Walt Whitman: The Poet of the American Spirit

“But what merit is to repeat the old tricks, and hum the old tune? If man has the ability to make us feel the fitness, the necessity, the beauty of common things, he is a poet of the highest type.” This quote by George Santayana cited in the Whitman Archive perfectly defines the American poet Walt Whitman. One could say this 19th century craftsman, Walt Whitman, was the perfect poet for this young nation. He constructed a poetry with a less formal structure, utilized language of the common man, celebrated individualism, acknowledged cultural differences, was not bound by the past, was energized by the American move westward and its flourishing democracy, and was moved by the struggles and journeys of its ordinary citizens. His poetry was not

Democracy for him was uniquely American; it was America’s gift. It was not only a political idea, but also a way of living. It was not just a movement to improve one’s political or economic standing, it was a social and moral imperative that was a force for good no matter who you were. It was infectious; its spread could not be blunted. It multiplied across all aspects of everyday life. He describes this remarkable occurrence in Song of Myself when he writes about democracy’s similarities to the spread of grass, “Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones, / Growing among black folks as among white, / Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, / I receive them the same.” (Song of Myself, 6) Democracy grows, even in the face of hardship, civil unrest, grave injustice, wickedness and war. It grows because even in contradictions, goodness eventually flourishes. But it sometimes grows unseen. He says as much. Do not be daunted by what is broken, democracy is built into Americans’ idea of themselves, wait for it, it will appear, “Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, / Missing me one place search another, / I stop somewhere waiting for you.” (Song of Myself, 52) Song of Myself was first published in 1855 and revised by Whitman up until 1891. Whitman, during that time, experienced America moving through pre-Civil War unrest, the bloody Civil War, the assassination of a sitting president, post-Civil War Reconstruction and the transformation of cities through industrialization. Despite all the wreckage, democracy somehow survived; it somehow thrived despite the civil unrest, bloodshed, horror and injustice. Whitman felt poetry could help heal a nation. Song of Myself was his offering, his