R. W. B. Lewis

Whitman’s poetical re-working, by R. W. B. Lewis:

The study carried out by R. W. B. Lewis in Modern Critical Views (1985, pp.99-125), “Always Going Out and Coming In” is in a way similar to Pearce’s, mentioned above. It describes Whitman’s “editorial” constant re-working on the Leaves, especially after 1871, which resulted in “a serious shift of emphasis whereby the authentic Whitman was gradually dismembered and replaced by a synthetic entity” (1985, p.99). Lewis’s work is to “disentangle Whitman, to separate the real from the unpersuasive, to separate the poet from the posture” (1985, p.100). In order to do that, he had to put all the poems back in their “original and chronological order,” which is a very difficult task. Nevertheless, the critic accomplishes what he undertook to do, edition by edition, which made him recognize in Whitman “the poet of an aesthetic and moral democracy” (p.125). This article is in fact a very good way of showing how the Leaves changed, edition by edition.