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 9
... evidence shows that Whitman had developed most of the principal features of his world view before 1855 and that all of them find at least rudimentary expression in the 1855 Preface and " Song of Myself . " Whitman may or may not have ...
... evidence shows that Whitman had developed most of the principal features of his world view before 1855 and that all of them find at least rudimentary expression in the 1855 Preface and " Song of Myself . " Whitman may or may not have ...
Page 162
... evidence of a sexual relationship . The most interesting fact about Whitman's notebook jottings of 1870 is not that they reveal his homosexual inclinations , but that they disclose his evalua- tion of them as abnormal and to be ...
... evidence of a sexual relationship . The most interesting fact about Whitman's notebook jottings of 1870 is not that they reveal his homosexual inclinations , but that they disclose his evalua- tion of them as abnormal and to be ...
Page 168
... evidence for an intended homo- sexual theme . The Quietness of Manly Love Another set of revisions that have been frequently cited as evidence of Whitman's concern to camouflage his homosexuality are the changes made in the manuscript ...
... evidence for an intended homo- sexual theme . The Quietness of Manly Love Another set of revisions that have been frequently cited as evidence of Whitman's concern to camouflage his homosexuality are the changes made in the manuscript ...
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