I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.įor every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. The day what belongs to the day-at night the party of The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wifeĪt work, or of the girl sewing or washing,Įach singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, The deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank and beam,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,Ĭheerful, for freest action form’d under the laws divine, Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse. One’s-self I sing, a simple separate person,

Why was Whitman’s work considered both controversial and groundbreaking at the time he wrote it?.

Which transcendentalist principles does Whitman try to convey to his audience?.

Who was the intended audience of this anthology?.

Whitman went on to publish several more editions of his anthology that included new poems that touched on a variety of subjects, including the Civil War. Nevertheless, Whitman succeeded in winning over a number of American readers, including the prominent transcendentalist writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. Some of Whitman’s readers viewed his book as highly controversial because his poems addressed issues of sexuality and criticized the institution of slavery. Throughout his work, Whitman departed from traditional poetic techniques and used free verse, which gave his poetry a tone that was less rhythmic and more conversational than traditional poems. He also demonstrated a respect for the natural environment as he marveled at the beauty inherent in the various American landscapes he frequented. In his poems, Whitman revealed himself as a champion of the individual and of the working classes as he celebrated the achievements of ordinary men and women in a rapidly industrializing nation. These poems touched on a variety of themes central to the transcendentalist movement. In 1855, Walt Whitman published 12 poems in a collection entitled Leaves of Grass.

Students can use this activity with the Henry David Thoreau, “Slavery in Massachusetts,” 1854 Primary Source to develop a better understanding of transcendentalism and the issues that were of concern to transcendentalists in the mid-nineteenth century.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman