Celebrate Poe
Celebrate Poe
What Did Whitman Read?
Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 389 - What Did Whitman Read?
Ghost sound
Hello, Mr. Whitman.
Greetings, George.
Mr. Whitman - I mean Walt - we have been talking about your youth. And I understand that you were largely self-taught in many respects. It seems that you greatly enjoyed reading Shakespeare and the King James Version of the Bible.
I certainly was impressed by Mr. Shakespeare’s works during my youth - as well as later in life - and basked in the beauty of his words.
Yes, from what I understand, your view of Shakespeare’s works evolved - if that is the right word - during your life.
Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.
Welcome to Celebrate Poe - My name is George Bartley, and this is episode 389 - What Did Whitman Read?
Ghost sound
Hello, Mr. Whitman.
Greetings, George.
Mr. Whitman - I mean Walt - we have been talking about your youth. And I understand that you were largely self-taught in many respects. It seems that you greatly enjoyed reading Shakespeare and the King James Version of the Bible.
I certainly was impressed by Mr. Shakespeare’s works during my youth - as well as later in life - and basked in the beauty of his words.
Yes, from what I understand, your view of Shakespeare’s works evolved - if that is the right word - during your life.
Yes, George, Despite my obvious admiration for Shakespeare, later in my life, I nevertheless considered Shakespeare to be the key representative and proponent of what one might refer to as the"feudal" literary tradition. In my Prose Works, I wrote that “I firmly believed such a literary tradition to be "poisonous to the idea of the pride and dignity of the common people, the lifeblood of democracy" Therefore, it would only be natural for me to repeatedly and adamantly criticize Shakespeare and his legitimate followers
Who might be those legitimate followers, as you refer to them?
Ah, George - writers such as Sir Walter Scott and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.” You may consider my beliefs extreme, but I even wrote that such writers "exhale that principle of caste which we Americans have come on earth to destroy,”
Harsh words, but I think I see what you mean.
Ah, George - but during my youth, I attempted to become intimately familiar with Shakespeare's works, reading and rereading them and even carrying a copy of the Sonnets or one of the plays torn out from "some broken or cheap edition" in my pocket so that I could read it "when the mood demanded.”
Did you ever memorize any sections - I think memorizing Shakespeare can be hard-going.
Surely, you jest, George - I memorized long passages from Shakespeare's plays (especially from Richard II), then "spouted" them "on the Broadway stage-coaches, in the awful din of the street" and on the Brooklyn ferries” - some of the most beautiful words ever written - such as these words from Richard II -
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;
For now hath time made me his numb’ring clock.
My thoughts are minutes, and with sighs they jar
Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,
Whereto my finger, like a dial’s point,
Is pointing still in cleansing them from tears.
Now, sir, the sound that tells what hour it is
Are clamorous groans which strike upon my heart,
Which is the bell. So sighs and tears and groans
Show minutes, times, and hours.
This music mads me. Let it sound no more,
For though it have holp madmen to their wits,
In me it seems it will make wise men mad.
Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me,
For ’tis a sign of love, and love to Richard
Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.
Yes, Mr. Whitman - that IS beautiful.
But George, I did not content myself with simply memorizing excerpts; I began to compare the written texts with stage productions.
Mr. Whitman, how would you do that?
I had a rather simple method. You see, the day before I would read the plays carefully, and then attend performances of those plays. I mostly frequented the old Park, the Bowery, Broadway and Chatham-square theatres". One must remember that these performances were given during the heyday of Shakespeare on the American stage and clearly made a lasting impression on me. I was able to even able to recall details of the players and performances years later. Perhaps my close familiarity with Shakespeare led me to refer to Shakespeare more than to any other poet during my earthly career.
So, Mr Whitman, it appears that you eventually acknowledged Shakespeare’s—and, by extension, American literature’s—debt.
Yes, George - that is definitely true. Why, "If I had not stood before those poems with uncover'd head, fully aware of their colossal grandeur and beauty of form and spirit, I could not have written 'Leaves of Grass’."
And for any listeners who are not familiar with Leaves of Grass - well, you can think of it as Walt’s masterpiece - a work that he was constantly writing and editing.
