Essay --

ans Sexual ThemeThrough expose subsequent editions of Leaves of Grass, Walt Whit military man introduces and revises his polemic stalk of sexuality. Whitman wanted to celebrate sexuality and did so with homosexual overtones. Any work will be considered controversial if it contains sexuality, but up until the mid-18th century quirkiness was and to be coined a sexual identity. Throughout Whitmans eight editions of Leaves of Grass (1855-1891-92), controversy arouse, stating his poetry contained trashy and obscene sexual language. Whitman argued the public was placing to a fault untold emphasis on the sexual content and not fully embracing his work as a whole. He held too much feel to blatantly change or censor his work but over time did make subtle alterations and omission of lines (Killingsworth). Early on, Whitman was inspired by Ralph Waldo Emersons 1843 essay, The Poet ( germ Profile.). Emerson called for an American poet to also celebrate the spirit and nature of man, to ce lebrate individualism instead of embracing the social order of things (Willcox). Whitman, optimistic with the new changes in American literature, set out to answer Emerson and embarked on a journey of becoming a rattling unique and great American poet (Author Profile.). Whitman experimented forever and a day with his editions of Leaves of Grass. Although the more blatantly obvious changes included his design through binding, paper size, and font style, the more thought provoking changes occurred overtime through revision. Upon completing, he displace out numerous review copies of his first edition receiving a notable response from Ralph Waldo Emerson welcoming him, at the beginning of a greet career. (Baym 22). overly Emersons quick, uplift response it was considere... ...ge in poetic style was difficult for his contemporaries to overcome, especially deriving from Whitman himself. His bolder topics and greater focus on nature and man is what fuel his poetry. Besides his w ritten poems, Whitman gave off this sense of everyday life through his frontispiece and title page of the first edition of Leaves of Grass. An image of Whitman himself is the frontispiece, bearded, one arm akimbo, gift in pocket, worksmans hat on his slightly cocked head, shirt unbuttoned at his collar, looking directly at the reader (Baym 21). His self-presentation of a rough working man was seen as absurdly unconventional for an artist. But thats just what Whitman wanted, he wanted to stir the pot and make people think differently. This frontispiece provides a very powerful lead-in to how Whitman was reshaping poetry to a more naturalistic perspective. Essay -- ans Sexual ThemeThroughout subsequent editions of Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman introduces and revises his controversial theme of sexuality. Whitman wanted to celebrate sexuality and did so with homosexual overtones. Any work will be considered controversial if it contains sexuality, but up until the mi d-18th century homosexuality was yet to be coined a sexual identity. Throughout Whitmans eight editions of Leaves of Grass (1855-1891-92), controversy arouse, stating his poetry contained trashy and obscene sexual language. Whitman argued the public was placing too much emphasis on the sexual content and not fully embracing his work as a whole. He held too much pride to blatantly change or censor his work but over time did make subtle alterations and omission of lines (Killingsworth). Early on, Whitman was inspired by Ralph Waldo Emersons 1843 essay, The Poet (Author Profile.). Emerson called for an American poet to also celebrate the spirit and nature of man, to celebrate individualism instead of embracing the social order of things (Willcox). Whitman, optimistic with the new changes in American literature, set out to answer Emerson and embarked on a journey of becoming a very unique and great American poet (Author Profile.). Whitman experimented constantly with his editions of L eaves of Grass. Although the more blatantly obvious changes included his design through binding, paper size, and font style, the more thought provoking changes occurred overtime through revision. Upon completing, he sent out numerous review copies of his first edition receiving a notable response from Ralph Waldo Emerson welcoming him, at the beginning of a greet career. (Baym 22). Besides Emersons quick, uplifting response it was considere... ...ge in poetic style was difficult for his contemporaries to overcome, especially deriving from Whitman himself. His bolder topics and greater focus on nature and man is what fueled his poetry. Besides his written poems, Whitman gave off this sense of everyday life through his frontispiece and title page of the first edition of Leaves of Grass. An image of Whitman himself is the frontispiece, bearded, one arm akimbo, hand in pocket, workingmans hat on his slightly cocked head, shirt unbuttoned at his collar, looking directly at the reade r (Baym 21). His self-presentation of a rough working man was seen as absurdly unconventional for an artist. But thats just what Whitman wanted, he wanted to stir the pot and make people think differently. This frontispiece provides a very powerful lead-in to how Whitman was reshaping poetry to a more naturalistic perspective.