Journal #37: Criticism of Whitman

Walt Whitman was a very esteemed poet of the realism/modernism literary period. He wrote many poems about many things, but most of them have one thing in common. They have a form of Self in them, as described by Walt Whitman. The Self included a spiritual self, a personal identifying self, and how others viewed one's self. All of these are tired together to create the true and real Self that makes up a person. All of these aspects are seen in his poems. A criticism of Walt Whitman's Self, by Mark Bauerlein, discusses the views of Whitman's poems. "To express a self. To display a 'Personality' 'uncompromisingly' with a limpid style, a transparent form that ardently renders an identity in all its plenitude and immediacy. This is the 'special desire and conviction' that incite Whitman to write 'Song of Myself,' a personal epic in which, with sustained narcissism, Whitman freely explores his ego in an original style, in a structureless narrative, in free verse form, in brazen play and naked confession." (Bauerlein)

This criticism discusses Walt Whitman's narcissism from different view points and how that played into his poems. The views are interesting, but Bauerlein presents an interesting point. "Whitman's target is his own ego-centered poetry, that which was to manifest his ego. But, it was also the only means of freeing his ego, leaving Whitman in a tragic double-bind" (Bauerlein). The ego that he talks about is the first sense that one feels when reading Whitman's poems. His definition of Self is intertwined with the poems, and because of that, they come off egotistical. However, Walt Whitman needed to do this in order to be less egotistical, which does present a double problem, because in vouching his ego, he simply regained it. This interesting point is completely valid with Walt Whitman's poem and definitions of Self. It provides a reason for the writing of Whitman in the first place, and it provides a reason of why and how Whitman wrote the way he did. The view of others is described in the egotistical aspect of Self, and the view that this was a way to end his narcissism is valid with the personal and identifying aspect of Self. All in all, Mark Bauerlein's points tie into Walt Whitman's defintion of Self and his own writing career.

Works Cited

Bauerlein, Mark. "Whitman's Language of the Self." American Imago 44, no. 2 (Summer 1987). Quoted as "Whitman's Language of the Self" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Song of Myself, Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts on File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=1&iPin=MCISOM004&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 27, 2011).