After the Civil War is when the Whitman myth really starts to take off, says Melvin. He writes so many things that speak across purposes and he presents it to you and you have to deal with it. There's a photograph that's taken of him with a butterfly perched on his finger. It's a fake butterfly, but it looks really good. But what was his attitude towards same-sex love? That's a really interesting question,. And it's difficult for us to think ourselves into the attitudes of towardsSame-sex love in the 19th century.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the highly influential American poet Walt Whitman.
In 1855 Whitman was working as a printer, journalist and property developer when he published his first collection of poetry. It began:
I celebrate myself,
And what I assume you shall assume
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
The book was called Leaves of Grass. In it, Whitman set out to break away from European literary forms and traditions. Using long lines written in free verse, he developed a poetry meant to express a distinctively American outlook.
Leaves of Grass is full of verse that celebrates both the sovereign individual, and the deep fellowship between individuals. Its optimism about the American experience was challenged by the Civil War and its aftermath, but Whitman emerged as a celebrity and a key figure in the development of American culture.
With
Sarah Churchwell
Professor of American Literature and the Public Understanding of the Humanities at the University of London
Peter Riley
Lecturer in 19th Century American Literature at the University of Exeter
and
Mark Ford
Professor of English and American Literature at University College London
Producer Luke Mulhall