Index
Walt Whitman is sometimes referrd to as W.W
abolitionism: WW and, 68–69, 160. See also African Americans; race; slavery
Adamic poems. See Enfans d'Adam
affection, and problems of freedom, 109125–126, 141–142, 152
African Americans: attitudes of WW toward, 6568175–178, 179189; expanded sexual discourse and em-powerment of, 124; in military, 175–176; roles of, and white women, 189; spiritualization of, 189; suffrage, 176; voice of, WW as, 176179. See also race; racializing; racism
aggression: in Calamus,xxi, 125–126, 136–137, 138141–142, 144–151 passim,158; creation of friendly nature and, xiv; as cultural threat, 159–160; Democratic Mother in control of, 183; enemies distinguished from friends and, 158; heterosexuality and, xxi; as human propensity, [195n1]; in “I Sing the Body Electric,” xxi, [229n16]; of love, and wariness of WW, xxi; male-homoerotic desire and, xxi; of mascu-linity, 179180[242n20]; mimicking of, by WW, 86–87; of self as lover, 158; of sexuality, 147–148; transcen-dence of, 166–169, 170; words as, 46125[227n5][228n13]. See also emotions; violence
Alcaro, Marion Walker, [243n35]Walt Whitman is sometimes referred to as WW.
Allen, Gay Wilson, 2280[211n18][214n22][217n35][229n17][235n41][241n13]
America. See democracy; United States
American Art Union, [217n31]
American Primer by Walt Whitman, An: With Facsimiles of the Original Manuscripts (Traubel, ed.), 107109[223n39]
Anderson, Quentin, 2
anger, in “When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom'd,” 155
animals, turning to, 91
anxieties of WW, xiii; aggression (see aggression); alienation, universalized per-ception of, 80; connection, 96105–106, [222n33]; control, 919396; criti-cism and, 5896123[226n2]; fear of failure, 58; guilt (see guilt); identity, 179; intimacy (see intimacy, fear of); neuters and geldings and, 81; slavery of heterosexual desire and, 16. See also audience; emotions
Aphrodite, [199n7]
apprenticeships, [204n46]
Aristidean,4
aristocratic love plot, 55
artists: female, 192; feminization of, 7778; in war of words, 125; worth of, 7677
Ashton, J. Hubley, [235n41]
Astor, John Jacob, 61
audience: anger at, 106–107; as “brothers and sisters,” xiii; class of, 137; con-tact with, need for, 105–106, [222n33]; Dickinson as, 187–188; displeasure of, 100–101; divestment of loyalty to, 100; editing advice from, 98128129[228n11]; epitaph composed for, 143–144; faith in, 151–152; father as, [203n42]; future, 67193; gulf between WW and, 123; humiliation and, 143; identity affirmed by/dependent upon, 96106; as inclusive, 105; intimacy and, 105–106; literary characters as, 115; melding of, 88; as “outlines,” xiii; and partial confession, 135; personal, xvi, 103113120[222n33]; prejudice of, as addressed by WW, 134; self as, 67; size of, 37123[226n3]; social iso-lation and, xiii–xiv; in “Song of My-self,” 6771–72; trust and distrust of, 58143–144, 151; Vaughan as, 101–103; warnings to, xvi, 150–151; women as, 112186187–189, [212n7]. See also criticism
authority: ambivalence toward, 157159–167, 169–171, [236n7]; denial of, 66160–161. See also fathers; patriarchy; power
autoeroticism: female vs. male, [230n18]; as rotting the voice, [224n41]; stigmati-zation of, 85; “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd” and, 170–171; of WW, 6266145. See also sexuality
“Bamboozle and Benjamin,” [208n1]
“Bardic Symbols.” See “As I Ebb'd with the Ocean of Life”
Barkeloo, Josephine, 9
Barnburners, 68–69
Barton, William E., [237n20]
Basler, Roy P., [238n27]
Bender, Thomas, [215n25]
Benjamin, Jessica, [195n1]
Benjamin, Park, 37
Benton, Myron, [236n3]
Bergen, Tunis G., 73
Berkeley, Henry Robinson, 167–168
Bertolini, Vincent J., [202n34] “Bervance: or, Father and Son,” 3840
Binns, Henry
Bishop, Elizabeth, 143
Black, Stephen A., [208n7] blacks. See African Americans
Bloom, Harold, 170–171
Bloom, Nathaniel, 162
Bloomer, Amelia, [240n3]
Blumin, Stuart M., [203n41]
body: ambivalence toward, 85; distrust of, 84; expanded sexual discourse and minority empowerment, 124; female, reclaiming of, 189–190; maternal, as political problem solver, 189; minimiz-ing importance of, 157–158; as natu-ral, 85; remembering, 97; sacramental status of, 86–87; as symbol of democ-racy, 63[214n19]; as word, 87–88. See also sexuality
Bohan, Ruth L., [216n31]
Bollas, Christopher, 97
Boston, and obscenity, [235n41]Boston Miscellany of Literature and Fashion,38
Bowlby, John, [219n6]
Brenton, Orvetta Hall, 28–29
Britain, WW and, [217nn33–34], [227nn7–8], [228n9]
“Broad-Axe Poem,” [228n13]
“Broadway Pageant, A,” [238n29]
Brodhead, Richard H., [209n9]
Brooklyn Daily Advertizer,[214n16]
Brooklyniana,22–23
Brooklyn Star,69
Brown, Herbert Ross, [210n13]
Brown, John, [227n5]
Bucke, Richard Maurice, 6269[231nn27–28], [233n31]fig. 6caption
Burbick, Joan, [214n19]
“Burial Poem” (“To Think of Time”), 181[218n35][228n13][229n14]
Burlington Free Press and Times,[225n53]
“By Blue Ontario's Shore,” [244n44]
Calamus: aggression in, xxi, 125–126, 136–137, 138141–142, 144–151 passim,158; anticipation of, 191; com-petition and, 136–137, 138; critical re-ception of, 127128[227n8]; democ-racy project and, 124–127, 141–142, 143147–148, 152[233n32][234n40]; depersonalization and, 96; faith in sex and, 137–138; gender subsuming race in, 124–125; partial confession in, 135138–152; risk-taking in, 128; rudeness in, 134136; self-censorship in, 138140–141, 142–143, 144150–152, 181[233n31]; sequence of composition of, [232n29]; as term, 127; unmasking in, 138–139; as unusual representation, 157; writing of, 54
Camden, NJ, fig. 13
canon, [218n3]
castration, 156
Cauldwell, William, fig. 4caption
censorship. See self-censorship
“Chants Democratic,” 161
Chapin, Fr. Edwin Hubbell, 101[221nn25–26]
“Child and the Profligate, The” (“The Child's Champion”), 42–46, 62[209n11][210n12]
Children of Adam. See Enfans d'Adam
“Child's Champion, The” (“The Child and the Profligate”), 42–46, 62[209n11][210n12]
“Child's Reminiscence, A.” See “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking”
Cincinnati Daily Commercial,[226n2]
“City of my walks and joys!” 150
Civil War: African Americans in military, 176–177; and dead vs. living, suffering of, 167–168, [239n33]; Grant in, 164–165; homoerotic attachments and, xxii; Lincoln in, 163–164, 166[238n28]; in “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,” 158; WW in, xxii, 616280168185fig. 9. See also war
Clapp, Henry, 98
Clarke, Edward, 22
class: of audience, 137; compulsory het-erosexuality and, 54–55; democracy as binding, 147; and journalism of WW, 135; and leisure (see leisure); mainte-nance of, 145[234n35]; privileging in-sight of, xvii–xviii, 129135; Walter Senior and, 21–22, [204n49]; of WW, 107[203n41]. See also middle-class values; wealth; working class
“Clef Poem” (“On the Beach at Night Alone”), 190–191, [244n46]
Cogan, Frances B., [244n45]
Columbian,45 companions: Doyle (see Doyle, Peter);
Flood, xxiii; Leech, 30–36, [207n70]; Mas considered to be, 54[211n18]; in New Orleans, rumored, and “Walt” name change, 6972–73, 136[214nn21–22], [230n19]; physicians, 61–62, 98; satisfaction with, 157; Stafford, xxiii, 7[197n20]; type attracted to, xx, xxii, xxiii, 61–63, 77–78, 79–80, 98134–135; Vaughan (see Vaughan, Fred); in Whitestone, 36
competition: and denial of authority, 160–161; in erotic exchange, 91; homoerotic love as dismantling, 68; as impediment to male bonding, 136–137, 138; with Lincoln, 160165–166, 167; retreat from, 179; and suffering, 168. See also fathers; patriarchy; power
compulsory heterosexuality. See heterosexuality, compulsory
Cooper, James Fenimore, 61
country life: involuntary, 23–24, 2530–35, [206n59]; as temporary idyll, 91. See also urban life
Crane, Hart, 94
criticism: of arrogance, 59; in England vs. United States, 127–128, [227n8]; by Fern, [212n7]; of fiction, 38[208n7]; on gender supplanting race, 177; gentleman persona ignored in, 57; Hannah Whitman Heyde as ignored in, 116; by Heyde, 119; on homosexual guilt, 150; on language and morals, 111–112, 188[224n47]; on letters, 33; by Louisa Whitman, 13; racial themes ignored in, 124; renunciation by WW and, 140; self-reviews, 5865–66, 111112122–124, 126128; startled critics, xv; warnings in, 188; WW's relation to, 5896123[226n2]. See also audience
Dalke, Anne, [210n13]
Dana, Charles A., 111
Davidson, Cathy N., [239n31]
death: acceptance of, 191193; childhood and, 117; closural force of allusions to, [228n13]; cult of, 89103–104, [222n31]; Dark Mother as, 168–169, 171175[240n8]; escape from, 103; grieving (see grief); guilt following, 168170171; as integral, 131[228n13]; vs. life, suffering of, 167–168, 169170175[239n33]; Lincoln on, 169–170, [239n35]; morbidity charges vs. symbol of, 123127; as poetic power, 123; protection of children against, 110–111. See also sexuality
“Death and Burial of McDonald Clarke. A Parody,” [206n56]
“Democracy,” 176
democracy: affection and, 109125–126, 141–142, 152; ambivalence toward, 173–174; “America” as convertible term with, 126–127; body-in-process as symbol of, 63[214n19]; as containing WW, 126–127; conversion of intimacy fears and, xvii; cultural vs. political reform and, [215n25]; and homoerotic culture, 123–127, 141–142, 143147–148, 152158–159, [233n32][234n40]; imperfections in textual practice of, xvii–xix; male friendship and, xxii; maternal body and, 173; the personal vs. the ideal and, xvii; personhood and, xiv; pluralism, 126[229n16]; and “rough” persona, 57. See also faith in sex; freedom; politics; United States
“Democratic Art” (Symonds), 140
Democratic Party: Brenton and WW and, 2630; and Free-Soil movement, 68–69; George Law and, [234n39]; Locofocos, 32
Democratic Vistas,126–127, 147172173–176, 180–181, 191[240nn4–5], [242n19]
departures: dynamic of, 91–92, [220n12]; as human condition, 164
Dickinson, Emily: on death and rebirth, 103104; editing of poems, 98; literary alienation of, 186187–188; northern secession poems of, [231n25]; romances of, 74–75, [215n26]; sexuality and, 188–189; WW and, xix, 187–188
Diehl, Joanne Feit, 179
Disraeli, Benjamin, 175
Doherty, Robert W., [202n37]
domesticity, xiv–xv; ambivalence toward, 190192[244n45]; Louisa Whitman and, 215; resistance to, 107–108; Woodbury critique of, 30–35. See also marriage; middle-class values
domestic violence, [226n62]
domination: as intrinsic, [195n1]; Louisa Whitman and resistance to, [226n61]; struggle with, of WW, xv–xvi; as unjust,
― 249 ―ambivalence toward, 180. See also patriarchy; power“Dough-Face Song” (“Song for Certain Congressmen”), [213n11]
Douglas, Ann, [201n34]
Douglas, Stephen Arnold, 160
Douglass, Frederick, 69
Doyle, Peter, xxii–xxiii, fig. 10; in Civil War, 167; and deception of WW, 8; and erotic attractions of WW, [196n7][197nn15–17]; and Lincoln assassination, 155; as one of many, xxiii, [197n16]; style of letters to, 33; and theater, love of, 155[235n2]; and Vaughan, xx
education: reform of, 46[209n9]; of Walter Senior, 21; of women, 192; of WW, 22[204n44]
Eldridge, Charles, [227n3]
Emerson, Ralph Waldo: appropriation of, by WW, [218n1]; content of meetings with, as unknown, 64–65, [212n6]; editing advice from, 128[228n11]; on friendship, 99–100; on intellect and detachment, 55; and “long foreground,” 56[218n1]; name change of, 69; open letter to, 63748183869098121173189[215n24][218n1]; relationship with WW, 83102121161[215n24][218n1]; sexuality of, [196n9]; on true poets, 55
emotions: authority of, 83–84; grandfather and, 3; honesty in, importance of, xiv; physical size as belying, 24; “rough” persona and experience of, 5960. See also aggression; anxieties of WW; compassion; grief; guilt; happiness; love
employment of WW: applications for, 7374; as carpenter, myth of, 79; in Clarke law office, 22; conflicts with employers, 73[214n22]; in Democratic party, 34–35; education and, [204n44]; in government, 150174[235n41]; as journalist (see journalism of WW); and leisure, desire for (see leisure); as printer, 22–23, 252628–29, [204nn44]46; real estate dealings, 78–79; as teacher, 24–25, 30–35, [209n9]
enemies, distinguishing from friends, 157–158
Enfans d'Adam (Children of Adam), 127–135, 137; critical reception of, 127–128, [227n8]; motive for, 127
epitaph, 143–144
equality: of gender, 120[230n23]; Hannah Whitman Heyde and, 120[226nn61–62]; lack of, in companions sought, xx, xxii, xxiii, 61–63, 77–78, 79–80, 98134–135; lack of, in poetry, 134–135; phobias of, 105[222n34]. See also class; feminism; homophobia; racism; sexism
Erkkila, Betsy, xvii, 184–185, [203n42][216n29][220n11][223n37][224n45][229n16][234n40][235n41][236n5][244n45]
erotics. See heterosexuality; homosexuality; male-homoerotic desire; sexuality
“Ethiopia Commenting.” See “Ethiopia Saluting the Colors”
“Ethiopia Saluting the Colors,” 176179 eugenics, 182[242n23]
faith in sex, 81121; in competition with social disease, 84121; as displacing authoritarian Father, 88; and literary vocation, 137; male homoerotic love included in, 152; remembering of body and, 97; and working-class roots, 97. See also sexuality
family: archetypal, xv; chosen, [196n12]; disaffection from, xix–xx, 2105984–85, 137192; ideal, biological fathers as excluded from, 46; idealization of, 23; journalism of WW and, 4–6; metaphor/portrait of, and United States, 86126; as misunderstanding WW, 2; as model in Leaves of Grass,83, 84–88, 94–97, 114–121; from personal to archetypal, 8384–88, 94–97, 107114–115, 117161–162, 173; WW as head of, 69107. See also fathers; mothers
fantasies, Leech correspondence and, 35–36
fathers: absence of, as ideal, 46; as abusive, 41; ambivalence toward, 157161169; authoritarian, 86–87, 8895157161; exclusion of, 1346
fathers (continued) 182; ideal, 137; impersonation of ideal, 107; race and, 189; reconciling with, 180; resistance to (see patriarchy; power); roles of, 189; surrogate (see father surrogates); understanding rejected by, 179–180. See also family; mothers; Whitman, Walter Senior
father surrogates: Hartshorne as, 22–23; in ideal family, 46; WW as, 107
Fehrenbacher, Don E., [238n28]
femininity: of society, war and, [197n21]. See also gender; masculinity
feminism: antisex stance in, 188–189; characterization of, by WW, 177; prosex stance in, 189–190. See also mothers; sexism; women
feminization: compensatory virilization and, xvi–xvii; erotic self-abandonment and, 132133; identification as female, and male-homoerotic desire, 89–90, 93116129–130, 132–134, 184[228n12]; as legitimating, 138140; retreat into, 179–183, 184; surrender to, as psychic wholeness, 88–89; war's futility and, 175. See also gender
fiction, xiv; abandonment of, in denial of male-homoerotic desire, 3852–53, 54–55, [210n12]; conventionality of, 38[208n7]; and disaffection from family, 84–85; income resulting from, 37–38; intimacy and, xvii; as lifelong option, 54; male bonding in plotlines of, 41–46, 51–52, 53–55, [209nn11][210n12]; mother in, 11; readership of, 37; WW's opinion of, 3753. See also language; literary tradition; poetry; sentimentality; style
Fifteenth Amendment, 176
Flood, John (Broadway Jack), xxiii
Forbush, Bliss, [203n37]
Fowlers and Wells, 58
Franklin Evans or The Inebriate: A Tale of the Times,xvii, 373946–53, 5470–71, [210–211nn13]–14, [211n23]
“Free Academies at Public Cost,” 192
Freedman, Florence Bernstein, [209n9]
freedom: affection and problem of, 109125–126, 141–142, 152; from gender, as escape, 103–104; vs. limitation, as difficult distinction, 63; Louisa Whitman as imparting love of, 15; problem of, xv, 109152; romanticization of, 136. See also democracy; sexuality
Free Enquirer,22
French language, use of, 90–91
Freud, Sigmund, 123–124
friendships: enemy relationship distinguished from, 157–158; as human necessity, 136; male (see male bonding; male friendship; male-homoerotic desire); romantic (see romantic friendships). See also companions
Frost, Robert, 95
Gatta, John, [244n47]
gender: archetypes of, 83; audience displeasure with contested, 100–101; biological reduction of women, 184; as cultural construction, 90; derationalization and, 39; domesticity vs. self-development and, 190[244n45]; equality of, 120[230n23]; fear of female, 103; freedom from, as escape, 103–104; idleness and, 30; of intelligence, [230n23]; loss of, through male identification with female, 89–90, 93116129–130, 132–134, 184[228n12]; race and roles of, 189; race critique and, 40–41; race subsumed by discourse of, 124–125, 173–178; war and, xxiii, [197n21]. See also class; race; sexuality
genre, [211n20]
Germany, WW's influence in, [217n33]
Gilbert, Sandra M., 186
Gilfoyle, Timothy J., [211n21]
Gohdes, Clarence, 118
Graham, Jorie, 97
“Great Are the Myths” (“Poem of a Few
Greece, ancient: homosexuality in, 76–77, [217n32]; male divinity in, 79; values of, as superior, 76
greed: as disruptive, 39. See also wealth
grief: homoerotic culture and, 158–159; in “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,” 155156158–159, 166–170, [239n33]
Griswold, Rufus N., 112
Grosskurth, Phyllis, [231n26]
Grossman, Allen, [237n23]
Grossman, Jay, [233n32]
Grünzweig, Walter, 217
guilt: death and, 168170171; about homosexuality, 150; love and, 133; sexual, 191. See also emotions
Hale, Edward Everett, 111
Hale, John Parker, 72–73
Half-Breed, The: A Tale of the Western Frontier,40–41
Halperin, David M., [217n32]
hands: dangers of, 110; and handwriting, 116158[224n46]; unseen, 90116; and “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,” 155158170–171
Hansen, Elaine Tuttle, [239n2]
happiness: commitment to finding, 152; masculinity in opposition to, 40; personae in defense of, 57; as theme, xv; WW's need to provide, 80. See also emotions
Harlan, James, [235n41]
Harned, Thomas, [208n2]
Harper's Magazine,124
Hart, Ellen Louise, [215n26]
Hartshorne, William, 22–23
Hassett, William, [225n53]
Hayes, A. H., [214n22]
Hazan, Cindy, [219n6]
Helms, Alan, [233n30]
heterosexuality: aggression and, xxi; compulsory (see heterosexuality, compulsory); male-homoerotic desire as stage toward, [209n11]; norms of, and isolation of WW, xiii–xiv; pregnancy as assumed outcome of, 181; as slavery, 16. See also homosexuality; sexuality
heterosexuality, compulsory, 54–55, 131–132, 152; anonymous lovemaking in opposition to, 89–90; mocking style and, 125; repression into, 150; self-revision and, 67–68; shame and, 190. See also homophobia
