Sample Student Research Project 2012
Journal
LITR
4232 American Renaissance
Sample Student Research Project 2012
Journal
Stephanie Taylor
26 April 2012
Looking Through the Lens of the Romanticist:
Introduction
Literature is similar to stargazing. "When you look out into the night
sky, you're seeing the stars because of the light that has traveled from them to
you. It takes time for the light to reach you. Imagine you're looking at a star
that is 6,000 light years away. You're seeing that star as it was 6,000 years
ago,” (Talent).
Gazing at literature allows us to learn about the past. A piece of
literature allows the reader insight to the psyche of an author and his culture,
history, environment and influences. Influence changes person to person and over
the course of time, therefore each writer’s work is distinct to
his life. Dr. White described this
relationship between Romantic literature and human history by saying “There is
no history separate from what we write, or if there is, we can't imagine it.”
All the relational ties insinuate that there may be a bond that unites all of
them as one. The bond, it seems, is what the Transcendentalists called
correspondence.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the father of the Transcendentalist movement,
introduced a “correspondent revolution in things” (Emerson). His perspective
centered on “nature’s intimate relationship with the human and the divine”
(Turner). Emerson’s Transcendental theology without a doubt had a strong
influence on those around him and provided a framework for future writers to
use. Emerson unknowingly became the mentor and great motivator for Walt Whitman.
Whitman was struck by Emerson’s lectures about individualism and the mystical
harmonies of man and nature. Inspired by his theories, Walt Whitman began his
literary career by internalizing Emerson’s views of spiritual and natural
correspondence and electrified them with sexuality.
Sexuality, also referred to as eroticism, has been in literature for
centuries. Whitman began infusing sexuality throughout his poems beginning with
his first work, Leaves of Grass. The
sexuality in his work creates intimacy between the author and the reader, as
well as between the reader and the words. Whitman’s desire for intimacy with the
reader creates an erotic bond and allows the reader to connect to the words as
if they were their own. The introduction of eroticism to the world of Romantic
literature paved the way for future exploration.
Emerson’s influence on Whitman birthed a distinct point of view that used
elements of the Transcendentalist movement and traditional elements of
Romanticism. Whitman’s use of the sublime, correspondence, and a quest for
something greater (transcendence) created a clear image of sexuality in Romantic
literature. Through this lens other author’s identified themselves as erotic
risk takers in Romantic literature.
Authors that fit into the erotic Whitman lens used elements of Romantic
literature and bonded with the reader. The first author I related to Whitman’s
sexuality was Sharon Olds. She uses the sublime to pull the reader deep inside a
struggle with beauty and terror. A correspondence between Olds and the reader is
linked by pleasure and pain. Florence Welch describes her desire to create music
that transcends. Transcendence places her alongside Olds and Whitman in the
Romantic sphere. Her poetic song uses color to exemplify the sublime. A sexual
awakening presents itself in the poem for the subject of the song and
corresponds with the reader.
After all the words were devoured and I had a clear understanding of what
sexuality was in Romantic writing, I knew Whitman would serve as the defining
“father” or reference I would use to analyze Olds and Welch. The path that led
to sexually charged Romantic literature began with my exhibitionist muse. His
poetry broke rules and set standards for intimacy and sexuality in literature.
By tracing sexuality and Romanticism back in time, I defined Walt Whitman’s
Romantic literature as the erotic model to which all other authors will be
assessed and therefore can develop a deeper understanding of sexuality through
Romantic elements.
Indicators of sexuality in literature
Indicators of sexuality in literature harmonize with Romanticism.
Desires, individualism, and a connection or sentimental love of nature are all
elements of Romanticism. These same Romantic elements also surface in the erotic
in literature. An atmosphere that is grandiose, terrifying or orgasmic portrays
sublimity. Dark and light colors, contrasting seasons and day and night are all
elements of the Romantic that can induce erotic imagery. An upward or rising
motion when used in sexually charged writing creates a feeling of climax,
transcendence, or orgasm. In this way the author can share his escalating
euphoria with the reader and at its climax the two become united.
Romantic literature uses overt and subtle sexual references to illustrate
eroticism. Through the sublime, sexuality can be shown through a heightened
circumstance or an encounter with death. Longinus, the author of “On the
Sublime,” says that the sublime implies that man can, in emotions and in
language; transcend the limits of the human condition. Sublimity is used to
awaken an emotional response in the reader and muddle rationality. The emotional
response aroused in the reader creates an intimate connection between the writer
and the reader.
The creation of intimacy between the author and the audience can also be
viewed as a correspondence. Through an emotional response, the author breaks
through the normal boundary between author and reader, thus penetrating the
reader. Intimacy between the self and the natural world also surfaces in
Romantic literature. “The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses
are still truly adjusted to each other; who
has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood.
