Walt Whitman And Transcendentalism Essay

“I know nothing grander, better exercise, better digestion, more positive proof of the past, the triumphant result of faith in human kind, than a well-contested American national election” (Whitman 23). Walt Whitman, famous American poet and journalist of the nineteenth century, incorporated his work into the development of the transition between Transcendentalism and Realism. With over thirty bestselling poems and letters, including Leaves of Grass, he provided American literature with some of the most influential and innovative pieces of writing. Walt Whitman revolutionized the way in which literature was written through his unique take on governmental roles, the emphasis he places on the individual, and his ambition about the American life. Walt Whitman’s writings sing the praises of the United States and his political views on the Democratic Party. Throughout his life, Whitman had many experiences in the United States’ government. He put these experiences into writing to inform political officials and those persons voting in the election what fighting a war was like. He felt government was the key to fix all of society’s problems. “The chief reason for the

He structures his work as the opposite of established institutional learning. Because he was once a teacher before he wrote this, he strictly thought learning was a barrier to true intellectual enlightenment. He does not want this kind of learning to be thrown out, he wants others to make room and learn what he has to say about intellectual enlightenment. It will not be until later that “American readers will connect with Whitman’s singing what they consider his immoderate chauvinism, his spread-eagleism, his sometimes philistine celebration of America’s material success” (Chase 6). Once people recognized Whitman’s patriotism they started to accept his ideas on sexuality, making writings like his more