Whitman and Poe: Literary Similarities
Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe share several of the same types of literary characteristics when it comes to the analysis of their work. These two authors have their distinct differences, but fortunately have similar qualities and characteristics when referencing their writing techniques. Both Whitman and Poe are able to demonstrate these techniques through the evaluation of their works because they embrace the constant notion of revision. Through the analysis of selected poems in Leaves of Grass by Whitman and a variety of Poe’s short stories, one can see their distinct literary similarities in the terms of revision.
Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass’s first edition in 1855 and followed the publishing with a variety of editions in later years. What first began as a simple book with a limited amount of poems, quickly evolved into a thick compilation of hundreds of poems by the end of Whitman’s life. One could consider each version of Leaves of Grass its own type of distinct book that includes continuously altered material as more editions were created.
Within each new edition, Whitman incorporated several distinct characteristics. These characteristics include, but are not limited to, adding new poems, renaming certain poems, reconfiguring new punctuation techniques and restructuring the strategic location of poems. By revising each edition of Leaves of Grass, Whitman allowed himself to make each publication unique by not only altering the physical structure of the book, but also the literal configuration.
Each edition holds it own importance to the meaning of Whitman’s work. The first edition of Leaves of Grass introduces America to a new literary influence and depicts the image of Whitman. “As Leaves of Grass grew through its five subsequent editions into a hefty book of 389 poems (with the addition of the two annexes), it gained much in a variety and complexity, but Whitman’s distinctive voice was never stronger, his vision never clearer, and his design never more improvisational than in the twelve poems of the first edition.” (The Walt Whitman Archive)
For example, early drafts of poems that were created in the first edition of Leaves of Grass set a different president and tone when compared to the voice distinguished in later editions. “Early drafts that would lead Whitman’s poem, “The Sleepers” reveal the poet’s struggle to empty out his poetic persona in an effort to create an absent space…” (His Mind Was Full of Absences, 922) The poem “The Sleepers,” taken from the first edition, exemplifies how Whitman did not have a dominant tone of voice because he had yet to understand his own poetic process. Within the later editions, the poem had embraced a new, stronger meaning than in editions before.
The second edition of Leaves of Grass was only a further continuation of Walt Whitman’s genius theory of revision. The process of revision is defined as “to alter something already written or printed, in order to make corrections, improve, or update.” As a result of revision, Whitman was not only able to transform the physical appearance of the book, but also the content infused within the pages. “With the 1856 edition Whitman began his lifelong practice of adding new poems, reworking previous published poems, and reordering poems into different groups.” (The Walt Whitman Archive) A genius example of reworking and revising poems can be witnessed by the poem “By Blue Ontario’s Shore.” “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” made its debut in the second edition of Leaves of Grass and can be seen as a piece that has undergone the most dramatic of transformations under the concept of revision.
“By Blue Ontario’s Shore” was taken from the 1855 prose Preface and drastically transformed into a new type of piece. First published in the 1856 edition as “Poem of Many in One,” it was eventually reprinted in 1867 titled, “As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario’s Shore,” and finally resumed its present title in 1881.
This particular poem by Whitman recounts the interaction of a Phantom like character on the shores of Lake Ontario and the narrator. The Phantom describes a call for an American poem and the type of journey that the narrator takes in explore these types of conditions. Throughout this poem, Whitman is able to take the concept of relationships between American literatures and link it to that of previous literatures. “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” is able to reflect the time period in which it was written and shows a tremendous effort linking the narrator’s thoughts, and the particular position America was placed in during this time.
Through the duration of this poem, the narrator is able to define what a poet should be seen as. An article written by Willie T. Weathers emphasizes the main themes in which the Preface of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” is supposed to represent. By stating, “The three introductory sections state the three themes of the poem, in the order of national, philosophical, and poet, with emphasis in the second on the relationship of individual and universe, and in the third on the poet’s new message and form,” (Whitman’s Poetic Translations of His 1855 Preface, 24) Weathers introduces us to the first initial meaning of the poem.
