Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice,
Be not dishearten’d, affection shall solve the problems of freedom yet,
Those who love each other shall become invincible,
They shall yet make Columbia Victorious”
Walt Whitman
The idea that poetry, or even consciousness, can
set one free of the ruins of history and culture is
the grand illusion of every romantic poet”
Jerome J. McGann
These two quotes I have chosen to open my essay with are in battle with each other. The optimistic voice of Walt Whitman seeks to confront the problems that he witnessed in the America of his time with the virtues of love and camaraderie. The poets vision sees a future that is both fantastical and romantic. Throughout the course of Whitman’s life, he wrote poetry that attacked the American people with visions of the future. With its release in 1855, we still see the effects of Leaves of Grass pumping in the veins of American Culture. Whitman challenged America with his artistic visions concerning the nature of man, the nature of sexuality, the poet’s role in America, and the beauty that could be seen in America’s people as well as its landscapes rich history.
Although the words of Jerome J. McGann challenges older romantic poets, the quote taken from “The Romantic Ideology: A Critical Investigation” challenges Whitman as well in terms of grounding an artist’s vision in reality, and seeing that an artist’s vision can potentially be illusionary due to the limited perspective/world-view of the artist. During Whitman’s time there were many barricades . Problems such as racism, war, and industrious growth were overtaking America during Whitman’s time. Whitman challenged these problems with his poetic vision, and along the way, he wrote of people and problems that he might not have fully understood himself. Is it Whitman’s prophetic voice that rises above the turmoil and drama? How could America during a time of prejudice and turbulence find this love that Whitman spoke of? This is precisely what leads us to McGann’s quote. McGann’s quote calls us to look at two things, the work of the artist, and the time/context in which the artist created the work. In the case of Whitman, we can see that his vision was slightly flawed due to the realities that faced America at the time. By looking at Whitman this way, it challenges the view of art at the time, and this brings us to Thomas Cole and The Hudson River School.
Through the introduction of Thomas Cole and The Hudson River School, I intend to not only look at the poems of Whitman through the lens of McGann’s idea of “romantic ideology”, but also the visual works of Thomas Cole and others from The Hudson River School. The Hudson River School is essential to my argument because it was a group of mostly American painters who sought to present a new form of America through their landscape paintings. The Hudson River School, like Whitman, was relevant and active during the early-to-mid-1800’s. Their work was concerned with presenting the natural wonders of North America, in doing so, they presented a world that most of the American public had not seen. This separation from reality, and presentation of a romantic reality is what interests me. I am interested in the ways in which Whitman envisioned America, and I am interested in the ways in which the Hudson River School gave new ways of thinking about the vastness of America, the beauty of America, and the complications of America’s history. By looking at a portion of Whitman’s poetry, the paintings of Thomas Cole, and the ways in which different sources break down the walls that stand between reality and fiction in these works, I intend to argue that both Whitman and Thomas Cole of The Hudson River School presented American visions that didn’t always relate to reality. The works of these artists moved from reality to fantasy in subject, and by breaking down ideas such as McGann’s “romantic ideology”, we will see how these artists brought both solutions and problems to the table.
Jerome J. McGann’s “The Romantic Ideology: A Critical Investigation” presents combative points against classic romantic figures such as Shelley, Byron, and Keats. McGann believes that the works of these poets creates illusions concerning the ways in which these poets spoke. We read, “When reading Romantic poems, then, we are to remember that their ideas-for example, ideas about the creativity of Imagination, about the centrality of the Self, about the organic and processive structure of natural and social life, and so forth-are all historically specific in a crucial and paradoxical sense” (McGann, 134). Although McGann is speaking more towards older Romantic poets, his words attach themselves to ideas we find in Whitman’s work. Ideas that concern themselves with attaching the artist to their time, dissecting the ways in which the artists vision addresses their time, and the ways in which false ideas concerning reality can be found in the work of the artist. The first poem that I quoted in this essay is from Whitman’s “Over The Carnage Rose Prophetic A Voice” and in this poem we find Whitman’s voice to be optimistic. By optimistic, I mean to say that we see in this poem a belief in the future despite the times that surrounded it. This type of optimism and belief can also be seen in the prose written by Whitman. In the “Preface to 1855 Edition of Leaves of Grass” we can see clear ties to McGann’s idea concerning “romantic ideology”. Whitman writes, “The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem. In the history of the earth hitherto the largest and most stirring appear tame and orderly to their ampler largeness and stir. Here at last is something in the doings of man that corresponds with the broadcast doings of the day and night. Here is not merely a nation but a teaming nation of nations” (Whitman, 488).