Heyde, Charles (brother-in-law), 116118–120, [200n24][225nn58–60], [226n62]–63
Heyde, Hannah Whitman (sister), 114–121, [200n24][225nn51]535960[226nn61–63]; as audience, xvi; birth of, 7; death of, 117[225nn53]; depressions of, 117119–120; and mother, relationship with, 78; WW's identification with, 113114118120–121
Hicks, Elias, 20–21, [202nn37–39]
history: ambivalence toward, as shaping poetry, 186; as gendered, 92; as heroic, 23; naive believer, WW as, 131; obliteration of, 75; transmutation of self through revision of, 68; women's, as contested, 185
Holland, Josiah Gilbert, 188
Hollis, C. Carroll, [218n2]
Holloway, Emory, 133[211n18][214n16][229nn16–17]
“Home Burial” (Frost), 95
homophobia: critique of, 147; equality as phobia and, 105[222n34]; as inhibiting, xvi–xviii, 152[234n40]; internalized, 150[234n40]; lack of, in romantic friendship, [207n65]. See also class; gender; racism; self-censorship; sexism
homosexuality: of ancient Greeks, 76–77, [217n32]; discourse of, movement toward, 77; gay, as term, 49[211n15]; guilt about, 150; as identity, xxii; queer, as term, 38[208n6]. See also heterosexuality; sexuality
“Hours continuing long, sore and heavy-hearted,” 142–144, [233n31]
“House of Friends, The,” [213n11]
Hunkers, 69
Hutchinson, George B., xvii
Hyde, Lewis, 181
identity: anxiety about, 179; death and loss of, 103; and female, identification with, 116; feminization and, 179–181. See also self
“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” (Dickinson), 103
ignorance, 134
“Incident on Long Island Forty Years Ago, An” (“When my mother was a girl”), 4–5, 6
Indians. See Native Americans
individualism: excessive, as illness, 648895; as isolating, 123126147. See also isolation
intimacy (continued) and, 96; audience and, 106; easing of, xvi; encompassing imagery and, xvi; Enfans d'Adam and, 130; and “real” self, xiv; transformation of, 193. See also anonymity; anxieties of WW
Irishmen, in The Half-Breed,40–41
“I Sing the Body Electric”: aggression in, xxi, [229n16]; death and, [228n13]; family archetypes in, 83; intelligence as gendered in, [230n23]; prejudice addressed in, 134; race and, 189; reviews of, [224n47][229n16]
isolation: avoidance of disturbing particulars and, 8; and heterosexual norms, rejection of, xiii–xiv; individualism as causing, 123126147; perfect love and, 157; and sexual secrecy, 148. See also emotions; individualism; self
Jeffords, Susan, [197n21]
Johnson, Andrew, 165
journalism of WW, fig. 5; art criticism, 76[216n31]; at Brooklyn Daily Times,54, 6669102114192[232n29]; class privilege and, 135; disenchantment with, 69; early employment and, 22; as editor, 54; family themes in, 4–6; homoeroticism and, xvii; imperfect ideals and, xvii–xviii; interest in, discovery of, 22; as Knickerbocker, 64[212n4]; on New York Aurora,52–53, [211n22]; at New York Daily News,[212n10]; ownership of paper, 25; at Weekly Freeman,68–69; on women's equality, 177192. See also employment of WW
Kaplan, Justin, [196n9][205n51][211n16][223n40][231n28][241n13]
Karp, David Lawrence, [222n31]
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, 166
Kenny, Maurice, [208n8]
Killingsworth, M. Jimmie, xvii, 151[228n11][232n30][235n41][242n23]
Kings County Lunatic Asylum, [200n21]
Kinnell, Galway, 156
Kirkpatrick, Jean Romig, [210n13]
Komunyakaa, Yusef, [214n21]
Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve, [235n1]
Kunhardt, Philip B., [235n1]
language: brutal, [218n41]; death and, 111; as divisive, 56; English, 90–91, 130; freeing of, 67; French, use of, 90–91; Greek, as homosexual code, [217n32]; invention of, 63; male friendship as absent in, 121; maternal vs. paternal, 182183; passion for, 131–132, [229n14]; resistance to norms of, 172; in resistance to patriarchy, 55; rude, 818284112[224n48]; self-determination and, 172; self-division and, 80; of sexuality, 109; of souls, 54; of suffering, [239n33]; symbolic, 33; transformation through, 184193; as weapon, 46125[227n5][228n13]; word frequency, [220n15]; zeal of, 68. See also democracy; fiction; literary tradition; poetry; sentimentality; style; voice
Lathem, Edwin Connery, [220n14]
Law, George, [234n39]
Leaves of Grass: as child of WW, 96; departure dynamic and, 91–92, [220n12]; humor in, 6791; imperfect idealism in, xvii–xix; Lincoln as reader of, [237n20]; Louisa Whitman as muse for, 12819185[201n33]; as merger of social and erotic experience, 146; missionary intentions of, xv; mother as quoting, 18; motherhood as constant in, 172; publication of, 97–98, 122123[226n3][235n41]; as record of self, xiii, xxiv; “rough” persona and, 60; self-reviews of, 65–66, 122–124, 126128; size of readership, 37123[226n3][235n41]; twenty-eight as number in, 114
Leaves of Grass (1855): Adam and Eve in, 130–131; audience and, xiii–xiv; body as focus of, 8897; contradiction and, 64; as creation of experience, 59; death in, 131[228n13]; drive for creation of, 79–80; faith in sex, 81848897; family and, 8384–88, 94–97, 114–121; fear of intimacy and, xvi; frontispiece for,fig. 7; gender and, 100; male-homoerotic desire as claimed/ disowned in, 90–97; misegenation as concept in, [211n23]; mother in,
― 253 ―14; “Preface,” xvi, 108173183192[195n3]; publicity for, 65–66; representational exclusion and, 62–63; and “rough” persona, 6080102; selfreviews for, 65–66; selves-in-crisis of, 62–63; sexual freedom and, 66; sexualized emotion and defamiliarization, xiii; transference in, 88; unconscious intentions and, 58; and unconstraint, 62; voices of, as divergent, 58; “Walt” name change in, 70Leaves of Grass (1856): body as focus of, 8897; death in, [228n13]; defamiliarization emphasized in, xiii; Emerson, open letter to, 63748183869098121173189[215n24][218n1]; faith in sex, 81848897; family and, 8384–88, 94–97, 114–121; gender and, 100; male-homoerotic desire as claimed/disowned in, 90–97; merger of social and sexual experience in, 148–149; transference in, 88; United States in, 8486
