Literature and National Values in Walt Whitman’s Leave of Grass

Cite this article as: Odey O. C. (2025). Literature and National Values in Walt Whitman’s Leave of Gras. Zamfara International Journal of Humanities,3(3), 223-231. www.doi.org/10.36349/zamijoh.2025.v03i03.021

LITERATURE AND NATIONAL VALUES IN WALT WHITMAN’S LEAVE OF GRASS

By

Okache C. Odey
Department of English & Literature
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka

Abstract: Literary artists often act as the reflector of the socio-cultural and political issues of their society and time. In many societies, the literary artist is the chronicler of societal experience and sometimes charts the path for society to achieve sanity and progress. The concern of this paper therefore is to examine how writers can function as the conveyers of values tailored to foster sanity and development in their society. A work of literature could help shape how citizens view themselves and their country in relation to other countries. This paper aims to demonstrate the role of literature in fostering national values in citizens. Every country operates on values that act as the driving force for communal harmony and national development. Through literature, writers, aside from political leaders, can help firmly cement those values and visions of their country in the people's hearts. This study examines how the notion of national value is reflected in the work of American poet, Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass. The paper draws from postcolonial theory and concepts of transcendentalism to examine national values in some selected poems in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. This paper concludes that through the power of literary imagination, writers can shape the values of their country.

Keywords: Literature, national values, postcolonial theory, transcendentalism, American Literature.

Introduction

Writers play an important role in the development of any society. One of the roles writers play is by depicting their country's values to shape their society's identity and value system. Through the vehicle of literature, the country's values are taught to the citizens as a means of shaping national identity and driving national development. Writers can help shape people’s perceptions of themselves and their country. By creating awareness about the core values of the nation, writers can effect positive change in their society. Akachi Ezeigbo (2008) asserts that “literature has proved a veritable tool for social engineering, for creating social awareness and redirecting society and projecting into the future” (14). If we take a close look at the literary evolution of American literature and also literature elsewhere, we find how writers are inspired to create awareness about the values and visions of their society as a way of inspiring the people to forge a common front for national unity and development. Writers through the power of words convey their country's values to the people. King-Aribisala writing on the role of literature and language in shaping national values, states that:

Language, being the medium through which these experiences are conveyed, is also an able barometer of the beliefs and attitudes of any given nation, and together literature and language not only reflect the consciousness of a nation but  under the critical analysis of scholars provide an understanding, discussion or dialogue as to how nations individually and collectively may live in global harmony. (xvii)

In the United States of America, the values enshrined in the Declaration of Independence were geared toward guiding future generations of Americans toward societal harmony and prosperity. Therefore, it is not surprising that American writers often reflect distinctly American values such as equality, liberty, individual rights, opportunity, and democracy in their literary work. Early American writers crafted values that were different from those of the former occupying power, England. Tripathi (2015) points out that in contrast to English literature, “American literature emerged from a context of colonialism expansion” (111). Tripathi further points out that while “English literature drew from a long-standing poetic tradition, American literature was shaped by the unique experiences of the New World, sought to forge a distinct national identity and explore new philosophical ideas” (114).

Walt Whitman was a prominent poet in the early years of the United States of America whose viewpoint was shaped by the history of America and also, by the core ideals of the American Transcendentalism movement. Transcendentalism is a 19th-century American philosophy propagated by writers such as Ralph Wado Emerson and Henry David Thoreau which espoused the inherent goodness of every individual, liberty, and equality. Gura (2014) notes that “Transcendentalism thus seemed the ideal philosophy for a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal and have the same inalienable rights” (1). Whitman employed transcendent philosophy in Leaves of Grass to concretize the cultural, social, and political values of the founding fathers of America captured in the Declaration of Independence document.

Whitman’s Leaves of Grass was aimed at reinvigorating Americans' national consciousness about the values and visions of their country. King-Aribisala (2006) states that “National consciousness is seen as a means of authenticating or validating a particular nation’s identity the better for that nation to contribute cultural “wealth” to the larger body of the human race” (xvi). Many of Whitman’s poems are a means to liberate the people's sub-consciousness from England's retreating influence and inspire Americans to be conscious of living up to the ideals of the country's founding fathers. The quest to liberate the people is why Emerson (1844) refers to poets as “liberating gods” (334) in society because they inspire and also, help the people to know what they need to know. To Emerson, poets are important because they advocate for a new way of thinking and “unlock our chains and admit us to a new scene” (336). Whitman in his artistic obligation was conscious of the need to portray in his work, distinctly American values.