Yes, George - I am sure that we will talk about the different editions of Leaves of Grass in this podcast. - that the 1855 version had just 12 poems, and the final - or deathbed version - had over 400 poems - many of the quite considerable in length.
Mr. Whitman, getting back to Shakespeare and your reading - did you adopt or employ any of the specific rhetorical devices from Shakespeare in your works?
On Shakespeare's innovative view of rhetorical devices such as repetition
Ah, yes, George -like Shakespeare, I made extensive use of repetition and parallel phrasing for rhetorical emphasis and poetic rhythm. We both used a great deal of metaphor. For example, in my poem, O Me! O Life!, I use Shakespeare’s line “All the world’s a stage.” And then I follow it with “And you may contribute a verse.”
A beautiful line - and reflection on the original Shakespearean metaphor.
And then there is your penchant for oratory voices.
Ah yes, Mr.Bartley. I did tend to use oratorical, declamatory poetic voices suited for public recitation.
This could have very well been influenced by your exposure to Shakespeare’s use of the dramatic monologue form.
Like Shakespeare, I attempted to capture the naturalistic cadences of everyday speech within poetic verse forms . So while developing my own distinctly American poetic voice, I drew heavily on Shakespeare's innovative use of rhetorical devices like repetition, metaphor, vivid imagery, dramatic monologue and naturalistic speech rhythms to revolutionize poetic expression.
So would you say then that you were bookish.
Oh no, George - I believe that while I was the opposite of bookish, I was not ill-read. I tried to make it a habit to always carry a volume or part of a magazine in my knapsack with my mid-day dinner; and every week for years I visited Coney Island beach to bathe there and to read. I read the English and American reviews, bought second-hand copies whenever they contained matter of interest to me, and devoured those treasures of literature with my sandwich.
Mr. Whitman - I would say that borders on bookish.
George - be that as it may - I wanted to be aware of the ideas that the world has to offer. And I enjoyed reading a book in its native elements.
Mr. Whitman - I am a bit confused. Could you help me?
Ah, George - I read Dante’s Inferno in an ancient wood, Homer in a hollow of the rocks with the Atlantic surf on either hand, and immersed myself in the beauty of Shakespeare’s language before seeing those wonderful stage-plays upon the theatrical boards. The use of language in those plays was beautiful, but I must admit that I did come to very definite conclusions about the feudal and aristocratic influence of Shakespeare’s works.
So it appears that through reading, you were becoming self-educated.
Ah yes George. And later I had many of those book in my room throughout my life. I had the old-time companionable books of my youth, a volume of poems that I used in the hospitals during the War Between the States, various studies of Spanish and German poets, translations of Homer, Dante, Omar Khayyam, Marcus Aurelius and Virgil. I also had volumes by Emerson, Tennyson and Carlyle, and best of all, Shakespeare and the Bible.
I infer that Richard II was your favorite play by Shakespeare - did you have a favorite book from the Bible.
Ah, yes, George - I greatly admired the books of Psalms and Proverbs, and the book of Job was one of my prime favorites - the book of Job was always near me during my later earthly years.
So, Mr. Whitman, it IS true that reading was a constant presence in your life, and DID affect your contributions to literature.
Yes, George, I DID have a voracious appetite for reading - especially as a young man. The fact that I was apprenticed as a typesetter at age 14, exposed me to a wide range of printed materials from an early age. During my career at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in his 20s, I was deeply immersed in journalism, politics, theater reviews, and writing about life on the streets. As a result, I became increasingly involved in communicating ideas through the printed page.
Mr. Whitman, I can see the connection.
Yes, George - and I have come to realize that I was a wide-ranging and precocious reader from a young age, immersing myself in philosophy, journalism, theater/music criticism, and works suited for powerful oration and vocalization during my formative years.
Mr. Whitman, could you give me a little more information about the books you read as a youth.
Ah, George, I must apologize - in my attempts to appear as though I was not bookish, I left out some of my influences.
Mr. Whitman, that is certainly understandable.
George, I must admit that I "revel'd in romance-reading of all kinds" in my youth, including the Arabian Nights stories and the novels and poetry of Sir Walter Scott.
I was deeply influenced by works suited for dramatic recitation and vocalization, reflecting my interest in the oral tradition. Perhaps this was why I was drawn to novels such as those by Sir Walter Scott. His dramatic, romantic fiction and poetry suited for recitation appealed to my interests.