Leaves of Grass (1860): career disavowal in, 181; Charles Heyde on, 118–119; critical reception of, 123124127–128, [227n8]; death and rebirth in, 104[222n32]; frontispiece of, 128fig. 8; functional self, competing conceptions of, 124; homoerotic desire privileged in, xiii; male-homoerotic desire as self-censored in, 105135138–152, 181[228n11][230n17][231nn27–28], [232n30][233nn31]34[234n40][235n41]; as “odd,” 122124–125, 131; publication of, 122123[226n3]; selfreviews of, 122–124, 126128; typography of, 122124–125, 146
Leaves of Grass (1871): race and gender in, 176
Leaves of Grass (1881): Boston persecution and sales of, [235n41]; “Once I passed through a populous city,” 133–134, 135; prostitute lines excised in, 130; publication of, [235n41]
Leaves of Grass (1920): differences from prior editions, 133–134
“Legend of Life and Love, A,” 40
leisure: ethic of, 1130[220n14]; gender and, 30; Louisa Whitman and, 1118; WW and, 1118[201n34]. See also class; employment of WW
Levi-Strauss, Claude, 179
Lily, The,[240n3]
Lincoln, Abraham: ambivalence of WW toward, 159–167, 170[238n27]; appearance of, 159162–163; assassination of, 154–155, 162164165167170193[235n1]; in Civil War, 163–164, 166[238n28]; on death, 169–170, [239n35]; as “dictator,” [238n28]; elegies for, 165; as reader of WW, [237n20]. See also “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd”
“Lincoln Reminiscence, A,” [238n27]
literary tradition: alienation from, as wellspring, 186; attack on, by WW, 6682–84, 88; ignorance of, WW as exaggerating, 96; language of, 104–105; sentimentality and, 185; stereotypes of, 105; “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd” as belying WW's struggle against, 156. See also democracy; fiction; language; poetry; style
“Live Oak with Moss,” [232n29]
Locofocos, 32
Long Islander,25
“Long I thought that knowledge alone would suffice me,” 138140142[232n29][233n31]
Lord, Otis, 189
love: guilt and, 133; transforming power of, 193. See also sexuality
Love and Death (Symonds), 139
Lynch, Michael, [227n6]
Madman, The,53–54
male bonding: competition as impediment to, 136–137, 138; in fiction plotlines, 41–46, 51–52, 53–55, [209n11][210n12]
male friendship: adhesiveness and, [227n6]; democracy and, xxii; Emerson on, 99–100; limitations of, 98; romantic (see romantic friendships)
male-homoerotic desire: abandonment of fiction in denial of, 3852–53, 54–55, [210n12]; adhesiveness, 126127147[227n6]; as aesthetic, 126; aggression and, xxi; Calamus poems as exemplifying (see Calamus); claiming/disowning in early editions of Leaves of Grass,90–97; companions of WW (see companions); competition and, 68136–137, 138; and control, fear of loss of,
male-homoerotic desire (continued)919396; democracy and, 123–127, 141–142, 143147–148, 152158–159, [233n32][234n40]; erotic coerciveness and, 106; as excessive, xxi; family relationships as model for, 88; and female, identification with, 89–90, 93116129–130, 132–134, 184[228n12]; as fluid, xxii–xxiii; grief and, 158–159; ideal family as constituted by, 46; and low-class other, 134–135; physical expression of, xx–xxii; privileging of, xiii; renunciation of, 105135138–152, 181[228n11][230n17][231nn27–28], [232n30][233nn31]34[234n40][235n41]; subculture of, 75; tensions of WW in expression/selfsuppression of, 159; as undemocratic, 127140; women's roles in culture of, 125. See also feminization; male bonding; male friendship; romantic friendships
Man-Love poems. See Calamus
marriage: bad food and, [207n67]; dismantling of, 130–131; early, as counseled, 474953; feminist view of, according to WW, 177; male-homoerotic desire as stage toward, [209n11]; malemale, 140142; pledge to, as rapidly exhausted, 132–133; sexism of, 179; social attitudes and, [206n59]; transgression of WW toward, 29–30, [206n59]; as unavailable to all, 85[225n50]; as unhappy, 52. See also domesticity;
middle-class values; sexuality
masculinity: aggression of, retreat from, 179–180, [242n20]; authorship and, xvi–xvii; disaffection from, xix; drinking and, [207n71]; hypermasculinity, as defense, 5770–71; Louisa Whitman's ideals of, 3; romantic friendship and, [207n65]; war and, xxiii, 15[197n21]. See also femininity; feminization; gender
Maslan, Mark, [224n46]
master narrative, 46
masturbation. See autoeroticism
Matthiessen, F. O., [220n11]
McClure, J. E., [214n22]
McPherson, James, 175–176
Melville, Herman, 69
men: single, sexuality and, 85115; as term, 183[243n26]. See also fathers; gender; mothers; women
metaphor, [211n23]
Meyers, Marvin, [219n7]
middle-class values, xiv–xv; domesticity (see domesticity); food and, 30–31, 32–34, 35[207n67]; marriage (see marriage); and publication of work, 97; racializing in fiction of, 39; Woodbury critique of, 30–35. See also class; working class
Miller, Edwin H., [217n32]
Miller, James E., [229n16]
mind, and body as lost vs. found, 97
Mitchell, Donald Grant, [201n34]
modernity, maternity as answer to problem of, 178
Moers, Ellen, 30
Moon, Michael, xvii, 146156157[201n26][210n12][232n30][236n13][243n26]
“Moral Effect of the [Atlantic] Cable, The,” [216n29]
Morris, Timothy, [218n3]
mothers: absence of, violence and, 39–40; agency of, males and, 173179190; ambivalence of WW and, 172–173, 178–183, 189–192; careers of, 177192[241n15][244n45]; creativity as symbolized by, 184–185, [242n23]; Dark Mother, 168–169, 171175[240n8]; as de-eroticized, 189–190; divine, 177191; “good motherhood,” 178192; and healthy sexuality, 109; ideal, 137; in ideal family, 46; identity and, 179–180; inadequate, as patriarchal role, 169; motherist movement/ cult, 172–173, [239nn2–3]; as muse, 12819172185[201n33]; as nurturant, 41; perfect, xviii–xix, 180–181; Poem-Mother, 182–183; as political problem solver, 189; poverty of, 46; as programmatic, 173; as supreme goal, 184–185, 189–192. See also family; fathers; Whitman, Louisa Van Velsor
mother-surrogates, 7
Mott, Frank Luther, [208n2]
Muchmore, W. M., 73
Murray, Patty, [241n15]
muscle: offset hoped for, 56; semitic/seminal, [244n44]; as symbol, 66[212n7]; and tenderness, 60
“Myself and Mine,” 160
narcissism, 166[221n19] narratives: master, 46; repressed, 88–89