Discourse on the role of the Poet in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass

Walt Whitman was an American poet considered by many to be the champion of democracy. Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is quite significant in the canon of American literature as it helped to define America and what it means to be an American. According to Berenson (1995), “You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass” (4). Whitman’s poetic expression provided him the means to convey American national values in contrast to that of the former occupying power, England. Said (1978) notes that citizens in politically emancipated societies project “their vision of what they are and want to be” (XIV) and this is profoundly reflected in many of the poems in Whitman’s collection. To Whitman, the development of the young nation can only be realized in the founding values of America. In the preface to the 1855 edition of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Whitman declares, in the language that now seems rather quaint and overly optimistic that:

The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem …. Here is not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations. Here is action united from strings, necessarily blind to particulars and details, magnificently moving in vast masses. Here is the hospitality that forever indicates heroes. (3-4)

He indicates in the preface that the genius of the United States rests solidly on no other thing but “always most in the common people” (4). He outlines the common values of the people as equality, freedom, individual rights, and democracy. Elsewhere in this grand, linguistically intoxicated preface, Whitman (1885) asserts that “The American poets are to enclose old and new, for America is the race of races. Of them, a bard is commensurate with a people. To him, the other continents arrive as contributors…. His spirit responds to his country’s spirit.” (5). Soyinka’s (1967) assertion that the writer is the “voice of vision of his own time” (21) fits into the role Whitman envisaged for himself as evident in the thematic preoccupations of many of his poems. Whitman was an ardent follower of Emerson who equated America to a poem (338). According to Emerson, the poet has to deploy the power of his words and his poetic imagination to inspire and guide the people. He enjoins poets like Whitman to “write primarily what will and must be spoken,” because the poet is the “beholder of ideas and an utterer of the necessary” (322). In sections nine to eleven of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” Whitman affirms Emerson’s position on the place of the poet in society as he declares that:

Of all races and eras these States with veins full of poetical stuff most need poets, and are to have the greatest and use them the greatest, Their presidents shall not be their common referee, so much as their poet shall. (399)

Of those States, the poet is the equable man …

He bestows on every object or quality its fit proportion, neither more nor less

He is the arbiter of the diverse, he is the key

He is the equalizer of his age and land,

He supplies what wants supplying, he checks what wants checking.

In peace out of him speaks the spirit of peace, large, rich, thrifty. (399)

As he sees the farthest, he has the most faith, For the great idea, the idea of a perfect and free individual, for that the bard walks in advance, leader of leaders, The attitude of him cheers up slaves and horrifies foreign despots...

For the great idea, That O my brethren, is the mission of the poets. (400)

To Whitman, poets possess a better understanding of society than anyone and they are eminently positioned to comment on and guide the people on the path to the sustainable development of their society. In section twelve of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore,” Whitman boldly asserts that of any individual in the society, the poet is better placed to inspire the people to rise to the founding values of the United States of America through several rhetorical questions:

Who are you indeed who would talk or sing to America?

Have you studied out the land, its idioms and men?

Have you learn’d physiology, phrenology, politics, geography, pride, freedom, friend

 Of the land? Its substrations and objects?

Have you considered the organic compact of the first day of the first year of Independence, Sign’d by the commissioners, ratified by the States, and read by Washington at the head of army? Have you possess’d yourself of the Federal Constitution? (401)

Whitman’s great achievement, even if we are to judge him solely on the strength of Leaves of Grass, was to create an extended poetic world that matched in literary breadth the geographical and human breadth of the United States. The world of American arts and letters has always operated in stark contrast to and with its old European forebears with the latter perceived as the older and ostensibly more established tradition. Even if in political terms, the American society even in Whitman’s time had come to see itself as the new Rome in cultural terms it was a relative upstart. Not that this discouraged its writers, Whitman included, from attempting to create, using their authentic vernacular, their literary tradition. Toward the end of that 1855 preface, Whitman argues that the

“English language befriends the grand American expression” and “It is the powerful language of resistance … it is the dialect of common sense. It is the speech of the proud and melancholy races and of all who aspire. It is the chosen tongue to express growth faith self-esteem freedom justice equality friendliness amplitude prudence decision and courage. It is the medium that shall well-nigh express the inexpressible.” (29)

This brief passage in the overall context and length of the preface encapsulates starkly the themes that animate not just American national values of faith, individuality, freedom, justice, and equality but also, Whitman’s own idiosyncratic grand American expression that gives a distinct flavour to his poems in Leaves of Grass. Whitman took liberties with the English language and he constantly enriched the American lexicon with words and phrases.