His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food”
(Emerson). Emerson “creates the notion that man cannot be fully united with
himself unless he “satisfies all the demands of the spirit” (Emerson). When a
path to unification with nature is driven by an individual’s spiritual
satisfaction, eroticism can be introduced to exemplify this form of
correspondence.
Eroticism in the Work of Walt Whitman
As previously mentioned, Whitman’s work drew early inspiration from Ralph
Waldo Emerson. Emerson created a theology based on the individual. The
individual is capable of great power and should seek to unify himself with
nature, so that he can transcend into the sublime. Emerson’s influence on
Whitman made him yearn for intimacy with the world and with his reader. My first
sexual encounter with Whitman was in “Song of Myself”. The poem has a directly
addresses (and undresses) the reader and has an intimate tone. The poem
dissipates the separation between the author and the reader.
I celebrate myself, and sing myself
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
By speaking directly to the reader, Whitman invites the reader to the
table as an equal. He penetrates the normal separation between creative
authority and submissive reader. Whitman drops his security blanket and allows
the reader to unite himself with the author
.
The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is
odorless,
It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,
I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,
I am mad for it to be in contact with me.
The smoke of my own breath,
My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood
and air through my lungs,
The sound of the belch’d words of my voice loos’d to the eddies of the wind.
Karen Oakes points out that in this section of the poem, Whitman “makes
love with nature.” Whitman is pleading for intercourse and consumption. Whitman
takes on the role of feminine and is “undisguised and naked” waiting for
penetration by the masculine nature. The use of “smoke” and “blood” creates an
image of the sublime. The terror evoked in the use of these words contrasts the
desire for oneness with nature, yet supports a feeling of ecstasy through
pleasure and pain.
Leaves of Grass
was first published by Whitman in 1855. This collection of poems praises nature
and the individual’s role in it. The poem was met with criticism because of its
free verse form, sexual innuendos, and exultation of the body. In chapter 32 of
Leaves of Grass, another injection of eroticism made itself known.
A gigantic beauty of a stallion, fresh and responsive to my caresses,
Head high in the forehead, wide between the ears,
Limbs glossy and supple, tail dusting the ground,
Eyes full of sparkling wickedness, ears finely cut, flexibly moving.
His nostrils dilate as my heels embrace him,
His well-built limbs tremble with pleasure as we race around and return.
This poem titled “Songs of Myself” suggests a homoerotic relationship.
The word stallion is defined by
Wikipedia as a “male horse” who is “prone to aggressive behavior”. The masculine
(stallion) responds to his caresses. By allowing the stallion to respond to him,
Whitman plays the role of the feminine. The feminine and the masculine
correspond to each other and create a feeling of the erotic in the reader. The
descriptions in “Songs of Myself” are sexually suggestive and create an
atmosphere that is sublime. “Glossy,” “supple,” and “gigantic” illustrate a
beautiful and grand subject. That beauty and grand proportion contrasted with
the image of a stallion that is “wicked,” muscular and preparing for a battle,
exemplify the traditional example of the sublime. The art of seduction becomes
one of great power and influence for Whitman.
In Whitman’s original version of “Song for Occupations” he emphasizes the
body and sexual relations between the poet and reader. Even in the title word
“occupations” action is insinuated. Whitman seems to say this is a tribute to
the physical bond between us.
Come closer to me,
Push close my lovers and take the best I possess,
Yield closer and closer and give me the best you possess.
Whitman’s physical, literal proximity strikes the reader with the force
of a sexual encounter. There is no boundary between the author and the reader.
Whitman addresses the reader directly and invites a coital interaction of “give”
and “take”. Whitman’s willingness to write about sex in a morally dominated
world shows just how fiercely he believed in Emerson’s call to the poet to
“stand and strive”. Walt Whitman stands before his audience bare, ready to “give
himself” to the “call” of the “tender” singer without worry of the societal or
personal wounds.
“I Sing the Body Electric” as it was originally written in 1855 embodies
a relationship of two equals. Whitman succinctly portrayed a relationship that
was driven by sexuality or arousal.
The bodies of men and women engirth me, and I engirth them,
They will not let me off nor I them till I go with them and
respond to them and love them.
Whitman uses the word “engirth” to create a vision of the submissive “me”
that is surrounded and consumed by the “bodies” (sexuality). The responsive
“engirth” performed by the submissive creates a balanced equality between the
submissive and the dominant. Therefore, the equality binds the two in a
consensual sexual relationship that is “undulating into the willing and yielding
day” (Whitman). In the second line, until is used to introduce an ultimatum.
