Critics
during the mid 1800’s when Walt Whitman, a young man from West Hill, New York
first started to have his own poetry published, the critics were not very
receptive to his unique poetic style. According to (MSN Encarta.Com), Whitman’s
approach towards poetry was very different in contrast to traditional rules of
rhythm and meter that other writers at the time followed. Whitman used personal
and unusual dynamics in his writings to set himself apart from other poets.
At
the time, Whitman faced immense criticism for his work, especially for his
first edition of “Leaves of Grass” which wasn’t embraced by the public
initially. Then according to (MSN Encarta.Com), essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson
praised Whitman’s unique writing abilities; in fact, he was most impressed with
his Whitman’s now most famous writings in the “Leaves of Grass.” Whiteman was
so appreciative of Emerson’s praise that in the second edition of “Leaves of
Grass” he published the positive review Emerson had wrote in a latter rendition
of the poems.
At
this point in Walt Whitman’s career he was considered by his peers and by the
general public to be one the more popular poets of his generation. Because of
his large body of works I can only assume that he made quite a nice living
through his poems and publishing. Also, to help make ends meet Whitman took a
job for the government with the Department of the Interior, but according to
(MSN Encarta), was later terminated after being discovered to be the author of
“Leaves of Grass.”
Walt
Whitman’s legacy as one of America’s most popular and unique poets is
solidified through his many works, but some from the African American community
has criticized Whitman recently for his lack of portrayal of African Americans
and the role they played in the Civil War. According to
(Classroomelectric.org), Martin Klammer criticizes Whitman for writing so much
about the Civil war and the experiences he had, but does not include in detail
any great amount of insight about how much black people in the war contributed.
The only example where Whitman makes it a point mention African Americans in
his writing is in the poem, “Ethiopia Saluting the Colors.” Which is about a
black woman watching Sherman’s troops march. Klammer goes on to criticize the
manner of which the poem is written saying, “the syntactically awkward pattern
of the main charter’s speech and from the stilled rhythms and rhyming scheme is
uncharacteristic of Whitman verse.”