Literature and American National Values in Whitman’s Leaves of Grass

To begin with, Berenson’s assertion that “You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass” (4) is reflected in Whitman’s vast collection of poems. Many of the poems in Leaves of Grass capture America as a country and more importantly, the values that have defined Americans as a people. Whitman assigned himself the role of the definer of America as a country. In “To Foreign Lands,” Whitman asserts that his poems define America and capture American values.

I heard that you ask’d for something to prove this puzzle the New World. And to define America, her athletic Democracy, Therefore, I send you my poems that you behold in them what you wanted. (17)

To Whitman, his poems are essentially a reflection of the United States of America. Leaves of Grass in the entirety of its content is quite reflective of American norms and values. Whitman’s poems offer an understanding of the value system that helped to shape America into the superpower it is today.

In “Poem of Remembrance for a Girl or a Boy of These States,” Whitman urges his fellow citizens to always remember the distinctly American national values as stated by the founding fathers. His poems become a medium of preserving and also conveying the nation's values to the generations to come. The poet's persona creates a sense of nationhood by urging the people to:

 “Remember the pledge of the Old Thirteen thenceforward to the rights, life, liberty, equality of man, Remember what was promulgated by the founders, ratified by The States, signed in black and white by the commissioners, and read by Washington at the head of the army, Remember the purposes of the founder –

Remember Washington;

Remember the copious humanity streamlining from every direction towards America;

Remember the hospitality that belongs to nations and men; (Cursed be nation, woman, man, without hospitality!)

Remember, government is to subserve individuals,

Not any, not the President, is to have one jot more than you or me,

Not any habitant of America is to have on jot less than you or me.” (468-469)

Whitman assumes the role of the chronicler of the people’s history. The above lines therefore help in facilitating the continuation of the national ethos and also carved a unique identity for Americans across generations. “Poem of Remembrance for a Girl or a Boy of these States,” reveals liberty, equality, hospitality, and representative government as the core values of the United States of America.

Another short poem in Whitman’s corpus, quotable in its entirety, that best reflects in poetic form, the notion of safeguarding liberty if we can say of his writing, is “To the States”:

To the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist   much, obey little, Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved,Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, or city, of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty. (28)

“To the States” is a call by Whitman to the people to fiercely resist any situation that will erode their liberty. To Whitman, the absence of a rational evaluation of issues will invariably lead to the absence of freedom in the country. At the heart of the poem is a call for freedom of expression and personal liberty against the stifling of dissenting voices or the emasculation of the will of the people. Whitman’s use of free verse and non-rhythmic lines structure in “To the States” and nearly all his poems reflect his advocacy for freedom of expression and the liberty of every individual to seek their path in life.

In “I Hear America Singing,” Whitman extols the vibrancy of ordinary Americans such as the mechanics, carpenters, masons, boatmen, shoemakers, and wood-cutter because together, they are the bedrock of the genius of the United States and “Each singing what belongs to him or her and no none else” (33). Whitman’s position in the preface that the true greatness of the United States of America is the common people is depicted in “I Hear America Singing.” To Whitman, the people constitute the United States of America. The poet persona declares that the America he hears singing is “varied carols” (33). This shows Whitman’s acceptance of the multicultural reality of the American state. Just like in “Song of Myself,” Whitman portrays himself as an embracer of diversity in this poem. “I Hear America Singing” also celebrates the spirit of communal interaction and the efforts of the ordinary people towards national development. The poem reflects the transcendentalist belief in the equality of every human being irrespective of race, gender and social class. The poem is in line with Mudd’s (2018) assertion that many of Whitman’s “poems reflect the inclination towards community, glorifying the common people” (8) and it also reflects the convivial spirit of Americans.