There is no escape from “the bodies of men and women” until Whitman or the
reader “responds to them” and “loves them” (Whitman).
Eroticism in the work of Sharon Olds
Sharon Olds is one of contemporary poetry’s leading voices. Olds has won
numerous awards, including the Nation Book Critics Circle Award. Her poetry is
praised for its sensitive portrayal of emotional states and the clever use the
sublime. The Poetry Foundation described how the colorful events of her poems
are always rendered in sharply realized images that cut quickly from the gory to
the beautiful and back again.
The next day, I am almost afraid.
love? It was more like dragonflies
in the sun, 100 degrees at noon,
the ends of their abdomens stuck together, I
close my eyes when I remember. I hardly
knew myself, like something twisting and
twisting out of a chrysalis,
enormous, without language, all
head, all shut eyes, and the humming
like madness, the way they writhe away,
In this piece of her poem “Last Night,” a feeling of sublime is loosed
from the start. “Afraid” and “love” are written next to one another and the
contrast between the two feelings is stark. The contrast sets a tone for the
reader to enter the poem with heightened emotional perception. This same sublime
relationship between pleasure and pain is one of Whitman’s common themes.
Chrysalis is defined by Merriam-Webster as protective covering and as the
enclosing case or pupa of a butterfly. The female subject of the poem “closes
her eyes to remember” and reminisces on a memory of a coming of age tale.
“Twisting” and “humming” out of the “chrysalis” portrays a struggle with self
and nature. Her use of nature and the self remind me of the great influence that
travelled from Emerson to Whitman and then extended to other authors like Olds.
The memory reminds the woman how she “hardly knew herself” and how she was just
like a top-heavy, (enormous; all head) clumsy toddler (without language) who
tears through a room without fear of consequence. This excerpt corroborates
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s idea that the “world exists to the soul to satisfy the
desire of beauty”. The “desire of beauty” becomes the desire of the spirit or
individual and is satisfied through intercourse with nature.
After, you held my hands extremely hard as my
body moved in shudders like the ferry
when its
axle loosed past engagement, you kept me
sealed exactly against you, our hairlines
wet as the arc of a gateway after
a cloudburst, you secured me in your arms till I slept –
This portion of “Last Night” invites the reader to take on the role of
the masculine force that is penetrating the submissive woman. The use of “you”
in the poem places the reader directly in the face of action and imparts the
reader a role in the sexual encounter. The author’s use of the sublime in this
poem is clearly meant to display the woman’s conflict between the emotional and
the physical. The act of holding hands is very intimate and loving. Olds allows
the intimate act to be swallowed up by the “extremely hard” way the hands were
held. Intimacy or vulnerability that is linked to pain and consequence
demonstrates another sublime reference commonly found in Romantic literature
with eroticism. The author’s use of “arc” and “gateway” create an illusion of
upward movement. Through this ascending illusion the reader soars beyond the
senses (Transcendentalism) and climaxes alongside the woman. Even as the climax
subsides and the fog clears the desire is not lost for good. By achieving the
climax or attaining the desired intimacy the allure in the intimacy is lost for
the woman. In the acceptance of that loss, the woman’s (Romantic) desire is
again ignited and the cycle of desire and loss is revived.
Eroticism in Florence Welch’s: Florence + the Machine
After discovering sexuality in traditional poetry, I was interested to
find a source relevant to me today. Musing over things I have read and listened
to recently reminded me of the fast approaching Florence and The Machine concert
I purchased tickets for. Florence and the Machine is a band formed in 2007 with
Florence Welch as its driving force. Florence Welch is a 25 year old ingénue who
describes music as a “kind of magic that lifts you up and takes you somewhere
else. . . It’s something overwhelming and all-encompassing that fills you up,
and you’re either going to explode with it, or you’re just going to disappear.”
The poetic song, Howl, takes on the all-encompassing nature she envisioned.
Whitman’s most common Romantic themes are embedded throughout this Welch song.
My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my way in
You are the moon that breaks
the night for which I have to howl
My fingers claw your skin, try to tear my
way in
You are the moon that breaks the night for which I have to
The fabric of your flesh, pure as a wedding dress
Until I wrap myself inside
your arms I cannot rest
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been
unbound
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallow'd ground
Much like the poetry of Whitman and Olds, Welch’s song intertwines feral
sexual nature with human nature or the spirit within. Welch creates a person who
is desperate to explain her feelings and actions to the subject of the song, her
lover. By using the words “you” and “I” she personalizes the song to allow the
reader to transcend the place of passivity. “You” allows the reader to converse
with the author on the same plane. The author’s desires to amalgamate the reader
to herself allow the words to (penetrate) “claw his skin”. After the reader is
seized, emotions are no longer simply given, they are shared. “You are the moon
that breaks the night for which I have to howl” assigns the reader
responsibility in the author’s sexual awakening and unbridled love. As a whole,
the song represents an intimate conjugation between two people.