As time progressed, and Whitman made other editions of Leaves of Grass, much of the structure of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” was altered to fit the meanings of new editions. For example, Weather’s looks into future editions of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” and gives the reader insight into what types of changes occurred, “For the 1856 poem certain paragraphs stating ideas were broken up into verse form, arranged in their original order except for one significant shift…” (Whitman’s Poetic Translations, 24)
Taking an in-depth look towards the transformation of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” in terms of literary revision, the poem underwent an immense transformation throughout each edition. For example, certain sections of the poem were added into final editions. This can clearly been seen through the edition of “Thus By Blue Ontario’s Shore,” which was added in 1867 in section 19 of the poem to locate the specific landscape the poem was directing towards. Not only was the previous line stated added to the 1867 edition, but also “O my rapt verse, my call, mock me not!,” was added in the 20 section of the poem.
The edition of new lines not only transformed the poems meaning, but also the poem kept several lines that were incorporated into the original Preface of the poem. “In theme and intent this poem is essentially the poetical equivalent of the 1855 Preface, from which, in its present form, it draws more than sixty of its lines- and many more in the earlier editions.” (Leaves of Grass, 286) Out of all of Whitman’s poems that are incorporated into Leaves of Grass, this poem has undergone one of the most extensive and deliberate types of revisions.
By revising this poem throughout several editions, “This analytical comparison of poem with Preface brings out clearly both the poet’s intent and the care which went into the structure of the poem.” (Whitman’s Poetic Translations, 26) The process of revision allows for Whitman to illustrate a new type of poetic form that gives a new significance to his works. One could attempt to categorize Whitman’s efforts of revision as a way to show the movement and advancement of himself as a writer.
The relationship between revision and Whitman also plays a huge part in terms of the relationship he holds with the reader. “In this interchange between poet and reader, language pulls in as much as it pushes out or forces itself upon the reader. For this to occur, however, Whitman must first figure out a way to let readers into the text of the poem, to make room for them to participate in the recursive progress of language.” (His Mind Was Full of Absences, 927)
Whitman, like many other authors of past and present time, “…Demands a relationship with his reader.” (His Mind Was Full of Absences, 921) Constructing a relationship with the reader is an important element because the scene of writing sets up an ultimate engagement with the audience. In order for the reader to have a relationship with Whitman’s work, it is important to clarify the relationship between Whitman and his concept of reading and writing.
Not only does the process of revision hold true to that of Walt Whitman, but it also is reflected in Edgar Allan Poe’s works. Although distinct in their style and approach of writing, Poe is able to take the dominant male characters of his morbid, melancholy stories, and alter them each time for a different meaning within each story. By briefly looking into Poe’s short stories, one can see the seminaries of revision between the two authors. For example, “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, shows how the theory of revision is emphasized throughout the evaluation of his works.
“The Tell-Tale Heart,” first published by Edgar Allan Poe in January 1843, follows the story of an unnamed narrator who claims he is sane after murdering a man with a vulture eye. The narrator is careful in his calculations of plotting the murder of the man and hides the remains of his body within the floorboards of the house. Before the narrator was able to kill the old man, his screams echoed throughout the house to that of surrounding neighbors. Concerned about the noise, the neighbors reported what they heard to the police leading to an investigation.
The narrator allowed officers to search the house, and even enter the room where the narrator was able to kill the old man and hide his body. Infused with confidence about the police officers not being able to find the body, the narrator, who claims to be sane, brings chairs for the officers to sit on in the exact room where the murder took place.
Eventually, the narrator begins to hear a faint noise in the background while being surrounded by sitting officers. The noise continues to grow louder and the narrator determines that it is the heartbeat of the old man he murdered. The noise becomes so persistent and beings to bother the narrator to the point that the officers become concerned with his actions. Ultimately, the narrator confesses to killing the old man and tells the officers to lift up the floorboards and the body would be revealed to them.
Similar to “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat” is one of Poe’s most famous works because of the morbid and melancholy tone that is persistent throughout the story. As the story begins, the reader can see that the narrator has a strong love for not only his cat, Pluto, but for the relationship in which he shares with his wife. However the relationship between the narrator and his companion Pluto, is a strong, fond relationship, however throughout time, the he develops a wrenched relationship with alcohol that begins to tamper with everything he loves.
