Whitman and the City:



Introduction

This site draws upon the rich fields of Whitman studies and city studies. The two fields intersect often: the nineteenth-century poet is frequently cited by those who write on the city because he wrote extensively about the city, and many literary scholars have studied the role of the city in Whitman's work and life. This site joins these discussions, offering not a particular argument, but rather a selection of materials to enable students and teachers to come to their own insights and conclusions. The site offers

The poems and prose selections include early and late poems, an essay, letters, and newspaper editorials. Paen's such as "Mannahatta" and "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" celebrate the city, and in section 8 of "Song of Myself" Whitman catalogs all that he hears when he listens to the "blab of the pave." Selections from Whitman's editorials for the New York Aurora reveal his early voice as a city reporter and flaneur. A letter to Peter Doyle from 1868 suggests the intimate relationship Whitman had with the city and its workers, as does the "City of Orgies" from "Calamus." A passage from "Democratic Vistas" shows Whitman's attention to the evils of the city, as does the late poem, "Broadway." In "City of Ships" from "Drum-Taps," Whitman reports on the city preparing for war.

The chronology of New York City and the photographs offer brief glimpses of moments and events, providing, like the catalogs in Whitman's poems, detailed, streel-level views of the city and its history. The chronology of Whitman's life follows him as he moves between Brooklyn, New York, and D.C. and reminds us of Whitman's involvement with the politics, newspapers, arts, and building trades in these cities.

The selections from theorists of the city, the suggested assignments, annotated bibliography, and related Internet resources offer terms, ideas, interpretations that have shaped conversation thus far about the city and about Whitman.

This site celebrates cities and celebrates Whitman. Like many others who write about the city, I too am a lover of cities. And yet, I find in Whitman not only celebration but also a response to the city that is sufficiently complex to illuminate my own varied experience of cities.


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Whitman's Writings New York
History
Whitman's Life Photographs
Theory and Terms Student Projects Bibliography Internet Resources