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 45
... suggests that he thought that at least one major obstacle to the millennium , sexual repression , could be speedily removed . Later , as he wrote " Children of Adam " and " Calamus " for the 1860 Leaves , Whitman believed that he was ...
... suggests that he thought that at least one major obstacle to the millennium , sexual repression , could be speedily removed . Later , as he wrote " Children of Adam " and " Calamus " for the 1860 Leaves , Whitman believed that he was ...
Page 150
... suggests that it is the state of consciousness induced in the soul by comradeship , more than anything else , which provides the basis for man's belief in the existence of a higher spirit- ual order . In this notion , we have Whitman's ...
... suggests that it is the state of consciousness induced in the soul by comradeship , more than anything else , which provides the basis for man's belief in the existence of a higher spirit- ual order . In this notion , we have Whitman's ...
Page 191
... suggests in another 1860 poem , the main creation to others ? Poets to come ! orators , singers , musicians to come ! Arouse ! for you must justify me . Leaving it to you to prove and define it . Expecting the main things from you ...
... suggests in another 1860 poem , the main creation to others ? Poets to come ! orators , singers , musicians to come ! Arouse ! for you must justify me . Leaving it to you to prove and define it . Expecting the main things from you ...
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