The narrator’s relationship with the poisonous bottle begins a downward spiral and eventually leads to the loss of his loved cat and his wife. After a night of heavy drinking, the narrator approaches the cat and seems to believe that the cat is avoiding him and after catching the cat, he gouges one of its eyes out.
From this moment on, the cat began to flee whenever the narrator approached. Finally, he captures the cat and hangs it from a tree, where it eventually dies. That very night he took the life away from his cat, his house inexplicably caught on fire, requiring him and his wife to relocate. Strangely enough, the next day when the narrator returned home, the only wall that remained to structurally be stable had an imagine imprinted of a giant cat with a rope hanging from its neck.
Poe is able to take this situation and frighten the narrator for the time being, however, as time progressed, the narrator finds another cat with the same characteristics of Pluto and brings him home. Unfortunately for the narrator, bringing the cat home to his house only caused more problems. One day, when the narrator and his wife go down to the cellar, the cat almost mistakenly trips the narrator causing him to lash out. He picks up an axe to swing at the cat, but is stopped by his wife. In fury, he strikes his wife instead. He then takes her body and discloses it within the structure of the house. Therefore, when the police came to search the house, they could not find her body.
At the police continued to investigate, the narrator accompanied them to the cellar. While down in the cellar, the narrator makes a comment about the structure of the house and then sounds appear from the wall. Concerned, the police tear the wall down and find the body of his wife, and on her head, the black cat. Poe is able to end the story with the narrator in complete dismay about not only finding his wife, but also finding the cat.
“The Tell-Tale Heart” debuted in January 1843 and “The Black Cat” followed the publishing that August. When looking at the progression of Poe’s works, one can see the similarities of his writings as well as the differences. For instance, Poe writes both stories about an unknown narrator who exhibits some type of situation that causes them to become insane and murderous. For these narrators, their plot follows similar paths because of the narrators admitting to the crime and revealing the bodies of the dead. Not only do they admit to the killing, but both narrators take their victims and place them within the structure of a house.
The tone of revision can be seen through these two particular works of Edgar Allan Poe because he uses these unnamed narrators and places them into different situations each time. Poe is able to adjust some characteristics of the narrators, but ultimately, he revises “The Tell-Tale Heart” to be echoed in the same way through his story “The Black Cat.” Like Poe, Walt Whitman’s work Leave of Grass emphasizes the notion of constant revision. Although Poe’s narration features a more dramatic and melancholy tone than Whitman, both of their literary works truly emphasize and embrace the meaning of revision to fit their later works.
Works Cited:
Wilhite, Keith. “His Mind Was Full of Absences: Whitman at the Scene of Writing.” Johns Hopkins University Press. 71.4 (2004): 921-948. Print.
Bertolini, Vincent J. “”Hinting” and “Reminding”: The Rhetoric of Performative Embodiment in Leaves of Grass.” Johns Hopkins University Press. 69.4 (2002): 1047-1082
Simonson, Peter. “A Rhetoric for Polytheistic Democracy: Walt Whitman’s “Poem of Many in One.”” Penn State University Press. 36.4 (2003): 353-375. Print.
Hutchinson, George. “Whitman’s Presence: Body, Voice and Writing in Leaves of Grass by Tenney Nathanson; Whitman.” Modern Philology. 92.4 (1995): 520- 523. Print.
James D. Hart and Phillip W. Leininger. “By Blue Ontario’s Shore.”
The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com
Weathers, Willie, “Whitman’s Poetic Translations of His 1855 Preface.” American Literature. 19.1 (1947): 21-40. Print.
Campbell, Killis. “The Evolution of Whitman as Artist.” American Literature. 6.3 (1934): 254-263. Print.
Folsom, Ed, and Kenneth M. Price, eds. “The Walt Whitman Archive.” The Walt Whitman Archive. Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, n.d. Web.
I pledge upon my honor that I have nor given or received any unauthorized assistance on this assignment based upon the Washington College honor code.
Liza Brooke Twilley
