All about Walt Whitman

A great soul talking about another great soul:

“We shall give now a short account of the other articles in the volume of Modern Critical Views on Whitman, since they have broadened our view of the poet.

The “Editor’s Note” confirms what we have said above on the difficulty of understanding Whitman and his works; it states that “What emerges from these essays is a partial portrait of the greatest, most enigmatic and most American of all American poets.”, because “As poet and as person, Walt Whitman remains large and evasive.” Which is why the volume focuses “[...] upon what is most difficult and vital in Whitman’s works, the ambiguity of the self or selves and the curious relation between the Whitmanian self and soul” (1985, p.1). The next critic to write about the American bard is D. H. Lawrence. Like Whitman himself, Lawrence always seems contradictory, since sometimes it is really difficult to know whether he is criticizing or praising Whitman. Moreover, he is often ironic. However, in the end, he shows his real feelings and thoughts for his object of study and confesses his love towards the American poet, for only a great soul would be able to recognize other great souls:

The love of man and woman [...] The love of comrades [...] Democracy: a recognition of souls, all down the open road, and a great soul seen in its greatness, as it travels on foot among the rest, down the common way of the living. A glad recognition of souls, and a gladder worship of great and greater souls, because they are the only riches. (BLOOM, 1985, p.23)”

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