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VOICE ONE:
I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Phoebe Zimmermann with People in America in VOA SpecialEnglish. Today we tell about Walt Whitman, one of America’s greatestpoets.
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VOICE ONE:
In the Nineteenth Century, one of America’s greatest writers,Walt Whitman, helped people learn to value poetry. Whitman created anew kind of poetry.
Walt Whitman was born inEighteen-Nineteen in New York City. During his long life, he watchedAmerica grow from a young nation to the strongest industrial powerin the world. Whitman was influenced by events around him. But hispoetry speaks of the inner self. He celebrated great people likePresident Abraham Lincoln. He also celebrated the common people.
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As a young man, Whitman worked as a school teacher, a printer anda newspaper reporter. He was thirty-six years old when he publishedhis first book of poetry in Eighteen-Fifty-Five. He called it”Leaves of Grass.” It had only twelve poems. The poems are writtenin free verse. The lines do not follow any set form. Some lines areshort. Some lines are long. The words at the end of each line do nothave a similar sound. They do not rhyme.
Here are some lines from the famous poem “Song of Myself” from”Leaves of Grass.” Whitman writes about grass as a sign ofeverlasting life.
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A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with fullhands;
How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any morethan he.
I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopefulgreen stuff woven.
Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped,
Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that we may seeand remark, and say Whose?
…And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves,
Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men…
…It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soonout of their mother’s laps.
VOICE ONE:
One of America’s greatest thinkers and writers immediatelyrecognized the importance of “Leaves of Grass.” Ralph Waldo Emersonpraised Whitman’s work. But most other poets and writers saidnothing or denounced it.
Most readers also rejected Whitman’s poems. The new form of hispoetry surprised many people. His praise of the human body andsexual love shocked many people. Whitman was homosexual. He lovedmen. Some people disliked Whitman’s opinions of society. He rejectedthe desire for money and power.
Even his own brother told Whitman that he should stop writingpoetry. But Whitman had many things to say. And he continued to saythem. Readers began to understand that America had a great newpoetic voice.
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VOICE TWO:
The American Civil War began in Eighteen-Sixty-One. The southernstates had withdrawn from the United States. They wanted to protecttheir rights against the central government. They especially wantedto continue owning black slaves.
The northern states fought the South to save the Union and freethe slaves. Walt Whitman hated slavery because he believed allpeople are equal. He supported the northern cause.
During the war, Whitman worked for the government in Washington,D.C. He also worked without pay at army hospitals. He helped carefor wounded and dying soldiers. He sat beside these men for hours.He brought them food. He wrote letters for them.
Whitman sometimes saw President Abraham Lincoln riding his horsein Washington. President Lincoln was murdered soon after the CivilWar ended. Whitman honored him with a poem called “When Lilacs Lastin the Dooryard Bloomed.” The poem describes Lincoln as a greatspirit and a fallen star. This is how the poem begins:
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When lilacs last in the dooryard bloomed,
And the great star early drooped in the western sky in the night,
I mourned, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.
Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
Lilac blooming perennial anddrooping star in the west,
And thought of him I love.
O powerful western fallen star!
VOICE ONE:
After the Civil War, Whitman worked for government agencies. Hewatched the United States try to heal itself and increase democracy.
To Walt Whitman, democracy was more than a political system oridea. It was the natural form of government for free people. Whitmanbelieved democracy is meant to honor the rights of every person andthe equality of all people. Whitman denounced people who believedthey were better than others in the eyes of God. He expressed theseideas in his poem “Song of Myself.”
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I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placidand self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania ofowning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousandsof years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
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VOICE TWO:
Walt Whitman’s poems praise the United States and its democracy.The poet expressed his love for America and its people in many ways.This poem is called “I Hear America Singing.” It celebrates the manydifferent kinds of workers doing their jobs to help their country.
VOICE THREE:
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics-each one singing his, as it should be, blitheand strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves offwork;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat-the deckhand
singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench-the hatter singingas he stands;
The wood-cutter’s song-the ploughboy’s, on his way in themorning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother-or of the young wife atwork-or of the girl sewing or washing-
Each singing what belongs to him or her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day-at night, the party of youngfellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.
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VOICE ONE:
Experts today praise “Leaves of Grass” as a major literary work.In his time, Whitman thought of it as a work in progress. Here-published the book every few years for the rest of his life. Eachtime he added new poems. And he changed many of the old lines. Thelast version of the book contained more than four-hundred poems. Bythen, Whitman’s fame had spread to many nations.
In Eighteen-Seventy-Three, Walt Whitman suffered a stroke. Hespent the last years of his life in Camden, New Jersey. He wrotemore poems. He also wrote about political and democratic policies.
Whitman was poor and weak during the last years of his life. Hedied in Eighteen-Ninety-Two. But if we can believe his poetry, deathheld no terrors for him. Listen to these lines from “Song ofMyself”:
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And as to you Death, and you bitter hug of mortality, it is idleto try to alarm me…
And as to you Corpse I think you are good manure, but that doesnot offend me…
And as to you Life I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths.
(No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before)…
Do you see O my brothers and sisters?
It is not chaos or death — it is form, union, plan — it iseternal life — it is Happiness…
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun…
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless…
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.
VOICE TWO:
Some critics say Walt Whitman was a spokesman for democracy.Others say he was not a spokesman for anything. Instead, they simplycall him a great poet. We leave you now with more words from “Songof Myself” by Walt Whitman.
VOICE THREE:
I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul, I am thepoet of the woman the same as the man.
(PAUSE)I celebrate myself.
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VOICE ONE:
Jerilyn Watson wrote this program. Lawan Davis produced it. Ourstudio engineer was Bill Barber. Steve Ember read the poetry. I’mFaith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Phoebe Zimmermann. Join us again next week for anotherPeople in America program in VOA Special English.
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