nationalism, 83126138[233n31]; of canonical texts, [218n3]. See also democracy; United States
Native Americans: attitudes of WW toward, 39; Louisa Whitman and, 14–15; rage of, 39; and The Half-Breed,40–41
nature, expansion of, 68
New Orleans, and “Walt” name change, 6972–73, 136[214nn21–22], [230n19]
New Orleans Crescent,[214n22]
New York Daily News,[212n10]
New York Dispatch,[213n11]
North American Review,111
Norton, Charles Eliot, 111–112
notebooks, 3[198n4]; on Enfans d'Adam,127; evidence for transformation romance, lack of, 74; lost Emerson conversations, [212n6]; on male-homoerotic desire, 149–150; “Pictures” and, 77–78; on renunciation, 148; sexual attitudes in, 65; on soul, 149; Van Velsor's and war, 5[198n5]
November Boughs,20
Nussbaum, Martha, [212n3]
nymphs, 169
Oates, Stephen B., [227n5]
objectification, 58
“O Captain! My Captain!” 164
O'Connor, Ellen, 98[196n12][227n3]; WW's correspondence with, 11174178
O'Connor, William Douglas, 174[196n12][227n3][228n9]; break with WW, [241n13]; defense of WW, 119[201n26][241n13]
Olds, Sharon, [244n44]
“One Wicked Impulse,” 41
“On the Beach at Night Alone” (“Clef Poem”), 190–191, [244n46]
orgasm, [224n47]
Osgood, James R., [235n41]
“Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking,” 98123; personal suffering and, 123124; unity and, 126
parody, [206n56]
Parton, James, [232n29]
Partridge, Eric, [208n6]
“Passage to India,” 94
patriarchy: authority, ambivalence toward, 157159–167, 169–171, [236n7]; Democratic Mother in resistance to, 183–184; denial of authority of, 160–161; language in resistance to, 55; mother absence and abuses of, 38–40. See also competition; fathers; isolation; politics; power
Patriot,22
Pease, Donald E., [219n9]
Perloff, Marjorie, [211n20]
Pessen, Edward, [234n35]
Peterson, Merrill D., [237n20]
philosophy, plans to write book of, 27
Plato, 76–77
“Poem of a Few Greatnesses” (“Great Are the Myths”), 130–131, [228n13]
“Poem of Procreation” (“A Woman Waits for Me”), 190
“Poem of The Dead Young Men of Europe” (“Europe”), [213n11]
“Poem of The Sayers of The Words of The Earth” (“Song of the Rolling Earth”), 87, 94 “Poem of Women” (“Unfolded Out of the
Folds”), 182
poetry: as antipatriarchal, 55; aspiration to gentility, 56; authority of (see authority, poetic); death as forestalled by, 164; departures as stimulating, 164; editing advice on, 98128129[228n11];
― 256 ―faith in, 121; gendered ambivalence and, 186; light of, 114; power of, 123124; secession, northern, [231n25]; self-censorship of (see selfcensorship); shift to, 54–55, 69[213n11]; “song” in titles of, [216n29]; spiritual power of writing, 68. See also fiction; language; literary tradition; sentimentality; stylepoets, true, 55
politics: ambivalence of WW and, 131; definition of, [195n2]; dream of, refusal to surrender, [240n4]; reform of, [215n25]; refusal to identify with party, [224n45]; representation of WW and, 64; WW as withdrawing from, 138. See also democracy; social reform; United States
Pollak, Vivian R., [215n26]
Pound, Louise, [220n11]
power: definition of, [195n2]; fiction in resistance to, 38–40; private vs. public, for women, 191–192; in “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,” 170. See also authority; fathers; patriarchy
precedents: weighing extremity of abandonment of, 123–124; withdrawal from, 83–84, 88
private vs. public domains, 105–106, 137140[222n36][223n37]; women's roles and, 191–192
protection, 109–111
public vs. private domains. See private vs. public domains
race: Civil War deaths and, 175–176; Dark Mother and, 171; expanded sexual discourse and empowerment of, 124; gender critique and, 40–41; gender discourse subsuming, 124–125, 173–178; gender roles and, 189; imperial presence and, 166; miscegenation, concept of, [211n23]. See also African Americans
racializing: Dark Mother and, [240n8]; derationalization and, 39; romanticization of freedom and, 136; of “The Sleepers,” 14–15. See also sentimentality
racism: of Carlyle's essay, 174–175; challenges to, in writings of WW, 134; evasion of contributions by nonwhites, 175–176; O'Connor split and, [241n13]; of WW, xvii–xviii, 175–178, [241n13]. See also abolitionism; slavery; social reform
Rankin, Henry B., [237n20]
Raritan Bay Union, [221n22]
Raymond, Henry Jarvis, 119
real self: desire for, 181; as gendered, 92; lack of intimacy with, xiv; meaning of, xiv; as mocking, 152; performance of self and, 145–147; transformation of, 193. See also identity; individualism; self
Rees Welsh & Co., [235n41]
religion: Louisa Whitman and, 17; Quakerism in background of WW, 420[199n6][202n37]; Walter Senior and, [217n35]; WW and, 22101168
“Respondez! Respondez!” 162
“Resurgemus” (“Europe”), [213n11]
reviews. See criticism
Reynolds, David S., xvii, 84[201n28][204n47][205n51][209n9][210n13]
Roman Catholicism, 40–41
romantic friendships, [206n65]; name change and, 66–67, 70–72, 74–75, [214n21]; problem of, xx. See also friendships; male-homoerotic desire
Roosa, D. B., 61–62
Rorabaugh, W. J., [204n46]
Rossetti, William Michael, [228n9]
Rover,117
Rubin, Gayle, 179
Rubin, Joseph Jay, [205n49]
rudeness: as insufficient, 136; of language, 818284112[224n48]; romanticization of, 134
Runge, William H., [239n32]
Ryan, Mary, [240n3]
Saturday Press,98
Savage, Kirk, [216n27]
Scarlet Letter, The (Hawthorne), 191
Schmidgall, Gary, [198n2]
Scofield, Minard S., 79
Scott, Sir Walter, 22
Scribner's Monthly,188
self: as author, 62–64; development of, as ideal, 190–191, [244n45]; of feminist criticism, xviii; imperial, 159; mythology of, xxiii–xxiv; real (see real self); record of, xxiv; repression of, xxiii–xxiv; sexual abandonment of, 132133; as weapon, [228n13]; writing to instantiate, 181. See also identity; individualism
self-censorship: abandonment of fiction in denial of male-homoerotic desire, 3852–53, 54–55, [210n12]; Emerson's suggestions for, 128[228n11]; Lincoln material, omissions in, 155159165170[236nn5]7[238n27]; and renunciation of male-homoerotic desire, 105135138–152, 181[228n11][230n17][231nn27–28], [232n30][233nn31]34[234n40][235n41]. See also criticism; homophobia; persecution of WW