The use of words like “blood” “pure” as well as references to a “wedding
dress” and “saints” creates an atmosphere of eroticism in the sublime. Much of
the song uses non-literal references to pain, blood, and beasts. The language
creates a gothic love story that parallels the life of a blood-thirsty werewolf.
“You are the moon,” is a reference to the folklore about werewolves, which says
a man must change into a werewolf at the full moon. The author uses the moon to
symbolize the depth of her desire and that she will “hunt for him” eternally
because the desire stems from the recesses of her genetic makeup. “Drag my teeth
across your beating heart,” is a metaphor for her hopeless need to gain physical
contact and intimate communication in order to feel secure. Again, later, the
desires at the pit of her soul call her to become one with her love, when she
says, “the beast howls in my veins”. The song’s interplay between dark and
light, beauty and terror, as well as its clear relationship to a correspondence
between reader and author allow the sexuality in the poem to stand out and the
song to clearly represent the same Romanticist view held by Whitman.
Conclusion
When I started writing this paper and reading excerpts from authors to
find evidence of sexuality or eroticism, I was aimlessly roaming. My search led
me to many authors who do not employ sexuality in their writing, as well as many
authors who do. My paper began as a journey to connect Emerson and Whitman by
the theme of sexuality, but turned into a wonderful learning experience driven
by Whitman’s erotic inspiration.
Historically, overt sexuality or anything that could be deemed “obscene”
in literature were grounds for public scorn, ridicule and even legal trouble. As
time progressed the laws against “pornographic” or “erotic” literature were
changed to accept material that had “literary worth”. Early oppression of a
writer’s sexual freedom seems to have a distinct impact on the future of
eroticism. Whitman’s writing slowly departed from overt sexuality to a repressed
and detached intimacy (if intimate at all) with his audience. Today authors
still face consequence and failure if their view of sexuality or use of it does
not fall in line with the masses.
Sublimity represented itself as clearly embedded in sexual literature.
Whitman’s poems use heightened allusions to dark and light colors and experiment
with the relationship between ecstasy and terror. His use of the classic
Romantic elements to produce erotic literature created a rubric to defining
erotic in other literature. Using the Romantic elements discovered in Whitman’s
work allowed me to understand Sharon Olds poem, “Last Night” and the erotic in
it. Her poetry awakens an emotional response in the reader and invites a
connection between the author and reader. By the time I read Florence Welch’s
lyrical poetry the Romantic elements appeared without a fight.
Emerson began a movement that heralded individualism and oneness with
nature. His influence trickled down to Whitman as well as the majority of
America. Emerson’s influence on Whitman provided him with the courage to
transcend normal subjects and styles and incorporate sexuality in literature. He
wrote foremost as a Romantic and therefore the sexuality in his poems were
brought to life by common elements of the Romantic Movement. The Romantic
elements such as gothic, the sublime and correspondence all contributed to the
meaning and understanding of eroticism in the context of the literature.
Whitman’s beautiful and seamless use of Romantic elements in erotic literature
“functions like a motherboard” housing many pupils, including Olds and Welch,
ready to receive a “power surge” from his imagination which serves as “the whole
river of electricity” (Klatt).
Works Cited
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “On Nature”. http://www.rwe.org/
Klatt, L.S. “The Electric Whitman”. The
Southern Review. 44.2 (Spring 2008): 231. Literature Resource Center. Web.
12 April 2012.
Lauritsen, John. “Love among the Romantics”.
The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide
9.5 (September-October 2002): 11.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 12 April 2012.
Longinus. “On the Sublime”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longinus_%28literature%29
Merriam-Webster.com.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2012. Web. 20 April 2012.
Oakes, Karen. “’I stop somewhere waiting for you’: Whitman’s Femininity and the
Reader of Leaves of Grass.”
Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism.
205 (1990): 169-185. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 12 April 2012.
Olds, Sharon. “Last Night.” Knopf, 1996. Rpt. in
The Bedford Introduction to Literature.
9th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2011.
816. Print.
Talent, David. “Stars and Stellar Evolution.” University of Houston at Clear
Lake. 3 March 2012. Lecture.
Turner, Frederick. Smithsonian Magazine.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/ahead-of-his-time.html?c=y&page=2
Welch, Florence. “Howl.” Florence and the
Machine: Lungs. Island, 2009. CD.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. 1855.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. 9th
ed. 1891.
