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. |
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Page 5
... close analysis of Whitman's achievement ; and in the succeeding decades , although the Leaves has received more intensive scrutiny , it has continued to prove itself strangely resistant to a close reading . This resistance derives from ...
... close analysis of Whitman's achievement ; and in the succeeding decades , although the Leaves has received more intensive scrutiny , it has continued to prove itself strangely resistant to a close reading . This resistance derives from ...
Page 77
... Close of the Day " ) Lesser shorelines in the Leaves can also function in the same way . For in- stance , in " Calamus ” when Whitman presents a form of spiritual love that is an anticipation of the divine love he will know after death ...
... Close of the Day " ) Lesser shorelines in the Leaves can also function in the same way . For in- stance , in " Calamus ” when Whitman presents a form of spiritual love that is an anticipation of the divine love he will know after death ...
Page 150
... close companionship of men . Not surprisingly , Marxist critics have also emphasized the political signifi- cance of Whitman's comradeship . For instance , the Brazilian scholar Gilberto Freyre , who has made the best Marxist reading of ...
... close companionship of men . Not surprisingly , Marxist critics have also emphasized the political signifi- cance of Whitman's comradeship . For instance , the Brazilian scholar Gilberto Freyre , who has made the best Marxist reading of ...
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