self-sufficiency: as self-deception, [242n21]. See also individualism
Sellers, Charles, [203n41]
sentimentality: appropriate vs. inappropriate, 28; as buffer, 136–138; of childhood, 117; and democracy of feeling, 134; denial of, 70; racialism, 14–15; as suppressing distinctions, 185; welfare of living vs. dead in literature of, 167; in “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,” 158167. See also fiction; language; literary tradition; poetry; style
Seward, William Henry, 162
sexism: Enfans d'Adam and, 130; male voice for women, xix, 172173178–179, 182183–184, 186–187, 191–192; woman as death and, [240n8]; in writings of WW (see mothers; women). See also feminism; gender; social reform; women
sexual democracy. See democracy
sexuality: autoeroticism (see autoeroticism); confusion about, 63; empowerment of (see faith in sex); grieving and, 156158–159; narcissism, 166[221n19]; origins of, 109–110; power of, 109; precedents, abandonment of, 83–84, 88123–124; private vs. public domains and, 105–106, 137140[222n36][223n37]; repression of (see sexual repression); sadism and, 147–148; secrecy about, 145148; as sublimated to utopian formulations, 62; trisexuality, [221n19]; voices of poetry and attitudes toward, 63. See also gender; heterosexuality; homosexuality; malehomoerotic desire
sexual repression: as constitutive of WW's work, 147–148; masculine resources and, 115; single women and, 114–115
“Shadow and the Light of a Young Man's
Shakespeare, William, 16
Shaver, Phillip R., [219n6]
Shiveley, Steven B., [208n8]
Shively, Charley, [221n25]
Silver, Rollo G., 118
slavery: in Whitman family, [241n13]; WW and, 54[224n45]. See also abolitionism; African Americans; race
“Sleepers, The,” xix, 14–17, [215n23]; grandmother and, 3–4; search for identity and, 94182
Smith, Barbara Herrnstein, [229n13]
Smith, Martha Nell, [215n26]
Smithtown Debating Society, 25
social reform: abolitionism (see abolitionism); ambivalence toward, 173; desire for, 60114; of education, 46[209n9]; feminism (see feminism; gender); friendships and, 46; gay studies, xx, [217n33]; homosexual rights, xxii, 138–141; vs. poetic expression, xvii; vs. political reform, [215n25]; temperance (see temperance)
solitude, as dangerous, 60
“So Long!” 104
“Song for Certain Congressmen” (“Dough-Face Song”), [213n11]
“Song of Myself”: aggression of love in, xxi; conceived as spiritual novel, 54; The Half-Breed compared to, 40; and intimacy, xvi, xxi; Louisa Whitman as quoting, 18; touch as discussed in, 58596063
“Song of Myself” (1855): audience and, 6771–72; companions in notes for, 79–80; feminization and, 89–90, 93116184; and gentility, 57; glistening in, [230n22]; great-grandfather and, [199n6]; Hannah Whitman Heyde as model for twenty-ninth bather, 115–121; and literature, attack on, 82–83; lovemaking in, 89–97; punctuation of, 72
“Song of the Answerer,” 57
“Song of the Broad-Axe,” 161
“Song of the Rolling Earth” (“Poem of The Sayers of The Words of The Earth”), 8794
soul: body and, 101; and individualism, excesses of, 95; language of, 54. See also body; self
Spiegelman, Willard, [220n12]
Springfield Daily Republican,188
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady, 189–190
“Starting from Paumanok” (“ProtoLeaf”), 141
states rights, 161
Stovall, Floyd, [204n44]
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 185
Stuart, Carlos D., 73
style, xv; as heterodox, 185–186; of letters, 33; of Mocking-Bird poet, 125152. See also fiction; language; literary tradition; poetry
suffering: attraction to (see hospital visits); of dead vs. living, 167–168, 169170[239n33]
“Sun-Down Papers from the Desk of a
“Supplement Hours,” [220n15]
surrogate fathers. See father surrogates
Sweet, Timothy, [241n9]
symbolism: breasts, 191[244n46]; eyes, 137[231n24]; fishermen, 150; food, 30–31, 32–34, 35[207n67]; hands (see hands); hermit thrush, 59159164168169170[236n3]; horses, 2591; lilacs, 155158170171[235n1]; live-oak, 136[230n21]; mullen/mullein/sullen, 95[220n15]; muscle (see muscle); phallus, xvi, 7879127[230n18]; ship of state, 163–164. See also language
Symonds, Catherine North, [231n26]
Symonds, John Addington, 5575138–141, [218n41][231nn26]28[233n31][235n43]
Taylor, Zachary, 169
temperance: fiction of, 42–54, [210nn13–14]; Leech to WW on, 34; masculinity vs., [207n71]. See also social reform
“Thanatopsis” (Bryant), [206n56]
“These I Singing in Spring,” [230n21]
“Thou Mother with Thy Equal Brood,” [242n24]
“To a Common Prostitute,” [230n22]
Todd, Mabel Loomis, 189
“To Think of Time” (“Burial Poem”), 181[218n35][228n13][229n14]
Trachtenberg, Alan, [223n37]
Traubel, Horace, 119223875107117–118, [198n1][218n41][223n39][241n13]; as biographer, 11938[198n1]–2, [208n2]fig. 13caption
“Unfolded Out of the Folds” (“Poem of Women”), 182
United States: family portrait of, 86; metaphors of family and, 126; moral continent of, 84; Woman-Love poems and, 127[227n8]. See also democracy
urban life: enjoyment of, 60–61, 64–65, [206n59]; escape from, 91. See also country life
Van Velsor, Alonzo (uncle), [199n9]
Van Velsor, Cornelius (“Kell,” grandfather), 34–6, [198n5][199n9]
Vaughan, Fred, 98–99, 101–103, [221n25][222n29][224n41]fig. 11caption; as audience, 101–103; Brooklyn visit of, 12; eagerness of, xx; in Pfaff's, 98; WW's warning to self about, xx, 102–103
Views of Society and Manners in America (Wright), 190
violence: absence of mothers and, 39–40; domestic, [226n62]; maternal return in avoidance of, 169; national identity and, 193; and political change, 155[227n5][236n5]. See also aggression; emotions
Virgin Mary cult, 191
virilization, xvi–xvii. See also feminization; hypermasculinity
voice: of African Americans, WW as, 176179; multivocality of Leaves of Grass,58; self-representation and, 186; of women, WW as, xix, 172173178–179, 182183–184, 186–187, 191–192
Volney, Constantin, 22
vulnerability: celebration of, 97
war: homosocial bonds of, 15; remasculinization and, xxiii, [197n21]; Van Velsors and, 3[198n5]. See also Civil War
Ward, John Quincy Adams, 75
Warren, Joyce W., [244n48]
Washingtonian and Organ,53
Waste Land, The (Eliot), [199n8]
