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LITR 4232: American Renaissance  |
Final Exam Essays 2013 Sample answers for
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Josh Mills
Walt Whitman & the American Psyche:
an
Iconoclast of Thought and Expression
The antebellum period of art and literature in
America is an entity far too complex to define through anything less than
multiple terms. It contains ideas which range from nostalgic romanticism to
inherent realism; ideas which contrast each other by their methods in analyzing
their surroundings. The former promotes a longing for tradition, beauty and
nature; the latter a philosophy of cold, calculated analysis of the hardships of
everyday life. This makes analyzing the period difficult yet exciting, as it
takes the observer into a world of dualistic concepts. In describing
romanticism, it is necessary that the observer use contrasting terms in order to
encompass the vast array of ideas covered.
No
other literary figure embodies this dualism more wholly than Walt Whitman; he
freely employed the entire spectrum of romantic thought in his poetic works. He
has a tendency to induce the romantic state of mind in works such as
I Sing the Body Electric, a
piece which praises the beauty of humanity through use of both sublime and
transcendental language. Yet in other works, such as
The Wound-Dresser, he
addresses the negative aspects of life represented by war and the harsh
realities associated with it. These are topics which vary greatly, yet are still
pieces considered under the same genre.
Romanticism embodies the
positive end in the spectrum of American literature. It is a form of expression
which operates on the sublime and transcendentalism; concepts which are at the
core of romantic thought. When combined, they become a decree that states the
existence of man is a miraculous beauty. This idea is a recurring theme
throughout American romanticism and the works of the period tirelessly promote
it. In I Sing the Body Electric,
Whitman uses both the sublime and the transcendental to affirm
the grace and beauty of man and induce a “charge of
the soul,” representing the enlightened characteristic of romantic thought.
Examples of the sublime in this poem are numerous and often employ the use of
the human body as a metaphor.
“This is the female form,
A divine nimbus exhales from it from head to
foot,
It attracts with fierce undeniable attraction,
I am drawn by its breath as if I were no more
than a helpless vapor,
all falls aside but myself and it.”
In this selection, Whitman describes the female form in
romantic terms; “helpless vapor” and “divine nimbus” each respectively invoke
the ideas of the sublime and the transcendental. The female form is raised unto
a glorified state of perfection which leaves the spectator powerless in
comparison. Such imagery is a common staple of romantic expression and
encourages an idealistic view of the world and a notion that man is overall a
figure of benevolence.
These romantic concepts are contrasted by realism, which represents the more
cynical end in the spectrum of American literature. It is a form of expression
which differs drastically from romanticism, focusing on the negative aspects
existence and its harsh realities. In Whitman's The
Wound-Dresser, the differences from the previous
work are more than evident; it is a piece which prefers precise descriptions to
metaphor and has a fixation on the repercussions of war. It is the tale of a man
hardened by war and is forced to witness its devastation as a dresser of wounds.
It lacks the lush metaphor and language of the Body
Electric in favor of precise language and a
realistic motif of categorization.
“Bearing the bandages,
water and sponge,
Straight and
swift to my wounded I go,
Where
they lie on the ground after the battle brought in,
Where their priceless blood reddens the grass the ground.”
This selection is a series of realistic
depictions which lack the floral language and humane idealism of romanticism.
Instead, it focuses on the harsh realities of war to promote a different aspect
of humanity; one that portrays mankind as a helpless figure rather than an
omnipotent one. The implied characters of the
Wound-Dresser are helpless in relation to the
suffering induced by war. These and others are motifs which characterize
realism, a method of expression which tends to dwell on the inescapable
realities of modernity, in this case our increased capability to wage
destructive war.
In their inherent differences, there are also crucial similarities between
romanticism and realism. Both are ways to bring attention to the human question,
as both are seeking to ascertain the nature of humanity through intellectual
thought. They are often used in conjunction in order to bring awareness to harsh
realities, using romantic concepts as an argument for change. An examples of
this is seen in Whitman's piece I Sing the Body
Electric when he recounts a slave auction which was
taking place.
“Exquisite senses, life-lit eyes, pluck,
volition,
Flakes of breast-muscle, pliant backbone and
neck, flesh not flabby, good-sized arms and legs,
And wonders within there yet.
Within there runs blood,
The same old blood! the same red-running
blood!
There swells and jets a heart, there all
passions, desires, reachings, aspirations.”
This is a sudden break from the rest of
the poem, which until the seventh stanza had been primarily about the beauty of
humanity. This is an example of mixing both romantic and realist concepts; the
equity of all human beings is an enlightened concept which promotes a universal
mankind. One that does not make distinctions on the grounds of race or
ethnicity. Similar arguments were used by abolitionist authors who used romantic
ideas as justification for their arguments. The realist aspect lies in both his
precise descriptions and his very acknowledgment of the act of slavery. Like in
The Wound-Dresser,
Whitman is pointing out a societal flaw. In this case, the slave trade as an
unjust system that degrades fellow human beings.
From an outward glance,
the notions of romanticism and realism are inherently contrasting ideologies of
thought and expression, and this is not entirely false. However, they are
methods with similar motivations and are able to be used together for a specific
purpose. Walt Whitman does so spectacularly, creating works of art which are
complex, meaningful and lasting. This synthesis of ideas is a characteristic of
the period, and an apt representation for a genre as multi-faceted as American
literature.
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