Whitman

A Study

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Pages: 141

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About this book

Whitman: A Study by John Burroughs argues that understanding Whitman requires allowing the poet a law of his own and following the clues he provides. The study contrasts demands for formal beauty and formal art with a standard drawn from organic nature that demands the vital and characteristic. The discussion says Whitman's greatest value lies more in what the poet suggests and implies than in what the poet portrays.

The argument about poetic practice says using regular verse forms and verse language requires much less poetic capital than dispensing with them. Whitman is described as fearing the beauty disease and thinking a poet of the first order should be sparing in the direct use of the beautiful.

About the author

John Burroughs

John Burroughs (1837-1921) was an American essayist and farmer from New York's Catskills who published more than two dozen books on birds, seasons, and country life. A friend of Whitman, Roosevelt, and Edison, he was among the most widely read naturalists of his day.