Whitman writing style

Walt Whitman’s writing style has a few distinct characteristics. Being one of the most influential and important writers of his time, and all time, he had something that was new to American writing and poetry. He neither fell directly into the Realism writing period nor the Modernism period, and it shows in his works. In many works, Whitman’s free verse poems are very musical and several times they begin with ‘The Song of…’, such as “A Song for Occupations,” “Song of the Exposition,” or more commonly “Song of Myself.” He also appeals to the common man in many poems, and familiar themes are patriotism, democracy, humanity and nature, and a couple of poems on Lincoln’s assassination. An important symbol in “Leaves of Grass” is the ‘I’ in it alludes to Whitman, but it represents a more omnipotent narrator. At the same time, this is also a certain pretention to his writing because Whitman is writing as the omnipotent.

The free verse style that Whitman uses is one of his most distinguishing features as a writer. During his time, it was very unconventional, and enough to give him the informal title of the father of free verse. William Sloane Kennedy “celebrates Whitman's free verse for diligently shedding the artificial syntax of traditional poetry, thereby evoking the spontaneous rhythms and turns of phrase characteristic of authentic human speech.” His writing is natural and comes from what he finds to be natural. In “One’s-Self I Sing”, Whitman says: “one’s-self I sing, a simple separate person. Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse… the Female equally with the Male I sing… the Modern Man I sing.” Being another poem that is Whitman singing, this represents what he is personally feeling. It comes from within, and it expresses his thoughts. “It can be indubitably proved that his poetic art…is profoundly consonant with the laws of nature and symphonic music” (Kennedy). Kennedy argues that Whitman’s style is naturally musical; that almost every other poet is unnatural and unmusical; and that Whitman’s poems could even be organized in a way that is typical of poets instead of his free verse style.

Regarding themes, Whitman even says that war is only one to have. He says: “Know’st thou not there is but one theme for ever-enduring bards? And that is the theme of War” (Whitman). Experiencing the Civil War first hand, Whitman must have seen something very important about it to make it that important of a theme. But, as Whitman says, “for you these from me, O Democracy… I am trilling songs.” Essentially he must be saying that he writes about war, or sings about it, as an ode to democracy. Whitman expresses his patriotism in “Turn O Libertad.” He says that things are changing, and changing for the better; “turn your undying face, to where the future, greater than all the past, is swiftly, surely preparing for you.” Whitman’s sorrow after Lincoln’s assassination is seen in “O Captain! My Captain!” and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.”

Kennedy, William Sloane. "Whitman's Word-Music."Reminiscences of Walt Whitman, London, 1896: 162–90. Quoted as "Whitman's Word-Music" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCVWaW042&SingleRecord=True (accessed March 20, 2012).

Whitman, Walt. "Leaves of Grass, 1891-92 Edition." Published Works. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. .