Walt Whitman’s Journalism

Abstract

Walt Whitman wrote that his poetry volume Leaves of Grass (1855) grew from cultural ground that was “already ploughed and manured”; he declared that it was “useless to attempt reading the book without first carefully tallying that preparatory background.”¹ Much of this preparation came in the form of the writings he contributed to newspapers during the two decades just before Leaves of Grass appeared. Exploring this journalistic apprentice work puts the lie to the standard view of Whitman as a solitary rebel against an American culture that was tame, prudish, or sentimental. To the contrary, many characteristics of Whitman’s poetry—its defiance, its radical democracy, its sexual candor, its innovative imagery and rhythms—reflect his long-term participation in new forms of boisterous journalism that mirrored Jacksonian America’s bumptious spirit in a time of urban growth, territorial expansion, and zestful reform movements. Whitman experimented with virtually every type of journalistic writing then popular, whose themes and images fed directly into his major poetry. If journalism helped generate his themes, it also led him to view poetry as the surest means of healing his nation, which was on the verge of unraveling due to the slavery controversy.