In “Song of Myself,” Whitman declares on a personal level what will later form the nation’s basis for relating with other countries in the world. The somewhat unspoken or unwritten notion that other nations of the world must always toe the line of the United States. The nineteen-century poet asserts in the opening lines of “Song of Myself” that:

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,

For every atom belonging to me as good as belonging to you. (52)

Whitman aligns with the common people in the poem because he was the son of a farmer and essentially a native son. He says “My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air, born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same” (52). Again in “Song of Myself,” he highlights hospitality as one of the core national values of America. The poem in section ten depicts Whitman attending to a runaway slave. Manzari (2012) notes that to adherents of transcendentalism “slavery was inherently wrong” (1793). By offering the slave water, “some coarse clean clothes” and also for the fact that he sat next to the slave “at the table,” (60) depicts Whitman as not just a transmitter but also a doer of what he advocates. Again, Whitman expresses the need to acknowledge the different groups of people in the new nation as it is necessary for national cohesion and development. He states:

“Of every hue and caste am I, of every rank and religion,

A farmer, mechanic, artist, gentleman, sailor, quaker,

Prisoner, fancy-man, rowdy, lawyer, physician, priest.

I resist anything better than my own diversity,

Breathe the air but leave plenty after me.” (66)

While Whitman advocates for diversity and an egalitarian society, some lines in some of his poems portray him as a study of contradictions. Kayum (2015) argues that “more than any other American or English poet, Whitman has sung rhapsodic praises of egalitarianism” (55), while Kayum’s position is true to a large degree of Whitman’s poetic ideals in Leaves of Grass yet there are equally expressions in that same collection that portray Whitman as a racist. He considers slavery distasteful but he makes some disparaging statements about black people. In “Song of Myself,” Whitman declares “I will not have a single person slighted or left away” but a few lines later, he derogatorily describes black people as “The heavy-lipped slave” (67). In section thirty-three of “Song of Myself,” Native Americans are also depicted in an unsavoury light when he writes that they are “Far from the settlements studying the print of animals’ feet, or the moccasin print.” The demeaning words the poet employed both for black people and native Americans expose his prejudicial state of mind even when he tends to portray America as a country that accommodates all races. It undermines the notion that equality was indeed a core national value of America in Whitman’s time as it is today. Also, in “Pioneers O Pioneers,” the pioneers that Whitman refers to are “Western youths” and he considers the white race the “elder race” and also, the “beloved race in all” (257). Again in another poem, “To Think of Time,” he refers to Africans and Asians as the “barbarians of Africa and Asia are nothing” (492). People of African and Asian descent despite Whitman’s advocacy for equality were not exactly regarded by him as of equal standing with white people. It shows he was unable to completely transcend the racial prejudices of his time. He admits in the last lines of “Song of Myself” that “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself. (I am large; I contain multitudes)” (104). But one area that Whitman did not contradict himself is the system of government Americans should embrace.

In postcolonial discourse, according to Bhabha (1994), there exists “the cusp of the opposed political spheres” (248). He asserts further that there is usually a “negotiation of differential meanings and values” (248) between the contending political structures. In “Song of Myself,” Whitman’s poetic vision for the new nation is to adopt a different system of government to that of the former occupying power; England. Democracy as a system of government is what Whitman recommends in the poem. Bhushan asserts that (2009) in Whitman’s poetic vision, “democracy means liberty” (1304) for Americans. In “Song of Myself,” he declares unequivocally that:

I speak of the pass-word primeval, I give the sign of democracy,

By God, I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpartof on the same term.

Through me many long dumb voices,

Voices of the interminable generation of Prisoners and Slaves, (72)

In section one of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore,” he asserts that the consent of the people is required in the formation of any government as it reflects the values of America’s founding fathers. To Whitman, democratic government is the system that best serves the interest and also, guarantees the fundamental rights of the people. Thus, Whitman considers democracy as one of the national values that America can share with other countries and he predicts that it will be replicated in many countries in the world in section seventeen:

(Democracy, while weapons were everywhere aim’d at your breast.

I saw you serenely give birth to immortal children, saw in dreams your dilating form, Saw you with spreading mantle covering the world.)

