The poem “Beautiful Women” is one Walt Whitman’s shortest writings, but is a very powerful poem that is direct and to the point. The Poem was written in 1900 and was included in the final edition of “Leaves of Grass” right before Whiteman had past on in 1902. The poem itself can be interpreted as an ode to women, comparing the beauty of a younger woman to beauty of an older woman.

            For this poem I decided to analyze through the feminist approach, because even though Whitman is expressing how attractive women are and the beauty they posses it has a lot to do with their age and not with any other aspect of a women. What makes this poem so appropriate for the feminist approach is how Whitman introduces the poem. Whitman starts the poem off by stating, “Women sit, or move to and fro-some old, some young” to me, Whitman views women in this poem as objects and is exploiting their outer beauty rather than the beauty that comes from within. Also, Whiteman in that same quote expressed that beautiful women come and go no matter what their age may be.

            This poem could be interpreted in variety of ways; what I think makes it so unique is how short the poem is. Also, I think that Whitman did this intentionally to make the reader really think whether or not he is reducing women to physical appearances, or if he is making a point that women as they get older and the outer beauty fades, but their inner beauty becomes more apparent. Either way, the physical beauty of women is the main focus and theme of this particular poem.