Democracy and Nonconformity in Walt Whitman's Poetry and their Relevance Today

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Themes in Walt Whitman's Poetry and their Relevance Today
Walt Whitman is a well-known nineteenth century's American poet, essayist and journalist, with remarkable political and ideological vision represented by his works, taking a midway between transcendentalism and realism. He is, above all, a humanist and advocated democracy, freedom, civil rights, individualism or nonconformity, and celebration of nature. He is also known as a poet, portraying joy and pleasure with rich symbolism like his poems in the Leaves of Grass, but his works during wartime, such as Drum Tape, expose his tendency to transit from idealism to the realistic portrayal experiences like suffering, fear and death. Walt Whitman incorporated the themes of nonconformity, freedom, democracy, equality, and nature; also, his poetry during the war shows the thematic thread of bureaucracy, fear, suffering, death and the struggle between a man's physical and spiritual self; everything portrayed by him with rich symbolism stays relevant to today's America with the diversity of nations and with the dream of social and political freedom.
'Song of Myself' is Whitman's worldwide known poem, which is known as representing his poetic vision, with multiple images, literally and metaphorically signifying his notions around individualism, democracy, freedom, happiness, death and the celebration of nature. The poem begins with the sentence "I celebrate myself", where "I" does not stand for the poet, but the whole of humankind (Whitman). In other words, the "I" denotes everybody in the nation, favouring the idea of nonconformity with pleasure. Throughout the poem, the reader comes across the image of 'grass', which symbolizes regeneration, the cycle of life and death and the supremacy of nature, which signals the poet's transcendentalist approach. For example, in the sixth stanza, the poet says, "it is a handkerchief of the lord", combining the aesthetic value of grass with its divine power (Whitman). Identifying the poet's vision of idealism and rhetorical devices in this poem, Reed emphasizes 'catalogue' and 'first-person persona'. He is different from other transcendentalists for using these two devices to accentuate the themes of individualism and freedom. His most significant stress on "I" by removing limitations from its implications makes it a universal "I" rather than personal. Also, the scholar says that Whitman is "the self-proclaimed poet of democracy" as he uses stressed "I" and catalogue to embody the doctrine of political and social models for an ideal nation (Reed 147). Whitman's use of personal pronouns and making it stand for the entire nation or humanity shows his celebration of individual independence of thought and action, where everybody can freely breathe with respect and joy. Besides, his catalogue comes across at many places in the poetry, making him distinctive like his arrangement of the meanings of grass in various ways in the 'Song of Myself' to communicate his ideas around nature, rebirth, and democracy in a rich metaphorical sense.
'I Hear America Singing is another popular Whitman's free verse poem, which idealizes the poet's outlook regarding the power of people, individual freedom and value of diversity for the growth of a nation. Here, the reader also experiences the poet's use of catalogue as a rhetorical device by enlisting various professions of a happy working class. He portrays them singing, where signing symbolizes their peace and joy with their work without feeling miserable like labourers in a society of conformists because they are "singing with open mouth", and their melodies are "strong", which indicates the strength of an ideal individualistic democracy as a political and social archetypal (Whitman). It also shows that when people are socially and politically independent, they are strong and united with different but respected ideas. Mignon calls "I Hear America Singing" as the poems of materials, which deeply displays spiritualism. He explores an extensive and rapturous use of the 'catalogue of parallelisms' encompassing all essential themes used by Whitman, like democracy and individualism (Mignon). By categorically enlisting all professions, the poet generates views around the concepts of human values for the progress of a society. He also refers to the girls with their conventional preoccupations to show that an ideal social utopia needs to eradicate gender bias and give the women liberty to sing and enjoy themselves with freedom of whatever they do with ultimate pride. Also, the poet's use of free verse shows rebellious conduct of nonconformity to the traditional lyrical style of poetry, ...