What did Ralph Waldo Emerson say about Whitman's poems?

With incredible foresight, Emerson greeted Whitman "at the beginning of a great career." He took "great joy" from Whitman's "free brave thought," in which he found "incomparable things said incomparably well."

Was Walt Whitman inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson?

On July 4, 1855, Walt Whitman self-published Leaves of Grass — the monumental tome, inspired by an 1844 essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson titled The Poet, that would one day establish him as America's greatest poet.

How did Emerson inspire Whitman?

Yet despite being overcome by his descendants, the current of influence flows outward from him. Walt Whitman would take Emerson's spirit—that of rarefying the natural as divine, of embracing the organic experience, the various powers of soul and mind—and create a masterpiece.

How does Whitman differ from Emerson?

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was born into very privileged social, economic and intellectual beginnings. Whitman inherited no such privilege. Whitman's father was a liberal-thinking carpenter who failed in business (and was possibly an alcoholic).

What Did Whitman do with the letter Emerson send him?

Emerson's letter as well as an open letter to Emerson written by Whitman was then printed in an appendix to the 1856 edition of Leaves of Grass. In addition, Whitman printed "I greet you at the beginning of a great career. R.W. Emerson" on the spine of the book.

LITERATURE - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Was Whitman considered a transcendentalist?

Whitman wasn't a Transcendentalist. He bridged the gap between Realism and Transcendentalism. Realism is a style of literature that focused on the life of the everyday, common, middle class man or the “everyman.” It is a reaction to the works done in the romantic period.

Why is Walt Whitman a transcendentalist?

Although he lived mostly in the city, Whitman was fascinated by Transcendental ideas such as nature and the common man. Walt Whitman's use of nature and the common man connects to Transcendentalism in his poems “I Saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing,” “A Noiseless Patient Spider,” and “When I Heard the Learn'd ...

Who said Leaves of Grass as the most extraordinary?

Walt Whitman, who was born 200 years ago this year, is almost certainly the greatest American poet. In many ways, he is also the most enigmatic. Before 1855, the year that Whitman published Leaves of Grass, he had achieved no distinction whatsoever.

Who set the type on the printing press for Whitman's first edition of the book stated above?

800 copies were struck off on a hand press by Andrew Rome, in whose job office the work was all done—the author himself setting some of the type." And the one manuscript we have that indicates Whitman's instructions to the printer note simply "Left with Andrew 5 pages MS." Tom Rome may have helped set type, but he was ...

How would you define dazzle and blind here?

The truth is definitely capable of being amazing. The second definition of "dazzle" is to temporarily blind—you might be dazzled by headlights, or a massive diamond. Or every man be blind— If you take the truth in all at once (or if someone gives it to you all at once), you'd be over-dazzled and go blind. Bad times.

What influenced Ralph Waldo Emerson's writing?

Emerson's thought was informed by a variety of influences, among them New England Calvinism and Unitarianism, the writings of Plato, the Neoplatonists, Coleridge, Carlyle, Wordsworth, Montaigne, and Swedenborg, and eastern sacred texts like the Bhagavad Gita.

What were Ralph Waldo Emerson's beliefs?

In 1836, he and his colleagues founded the Transcendental Club, which served as the center of the Transcendentalist movement. Refusing to acknowledge any authority beyond themselves, the Transcendentalists believed that each individual must make their own decisions about God, the human race and the world.

What was Ralph Waldo Emerson known for?

An American essayist, poet, and popular philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) began his career as a Unitarian minister in Boston, but achieved worldwide fame as a lecturer and the author of such essays as “Self-Reliance,” “History,” “The Over-Soul,” and “Fate.” Drawing on English and German Romanticism, ...

How are Thoreau and Whitman similar?

Both men were in their late 30s, both had worked various trades—Thoreau as a teacher, surveyor and pencil-maker, Whitman as a printer, carpenter and newspaper editor—but both preferred loafing.

What did Emerson say about Leaves of Grass?

Emerson's Letter to Walt Whitman, 21st July 1855. I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of “Leaves of Grass.” I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy.

What did critics say about Walt Whitman?

It was the last straw of many years of Whitman-bashing, with many academic circles and critics having described his Leaves as indecent, obscene trash, and Whitman himself as a filthy free lover and possibly a homosexual.

What is Walt Whitman's poetry mainly about?

Walt Whitman is America's world poet—a latter-day successor to Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Shakespeare. In Leaves of Grass (1855, 1891-2), he celebrated democracy, nature, love, and friendship. This monumental work chanted praises to the body as well as to the soul, and found beauty and reassurance even in death.

What type of poetry is Walt Whitman known for?

The verse collection Leaves of Grass is Walt Whitman's best-known work. He revised and added to the collection throughout his life, producing ultimately nine editions. The poems were written in a new form of free verse and contained controversial subject matter for which they were censured.

What is Whitman's main message about America in Leaves of Grass?

Critical Essays Themes in Leaves of Grass. Whitman's major concern was to explore, discuss, and celebrate his own self, his individuality and his personality. Second, he wanted to eulogize democracy and the American nation with its achievements and potential.

What is Whitman's message about America?

“The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem.” Whitman's claim stemmed from a belief that both poetry and democracy derive their power from their ability to create a unified whole out of disparate parts—a notion that is especially relevant at a time when America feels bitterly divided.

What is the theme of Walt Whitman's poems?

The dominant themes that are more pervasive in Whitman's poetry are democracy, life/death cycles, individualism, and nature.

How did Whitman's poetry follow the ideas of Transcendentalism?

The basic transcendentalism's beliefs undoubtedly affected Whitman's poetry with their statements about an individual's role in the existence and the symbolism of nature. He reflected these ideas through the topics and problems discussed in the poems.

Was Walt Whitman a dark romantic?

Because of three periods in Whitman's life, he is in fact a Dark Romantic. As a young school teacher, Whitman suffered the humiliation of low pay, little respect, no privacy, and at some point a tragic crisis that reverberates throughout much of his literature on and about education and authority figures.

Was Walt Whitman a transcendentalist or romantic?

In summary, Walt Whitman was a highly influential American poet and a key member of the transcendentalist movement, along with contemporaries Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

Is Walt Whitman a realist poet?

Emerson, known in his time as an “American Transcendentalist” writer, called poets of the mid 1800s into action with his essay entitled: “The Poet.” The fact that Walt Whitman, considered a realist poet, was inspired in part by this transcendentalist perfectly illustrates the constant progression of literary styles of ...