wealth: greed, 39; middle class pursual of, 35; romanticization of, and gender, 30; “Sun-Down Papers” and suspicion of, 2728. See also class; middle-class values; working class
Weekly Freeman,68–70
Welter, Barbara, [244n45]
Western frontier, 40–41
“When I Heard at the Close of the Day,” 157
“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd”: contractile impulse in, 59; dead vs. living, suffering of, 168169170175[239n33]; grief and, 155156158–159, 166–170; guilt in, 168170171; maternal figure in, 168–169, 171175[240n8]; omissions in, 155159165170[236nn5]7; prefiguration of, [229n14]; as self-referential, 156–157; sexual and emotional ambivalence toward male authority figures and, 157159–167, 169–171, [236n7]; symbolism of, 155158170–171; writing of, 159164[235n3] “When my mother was a girl” (“An Incident on Long Island Forty Years Ago”), 4–5, 6
“Whispers of Heavenly Death,” 13
Whitestone, NY, 35
Whitman, Andrew (brother), 712–13; in Civil War, 170[239n36]; death of, 17–18, 170
Whitman, Edward (brother), 1213[200n23]; alcoholism of father and, 22; birth of, 7; shared room with WW, 113
Whitman, George Washington (brother), 71318[200n24]; in Civil War, xxii, 153–154, 164165; and mother, 9–11; silences of, 20; on sister Hannah, 118; Whitman's retreat to home of, xxiii
Whitman, Hannah (sister). See Heyde, Hannah Whitman
Whitman, Hannah Brush (grandmother), 21
Whitman, Jesse (brother), 711–12, 100nn22–23; and death of Andrew, 17–18; in poetry, 94–95
Whitman, Louisa Orr (sister-in-law), xxiii
Whitman, Louisa Van Velsor (mother), fig. 3; appearance and character of, 6–9, 13–15, 113; attachment to WW,
Whitman, Louisa Van Velsor (continued) 9; as audience, xvi; in Civil War, 154164; death of, 13; and death of Walter Senior, 78; domesticity and, 215; financial dependence of, 810121318174[213n15]; friendships of, 9; on Heyde, 119[225n58]; idealization of, xviii–xix, 123691017[198n1]; and Lincoln assassination, 154–155; literacy of, 113[200n26]; loneliness of, 84; marriage of, 13; as muse, 12819185[201n33]; and name change to “Walt,” 7072–73, 74[213nn14–15]; pregnancies of, 1323; pretense and, 8–9; religion and, 17; revisionism of WW and, [198n1]; as storyteller, 16–7, 19; support of WW's work, 13113[200n26]; and work, 1113–15, 18. See also mothers
Whitman, Mary (sister). See Van Nostrand, Mary Whitman
Whitman, Mattie (Martha Mitchell, sister-in-law), 8918107[211n18][224nn42–43]
Whitman, Thomas Jefferson (“Jeff,” brother), 78; on attacks from “Yam” writers, [228n11]; correspondence of, 7071; and depression as family trait, [214n18]; independence of, 107–108; on Jesse, 12; and Lincoln, 163; marriage of, 107–108, [224nn42–43]; and mother, 7101213; New Orleans trip with, 54; in Pfaff's, 98; WW's attachment to, 107[211n18][223nn40–41], [224n43]
Whitman, Walt, figs. 4–13; as “Answerer,” 57162; appearance of, 245666128[231n24]; apprenticeship of, literary, 128; and art of indirection, 124; birth of, 713fig. 1; bravery as heart-courage, 137; children of, fictitious, 139[231n27]; coterie of, 75–76; as crank, 6162; death of, fig. 13caption; depression and mental health of, 7137197; egotism of, 129; erotic double-bind of, 96; feminization and (see feminization); as flawed, xv–xviii; as gentleman bachelor, 56–58, 65–67, [213n12]figs. 48; as “good gray poet,” 56; health of, xxii, xxiii, 1213153157[197nn19–20], fig. 11caption; hypermasculinity of, 5770–71; as intellectual, 134–135; jealousy of, xxiii; “lazy” persona of, 111828–29; legal triumph of, [205n51]; as misunderstood, 9697; name change to “Walt,” 66–67, 69–75, 74–75, [213nn14–15], [214n16]; as narcissist, 166[221n19]; persecution of, 150[235n41]; as “phallic choice,” 7879; presence of, [218nn2–3]; pretense and, 8–9; pseudonyms of, 2371; and religion, 22101168; “rough” persona of, xvi–xvii, 1856–58, 60668081–82, 107128[218n41]; sexuality of (see male-homoerotic desire; sexuality); shanty of, fig. 13; tactlessness of, 73–74; as talker, 111; theater, love of, 23155[235n2]; touch, ambivalence toward, 58596063; and work (see employment of WW); as wounddresser poet, xxii, 616280168185
Whitman, Walter Senior (father), fig. 2; alcoholism of, 22; alienation from, xix; appearance of, 7; birth of, 21[203n40]; class and, 21–22, [204n49]; death of, 78–79, 96[217n35]fig. 2; education and, 21; exclusion of, 131719–20; financial failures of, 1950[211n16]; and Hicks, 20–21, [202n37]; impersonation of, by WW, 107; marriage of, 13; mental health of, 202122; narrative of WW and, 11; and religion, [217n35]; work of, 131923[204n49]fig. 1. See also fathers
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 37
“Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand,” 150
Wilentz, Sean, [203n41]
Williams, John (maternal greatgrandfather), [199n6]
With Walt Whitman in Camden,[198n1]
Wolfe, Charles, [206n56]
Woman-Love poems. See Enfans d'Adam
“Woman Waits for Me, A” (“Poem of Procreation”), 190[228n11]
women: agency of, males and, 173179; athleticism of, 173182183190; as audience, 112186187–189, [212n7]; collapse of, into “Mother,” 172181–182; crime by, 39; education of, 192; exclusion of, 3536; irritated by WW, 28–29, 30; as muse, 169172; private vs. public power of, 191–192; prostitution, 130132135; race and roles of, 189; representation of, xix; respect for, claims to, 29112192[208n1][244n45]; roles of, in homoerotic
― 261 ―culture, 125; roles of, 169; romantic friendships of, [206n65]; single, sexuality and, 85114–115; suffrage of, 177; voice of, WW as, xvii–xix, 172173178–179, 182183–184, 186–187, 191–192. See also fathers; feminism; gender; men; mothers; sexism; Whitman, Louisa Van VelsorWoodbury, NY, 30–35
“Word out of the Sea, A.” See “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking”
working class: and body, control of, 97; and companion-type of WW, xx, xxii, xxiii, 61–63, 77–78, 79–80, 98134–135; and new male model, 137; “rough” persona of WW, xvi–xvii, 1856–58, 60668081–82, 107128[218n41]; suffrage of, in Britain, 175. See also class; middle-class values
working life. See employment of WW
Wright, Henry Clarke, 173