Minor Prophecy: Walt Whitman's New American ReligionIndiana University Press, 1989 - 240 pages Many of Walt Whitman's earliest readers hailed him as a religious prophet. For them, Leaves of Grass was more than literary art; it was sacred scripture. Recent scholarship has, however, dismissed those early enthusiasts as naive, if not crazy. David Kuebrich's new study of Whitman corrects that academic oversight by giving the early Whitmanites their due as the critics who most clearly perceived the nature and purpose of the poet's labors—to begin a new religion. Kuebrich's thorough, intelligent study, based squarely on textual evidence, offers a revisionist interpretation of America's great poet, returning religious vision and spirituality to the center of Whitman studies. |
From inside the book
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Page 34
... Union was but one unit of a larger phalanx of Protes- tant organizations being marshalled to evangelize the United States and the world ( for example , the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions , established in 1810 ...
... Union was but one unit of a larger phalanx of Protes- tant organizations being marshalled to evangelize the United States and the world ( for example , the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions , established in 1810 ...
Page 182
... union with his readers . Whitman recognized that a deeply felt sense of union with earlier exemplary figures of a moral tradition is crucial to the dedication of later members , espe- cially when their commitment to this tradition ...
... union with his readers . Whitman recognized that a deeply felt sense of union with earlier exemplary figures of a moral tradition is crucial to the dedication of later members , espe- cially when their commitment to this tradition ...
Page 205
... Union declared their cause " must and will universally prevail before the world shall be filled with the knowledge and glory of God " ; they asked Christian ministers to " co - operate with us in a work which more than any other will ...
... Union declared their cause " must and will universally prevail before the world shall be filled with the knowledge and glory of God " ; they asked Christian ministers to " co - operate with us in a work which more than any other will ...
Contents
Reconsidering Whitmans Intention | 1 |
A New Religion | 12 |
Interpreting Historys Meaning | 27 |
Copyright | |
8 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
afterlife American antebellum argued asserts belief body Brooklyn Daily Eagle Calamus Christian mysticism church Civil conceived consciousness cosmology Cradle creation critics culture democracy Democratic depicts describes discussion divine earlier earth edition Emerson Emory Holloway ence Essays evolutionary existence faith freedom Gay Wilson Allen God's homosexual human human sexuality Ibid ideas immanent immortality interpretation Kuebrich later Leaves of Grass Lilacs literature male manly love millennial millennialist millennium Miller modern moral nation natural fact night passage perfect perfectionism phrenology poem's poems poet poet's poetic political present Press proclaim progress prophet race Ralph Waldo Emerson readers realization reform religion religious cosmology religious democracy religious experience religious symbols religious vision sense sexual society Song soul soul's spiritual development stars suggests theme theory thought tion traditional transcendent understanding Union Univ universe Walt Whitman Whit Whitman believed Whitman's poetry women world view York