Whitman’s Poetry
Whitman’s reference to sexuality
As a decorated 19th century poet, Whitman is one of the American poets who have unapologetically used sexuality in a majority of their poems. When it comes to sexuality, Maslan (2001) is convinced that Whitman does not read from the same script with his contemporaries. Indeed, due to a number of suggestive references and some sexual undertones his poems are laced with, Whitman has variously been thought to have been bisexual.
For instance, in his poem “a woman waits for me,” he writes ‘without shame the man I like knows and avows the deliciousness of his sex….’ (3.2). It is important to note that at the time he as composing poems, there was a significant formalization of social standards and hence in that regard, discussing sex (let alone writing about it) was largely taken to be a taboo
.Despite this however, Whitman went ahead to stir the conservative by his blatant sex denotations in a majority of his poems. Further, the explicitly with which he goes about bringing out the issue of sexuality is largely surprising given the prevailing circumstances at the time. For instance, in “a woman waits for me,” Whitman writes ‘I pour the stuff to start sons and daughters…’ (7.4).
This is just but an example of how graphic some lines in Whitman’s poems were.It is important to note that though there is indeed a sparring reference of women in Whitman’s works, his sexual tendencies are often confusing and this is perhaps what Kummings (2009) means by stating that though Whitman was brave to speak about sexuality with such openness then, it is largely not clear “how straight his arrow flies.”In conclusion, it may be good to note that though sexuality remains to be a contentious issue in regard to Whitman’s life as well as work, his skill in poetry cannot be overstated.
References
Maslan, M. (2001). Whitman possessed: poetry, sexuality, and popular authority. JHU Press
Kummings, D.D. (2009). A Companion to Walt Whitman. John Wiley and Sons
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