Whitman has been praised by the multitudes for his “prophetic voice” that comes through in both the style and content of his work. His messages remain relevant because they do not ascribe to the boundaries of a specific time or place, and therefore can be interpreted and applied to our present, past, and future societies. In my paper I will analyze Whitman’s depiction of women, specifically their role as “Mothers” to both individuals and to society as a whole. I will focus on his choice to project a predominantly maternal image of women, and why this approach, although antiquated in our modern landscape, is actually quite productive and progressive as a tool for female agency and empowerment. Arthur Wrobel’s article “Noble American Motherhood: Whitman, Women, and the Ideal Democracy” will be the jumping off point for my analyses. His assertion that “Concerning women and their rights Whitman’s views are in fact unfailingly extensions of his very consistent views on general human improvement” (Wrobel 7-8), will align nicely with my research.
The goal of my project will be to prove that Whitman’s work projects a powerful and progressive image of women. I will do this by acknowledging those who have have argued for and against Whitman’s depictions of women, citing critics that take issue with his constant references to women as being caretakers who occupy only the domestic sphere and therefore are only awarded a certain degree of agency.
I will use a number of secondary sources that analyze the traditional depiction of women during the time Whitman was writing. These will serve to provide a foundation for my argument that Whitman manipulated the motherly image of women so that they could have more agency and be powerful counterparts to men in the progressive initiatives he had in mind. So far I have gathered a few secondary sources that have a number of quotations that I am sure I will use in my paper, along with a few that inform the ideology and set the historical context of my research.
I hope to have narrowed down and filtered out my secondary sources by the end of this weekend so that I can start on my outline and first draft of my paper. My project will take the form of a traditional research paper and will provide personal incite, supported and strengthened by literary criticism and textual and historical evidence.
Bibliography:
“Noble American Motherhood”: Whitman, Women, and the Ideal Democracy.”American Studies 21.2 (1980): 7-25. JSTOR. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
Lawrence, David Herbert., Ezra Greenspan, and James T. Boulton. The Cambridge Edition of the Letters and Works of D.H. Lawrence. Cambridge: Cambridge U, 2003. Print.
McMahon, William E. “Grass and Its Mate in “Song of Myself”” South Atlantic Review 51.1 (1986): 41-55. JSTOR. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.
White, William M.. “The Dynamics of Whitman’s Poetry”. The Sewanee Review 80.2 (1972): 347–360.
Wardrop, Daneen. “Whitman as Furtive Mother: The Supplementary Jouissance of the “ambushed Womb” in “song of Myself””. Texas Studies in Literature and Language 40.2 (1998): 142–157.
Thompson, Flora McDonald. “Retrogression of the American Woman”. The North American Review 171.528 (1900): 748–753.
Diane Middlebrook. “Making Visible the Common World: Walt Whitman and Feminist Poetry”. The Kenyon Review 2.4 (1980): 14–27.
Aspiz, Harold. “An Early Feminist Tribute to Whitman”. American Literature51.3 (1979): 404–409.
Killingsworth, Myrth Jimmie. “Whitman and Motherhood: A Historical View”.American Literature 54.1 (1982): 28–43.
Garman, Bryan K.. “”heroic Spiritual Grandfather”: Whitman, Sexuality, and the American Left, 1890-1940”. American Quarterly 52.1 (2000): 90–126.
Whitman, Walt. Poetry and Prose. New York: Library of America, 1996. Print.
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