
I hear
America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those
of mechanics—each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
The
carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The
mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
The
boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat—the deckhand singing on the
steamboat deck;
The
shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench—the hatter singing as he stands;
The
wood-cutter's song—the ploughboy's, on his way in the morning, or at the noon
intermission, or at sundown;
The
delicious singing of the mother—or of the young wife at work—or of the girl
sewing or washing—
Each
singing what belongs to him or her, and to none else;
The day
what belongs to the day—at night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing,
with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
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Walt Whitman |
Experts
today praise "Leaves of Grass" as a major literary work. In his
time, Whitman thought of it as a work in progress. He re-published the book
every few years for the rest of his life. Each time he added new
poems. And he changed many of the old lines. The last version of the book
contained more than four hundred poems. By then, Whitman's fame had spread
to many nations.
In
eighteen seventy-three, Walt Whitman suffered a stroke. He spent the last
years of his life in Camden, New Jersey. He wrote more poems. He also
wrote about political and democratic policies.
Whitman
was poor and weak during the last years of his life. He died in eighteen
ninety-two. But if we can believe his poetry, death held no terrors
for him. Listen to these lines from "Song of Myself":
VOICE
THREE:
And as
to you Death, and you bitter hug of mortality, it is idle to try to alarm me…
And as
to you Corpse I think you are good manure, but that does not offend me…
And as
to you Life I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths.
(No
doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before)…
Do you
see O my brothers and sisters?
It is
not chaos or death -- it is form, union, plan -- it is eternal life -- it is
Happiness…
I
depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun…
I
bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you
want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You
will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I
shall be good health to you nevertheless…
Failing
to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing
me one place search another,
I stop
somewhere waiting for you.
VOICE
TWO:
Some
critics say Walt Whitman was a spokesman for democracy. Others say he was
not a spokesman for anything.
Instead,
they simply call him a great poet. We leave you now with more words from
"Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman.
VOICE
THREE:
I am
the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul, I am the poet of the woman
the same as the man.
I
celebrate myself.
(MUSIC)
VOICE
ONE:
Jerilyn
Watson wrote this program. Lawan Davis produced it. Our studio engineer was
Bill Barber. Steve Ember read the poetry. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE
TWO:
And I'm
Phoebe Zimmermann. Join us again next week for another People in America
program in VOA Special English.