Remnants of Whitman
Walt Whitman’s works contain poetic characteristics that create intimate relationships between his textual influences and the readers who approach his work. Interestingly enough, Whitman is able to take Leaves of Grass and transform it into a work that can be constantly revised, reviewed, and rewritten in order to evolve the meaning of his poetry.
Readers have learned over the years by the influence of Walt Whitman’s work is that they have been rearranged and reshaped into new, special editions. Not only have these new and reimaged works been turned into “rescripted” volumes, but they have also turned into collector’s items. These types of collector’s items argue for the importance of Whitman as a writer and how he was a great American author because he was able to transform his work into something that readers have never been exposed to.
Taken from The Whitman Archives, What Whitman Left Us states that undiscovered materials continue to surface. However, the collected writing has a variety of Whitman’s work, which include, poetry, prose, essays, autobiography, and many more sources of writing. One of the interesting things to hear about Whitman’s work was taken from Ed Folsom’s lecture when he stated that manuscripts today are almost as constantly generated from Whitman as when he was alive. However, these newly detected manuscripts cause some of the works to become out of sequence and therefore let uncollected.
As time has progressed on the journey of collecting Whitman’s works, the Whitman Archive seeks out towards the dedication of using his writings through that of an electronic environment. By using the Internet to display his works, they are illustrated and are able to recreate itself. The Whitman Archive is interesting because it has a full body collection of Whitman’s works that address him on both a small and large scale.
By analyzing the core of Whitman, it creates interesting information and ideas that may have been over looked in the past. For example, a great deal of attention has been placed on editing the poetry and rescripting manuscripts. These images that are gathered allows the reader to detect information that would normally not be seen by the human mind.
Certain poems that are viewed by readers can and are able to provide crucial insight into how Whitman marks his writings and reaches out to his audience. Many of Whitman’s works were infused with a variety of ideas that were eventually drafted into forms of poetry. These ideas and concepts allow readers to gain their own interpretation of Whitman’s individual meaning.
Dr. Folsom spoke in his lecture about how Whitman is a process, a shifting view of continual change. One of his key examples was comparing this idea to that of compost. This idea of compost consists of taking the same idea, taking it apart, and eventually placing it back together, never letting any of the material go to waste. He ultimately states that dictionaries are the fundamental compost heap because certain phrases can alter the overall meaning of one of his works. Words can be seen as a moveable unit that Whitman would use to revise and this could change the structure and meaning of his poetry.
As time has progressed, Whitman has left his readers with the project of dealing with his texts. By overlooking and analyzing his works, it shows how later revisions have changed and shifted the meaning of certain texts, showing that Whitman is constantly thinking about words and revisions. One can argue that the 1880’s edition of Leaves of Grass is the most crucial piece to Whitman’s project of revision and the overall meaning of his book.
This later edition argues to the true meaning of what Whitman wants his readers to take from his writings because it was the last type of revision he made. An author is able to revise their work because they see that there is still material that can be expanded and shaped upon. Therefore, the last edition consists of a variety of works that have been generated into new, and extraordinary pieces that deal with topics deriving from the time period.
One of the most interesting works that illustrates and represents a clear understanding of Whitman’s poetics would be from his work titled, A Backward Glance O’er Travel’d Roads. In the eyes of many readers, Leaves of Grass would not be exisiting if it was not for the birth of the country during the civil war years. Whitman was able to take this historical time in American history and transform it into a textual work that reflects his views on society. Mainly, his work, A Backward Glance O’er Travel’d Roads reflects the type of poet and writer that Whitman is; an evolutionary one.
Whitman states, “I felt it all as positively then in my young days as I do now in my old ones; to formulate a poem whose every thought or fact should directly or indirectly be or connive at an implicit belief in the wisdom, health, mystery, beauty of every process, every concrete object, every human or other existence, not only consider’d from the point of view of all, but of each.” (Leaves of Grass, pg. 483) This statement follows the belief that Whitman is evoking an epic for the new world and is constantly developing the idea that poetry serves a purpose and an argument that keeps expanding and evolving.
This edition of Leaves of Grass is the most important because it demonstrates Whitman’s views in his most authentic form. Whitman understands poetry as an evolutionary movement, therefore, each new edition holds true to his new thoughts and ideas. Not only does he use poetry to emphasize the importance of an evolutionary movement, but he also uses it as a purpose for an argument, “I know very well that my “Leaves” could not possibly have emerged or been fashion’d or completed, from any other era than the latter half of the Nineteenth Century, nor any other land than democratic America, and from the absolute triumph of the National Union arms.” (Leaves of Grass, pg. 476)
Leaves of Grass serves as a constant revision for Walt Whitman. As an author, he takes this piece of art and is able to expand and revise it unlike any other author. Leaves of Grass represents the poetic genius that Whitman still remains today. His last edition of Leaves of Grass serves as a reminder that he was an evolutionary writer and reflects the most authentic form of his works.
Works Cited:
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. Norton Critical Edition. New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2002.
Folsom, Ed, and Kenneth M. Price. “What Whitman Left Us.” The Walt Whitman Archive. Center for Digital Research in the Humanities. Web.