According to Mudd (2018), Whitman’s poems speak to a “broader culture of America that celebrates the triumph of democracy and looks towards its role in changing the world” (8). Nearly two centuries later, America is not just the bastion of democracy; the country has not stopped selling democracy as the best system of government to countries around the world.

Aside from democracy, Whitman also advocated for a republic founded on the tenets of democratic principles against the monarchy system of government in England with its practice of class stratification. Mudd (2018) notes that Whitman’s poems “represent a major departure from the philosophy of absolutist European monarchies, feudal lords and aristocrats” (10). Whitman asserts in section nine of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” that a nation formed through coercion rather than agreement among men will not fare well, “By them all native and grand, by them alone can these States be fused /Into the compact organism of a nation/ To hold men together by paper and seal or by compulsion is no account.” These lines in “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” particularly accentuate Whitman’s denunciation of government formed without the consent of the people.

The notion of gender equality also runs through many of Whitman’s poems. In the poem “America,” Whitman dwells on gender equality as one of the core values of the United States of America. According to Whitman, daughters are not perceived as lesser than sons in America. Transcendentalists were, of course, fierce critics of gender inequality. To Emerson, irrespective of race, social status, and gender, every individual is equal. It is not out of place therefore that Whitman influenced by Emerson’s philosophy of gender equality became an advocate of the equality of the sexes. By proclaiming America as the “Centre of equal daughter, equal sons… perennial with the Earth, with Freedom” (584), Whitman reflects the convergence of transcendentalist ideals of gender equality with the national values of America. Again in “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” he reiterates this idea as he declares unequivocally in section six that “The perfect equality of female with the male, the fluid movement of the population.” In both “America” and “By Blue Ontario’s Shore,” Whitman reveals the equality of men and women as one of the core values of America.

In poems such as “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” and “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” Whitman's poetic lens dissects the value of individualism in American society. At the core of American Transcendentalism is the place of the individual in society to other values like liberty and freedom of expression. Manzari (2012) notes that Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass praised the individual and appreciated personal expression, and freedom” (1800). In section fifteen of “By Blue Ontario’s Shore” for example, Whitman places strong emphasis on the recognition of individualism as an integral component of America’s founding values as he says:

I swear nothing is good to me now that ignore individuals,

The American Compact is together with individuals,

The only government is that which makes minutes of individuals.

By strongly advocating for the recognition of the individual and fundamental rights such as personal freedom and freedom of expression, Whitman equally explores how individuals can contribute to the overall good of American society. He notes that the well-being of the individual will translate to the well-being of the larger society. To Whitman, we all need one another to create a productive and peaceful society. In section nine of “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” Whitman declares that:

Not you anymore shall be able to foil us, or withhold yourself from us,

We use you, and do not cast you aside, we plant you permanently within us,

We fathom you not – we love you – there is perfection in you also,

You furnish your parts towards eternity, Great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul.

In Whitman’s poetic vision, everyone has a part to play in the development of the country. Every member of society is required to contribute their part towards furnishing the soul of the country for the betterment of all. Whitman considered himself the conduit through which this idea was transmitted to the people through his poetic expressions.

In “Pioneers! O Pioneers!” Whitman looks to the future and speaks to those unborn about the work of the founding fathers and what they must do to make America great.

“Come my tan-faced children,

Follow well in order, get your weapon ready…

For we cannot tarry here,

We must march my darlings; we must bear the brunt of danger,

We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest of us depend,

Pioneers! O pioneers!

All the past we leave behind,

We debouch upon a newer mightier world, a varied world,

Fresh and strong the world we seize, the world of labor and the march,

Pioneers! O Pioneers! (194)

Whitman in a way envisaged the place of the United States in the twentieth century in his groundbreaking work, Leaves of Grass. The notion of American founding ideals such as equality, liberty, hospitality, and the propagation of the principle of democracy has helped to shape the country's place in the world today. Whitman articulates core American values that continue to inspire readers around the world today.

Conclusion

This paper examined the role of the literary artist as an articulator of the values of his society in Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. The study established how a literary artist can function as the voice of change of his time and also as a transmitter of the ideals of his society to future generations. The study also explored the relevance of literature in not only shaping societal values but also that a society can thrive based on the values of its citizens. The study revealed that just like the United States of America, Nigeria and other African countries can equally excel if the citizens imbibe values that will accelerate national development.

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