What about philosophical works? Certainly, they didn’t really offer that much to you.
On the contrary - I had a interest in German philosophy and metaphysics as a result of reading philosophical works by Kant, and Hegel as a young man.
Mr. Whitman - it appears that you were one of those individuals who read everything you could get your hands on.
George there is a certain amount of truth to that. I definitely was an "omnivorous" reader who "devour'd everything in print that I could obtain. I must point out that I was significantly influenced by the transcendentalist essays and poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Yes, and I understand that Emerson was one of the few persons to be enthusiastic about the 1855 version of Leaves of Grass.
Yes, George, as a young man I seemed to favor romantic fiction and poetry, dramatic works suited for recitation, philosophical texts, and journalism/urban life writings.
Ah, Mr. Whitman, so it seemed you had an appetite for printed matter of all kinds.
Yes, I am beginning to realize that the more I discuss the varied literary sources that influenced my thinking.
Well, Mr. Whitman - which poets do you feel influenced your style of writing the most?
Ah, George, that is a fascinating and most complex question.
Some of these influences might be familiar to you - others are far from familar.
One might say that James Macpherson's pseudo-ancient "Ossian" poems, written in a prose-poetic style, are cited as having a direct influence on unconventional free verse form . Macpherson's powerful but "windy" prose poetry anticipated my expansive lines and bardic voice.
I can’t sayI I have ever heard of Macpherson.
That is not a surprise. Secondly, the 18th century English poet Martin Farquhar Tupper is noted for his stylistic similarity to my works, as well as his exaltation of everyday life and nature.
Note these two brief stanzas from his Introductory
Come again, and greet me as a friend, fellow-pilgrim upon life's highway,
Leave awhile the hot and dusty road, to loiter in the greenwood of Reflection.
Come unto my cool dim grotto, that is watered by the rivulet of truth,
And over whose time-stained rock clime the fairy flowers of content;
Here, upon the mossy bank of leisure fling thy load of cares,
Taste my simple store, and rest one soothing hour.
Behold, I would count thee for a brother, and commune with thy charitable soul;
Though wrapt within the mantle of a prophet, I stand mine own weak scholar.
Heed no disciple for a teacher, if knowledge be not found upon his tongue;
For vanity and folly were the lessons these lips untaught could give.
Mr. Whitman, the sentiments are different, but that DOES remind me of some of your work.
Ah, George, one must not forget the biblical cadences and rhetorical strategies found in Old Testament poetry. are cited as an influence on my free verse rhythms and repetitive parallelism. And of course, I was influenced by the rich oratorical traditions that influenced me from a young age as a journalist and urban observer.
Mr. Whitman, I know this might be a hard question to answer, but what do feel was the most important influence on your work.
Ah yes, I strongly believed that the human body was sacred. I attempted to express ideas that often explored eroticism and sensuality without shame.
Yes, Mr. Whitman - your writing does show a basic comfort with sexuality.
Ah, George - some readers and critics believed that my writing expressed honest acceptance of the self, and bucked the conservative constraints of the era.
Mr. Whitman - some of those conservative attitudes are still with us.
I would also like to think that I had a "deep faith in democracy" and the equality of the common person. This shaped my conception of the "democratic self" and my poetic mission to celebrate individual identity within the national collective .
Walt Whitman's insatiable literary appetites as a young man, spanning romantic fiction, transcendentalist philosophy, ancient texts, and journalistic writings, coalesced into the pioneering themes of democratic individuality, bodily transcendence, and cosmic naturalism that defined his revolutionary poetry collection Leaves of Grass.
In summary, George - I admit that I was constantly enthralled by nature and the world around me, but I must confess that I was also bookish.
GHOST SOUND
Farewell, George
Goodbye, Mr. Whitman
Join Celebrate Whitman for episode 390 - The Quaker Preacher
Sources include: The Complete Works of Walt Whitman, especially Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, From Noon to Starry Night: A Life of Walt Whitman by Ivan R. Dee, Walt Whitman: A Life by Justin Kaplan, Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself by Jerome Loving, and Walt Whitman by James E. Miller.
Thank you for listening to celebrate Poe.
