Walt Whitman's Rebel "Yawp"

Walt Whitman is the bridge connecting the romantic idealism of the early 19th century and the realism and changed realities of the post-war period. He greatly impacted American literature with the publication of Leaves of Grass in 1855, and he is often referred to as the father of modern poetry. He believed poetry should embrace every aspect of life, and in his poems he wrote without apology on subjects that had previously been excluded as ugly or shameful. He embodied the modern democratic man who would speak of all things without hindrance. His poetry celebrates the "divine condition" of being alive with an intensity that unites all forms of life without discrimination. He was the voice of all people and all things.

Emily Dickinson's "Letter to the World"

Emily Dickinson describes her standards for judging poetry in the following quotation: "If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any way?" Her intense poems celebrate nature, describe love, and personify death. She addresses the great mystery of the universe and of life, and she wrote these passionate verses from the solitary viewpoint of her house and garden. She, herself, is a mystery because she lived a life of solitude and self-exile, closed off from the world and from interaction with other people. It is as if she lived outside of life in order to observe her surroundings and have a unique, unclouded view of life she might not have otherwise had. What emotions does her poetry produce in you? Do you find her poetry to be dark and moody, or light and optimistic? Does knowledge of her personal life elucidate the ideas in her poetry? Can we see evidence of Romanticism or Transcendentalism, or perhaps Puritanism and Anti-Transcendentalism in her poetry?

Romanticism to Realism

By 1865, there was a general change in our perception of human potential versus experience; writers and thinkers concerned themselves less with aspirations and more with actual existence in America. The New England Renaissance was waning, and the ideas of Romanticism and Transcendentalism were diminishing in influence. Romantic writers had examined human nature apart from society, isolated and absorbed by the imagination and inner reflection, concerned with ultimate questions about the universe. After the conclusion of the American War between the States in 1865, a age that is referred to as the Post-War Period, writers tended to treat everyday human problems in complex social settings. These writers were not concerned with metaphysical questions; they focused their attention and interest in human experiences. This movement is known as Realism.

Anti-Transcendentalism

Not everyone was enamoured of the Transcendental philosophy expounded by Emerson and Thoreau. To some of their contemporaries, Emerson and Thoreau were out of touch with reality and failed to account for human weaknesses, such as evil, greed, and selfishness. We can classify this wave of thinking as Anti-Transcendentalist because it directly opposed Transcendentalism. The most notable names are Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter and "The Minister's Black Veil," and Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick. Unlike their more optimistic contemporaries, Hawthorne and Melville felt human nature to be contradictory, full of good and evil. They also believed rules to be a necessity to control the vices and impulses of our dissolute human society. The reader can discern elements of Puritanism because many of their characters seem to have in innate "sinful" nature, much like original sin, that affects their decisions and leads them astray; therefore, it would be unwise to suggest to the world to follow our instincts and intuition because our natural inclination is to follow selfish or evil urges and desires. What elements of Anti-Transcendentalism can you identify in the writing of Hawthorne and Melville? How do the characters of Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, Reverend Hooper, or Captain Ahab represent these ideas?