Walt Whitman Transcendentalism

The Changing of the Leaves The era of Transcendentalism was characterized by beliefs that thoughts and spiritual revelations are more important than human experiences. The writers of the era centered on the theme of the world going beyond what a person can see, feel, and touch. The most popular artists of this time period are Henry Longfellow, Ralph Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. More liberal writers included Henry Thoreau and Walt Whitman (“Transcendentalism”). One of Walt Whitman’s more popular works is his collection of poems, Leaves of Grass. The book reflects his past exposures in love, pain, and sadness. Whitman discusses his views on poise and the democratic identity of the country. He compares these topics to his views of the

Whitman writes: “the wonder everyone sees in everyone else he sees… and the wonders that fill each minute of time forever and each acre of surface and space forever” (72). Therefore, Whitman deprecates the thought that life is “normal.” His idea of living greatly contrasted the main ideas of the day’s most popular entertainment. Whitman wanted each of his readers to experience this epiphany of an exciting life, but he wanted the readers to also meditate on the amazing affairs that happen in every moment of life. In Leaves of Grass, Whitman proposed a positive view of life, different from the ideas of everyday, “normal,” life in the

In The Walt Whitman Quarterly Review, Scott Henkel writes that Whitman alluded to the true form of democracy: a system where the people make all decisions. The American Democratic identity corresponded with Whitman’s, and both believed that the government and all its employees worked for the people. Therefore, Whitman continuously reflects this kind of democratic identity in his Leaves of Grass. He believed that the world as it is know revolves around humans and their society. In his book, Whitman depicted a clear form of democracy in which worked for the citizens, and this is the American idea of true