In his prose, Whitman spoke of an America that was real in his own vision but not universally in the eyes of every American. His vision existed within his work alone, despite how he saw this as America’s true self, it was purely an artistic vision being used to inspire other Americans. In looking at this type of work, McGann would place it under the idea of illusionary. McGann writes, “The very belief that transcendental categories can provide a permanent ground for culture becomes, in the Romantic Age, an ideological formation-another illusion raised up to hold back an awareness of the contradictions inherit in contemporary social structures and the relations they support” (McGann, 134). By introducing McGann’s sense of “romantic ideology” to the work of Whitman I intend to break down the ways in which Whitman’s work goes along with McGann’s sense of illusions. The visual works of Thomas Cole introduce another layer to this argument due to the fact that Cole’s work concerns itself with presenting a mixture of reality and history. Both Whitman and the figures of The Hudson River School were Americans reacting to their time through their art. In doing this, they created beautiful pieces, despite this, they also created problematic visions that call for questions. How do the works of Whitman and The Hudson River school relate? Do they present a true vision of America, or do they present a flawed artistic vision of America? In this essay I intend to try and solve those questions by breaking down Whitman’s poems attached to the Native American people and Thomas Cole’s painting “Falls of the Kaaterskill”. I will also look at Whitman’s later poems and connect them to other paintings created by figures within The Hudson River School. In doing this, I hope to break down the ways in which we view these works of art and how they effect our ways of thinking concerning the reality of the time in which they were created.
The first painting I will be observing in comparison to the works of Whitman is Thomas Cole’s “Falls of the Kaaterskill”. As mentioned before, Cole was one of The Hudson River School’s most prominent figures. His work was concerned with the wilderness of America. With this painting in particular I thought not only of the poem “Yonnondio” by Whitman, but also Ed Folsom’s essay “Chant Native American”. When looking at Cole’s painting, we immediately see the natural beauty and wonder of the landscape. Its vastness in scope celebrates not only the wonder in nature, but also the mystical power of nature. In her essay “Wilderness and its Waters”, Diana Strazdes writes of the intentions of Cole and his paintings. We read, “Cole launched the practice of rigorous travel by foot for the purpose of sketching landscape, which adapted to North America the late eighteenth-century British practice of picturesque travel. He also planted the belief that America’s wilderness landscape offered an ennobling experience that was at once poetic, spiritual, and a vehicle for understanding the workings of God” (Strazdes, 336). In his poem”Yonnondio” Whitman also expresses a sense of the mystical and the spiritual through his words. He writes, “Yonnondio-I see, far in the west or north, a limitless ravine, with plains and mountains dark, I see swarms of stalwart chieftains, medicine-men, and warriors, As flitting by like clouds of ghosts, they pass and are gone in the twilight” (Whitman, 641). This poem is interesting in relation to Cole’s painting due to the fact that they both deal with America’s past and its relationship to Native Americans. If one looks closely at the center point of Cole’s “Falls of the Kaaterskill”, a figure can be seen at the center of the image. This is interesting due to the fact that Cole created this painting twice, once in 1825 and another in 1826. From both paintings history we read, “Cole revisits a subject that had previously gained him fame with his Kaatskill Upper Fall, Catskill Mountains (1825), painted after his first visit to the area. The region, known for its natural beauty, was viewed as a kind of natural Eden, yet, at the time of Cole’s first visit, railings and a bridge had already been installed for the safety of the many tourist. In his depiction, however, Cole erased these manmade elements and included a Native American (even though the indigenous people had been driven from the area by this time) in an attempt to reverse time and preserve the original landscape for posterity” (theartstory.org). This inclusion of the Native American is strange due to the fact, as we have read, Cole planted the figure in the painting as a means of preserving history. In relation to Whitman’s poem “Yonnondio” this is interesting due to the fact that both artist speak of a time that once existed while also addressing the present. Whitman writes, “As flitting like clouds of ghosts, they pass and are gone in the twilight” (Whitman,641). Like Whitman, the painting seems to center on this idea of the past, the idea of a mystical natural American landscape that was once inhabited by Native Americans. Despite this, both the work of Whitman and Cole present these ghosts of history and present something that was false in their time. They recreated a new sense of history in their works. This complicates the argument posed by McGann due to the fact that both artist did not interact with Native Americans, they only visualized them in their works. It presents a world that is more likely to be romanticized rather than factually proven as true.
In his essay “Chants Native American”, Ed Folsom poses a few interesting questions against the work of Whitman, it attacks the core of Whitman’s intentions due to the fact that Whitman himself was so far removed from the Native American people in which he spoke. We read, “The problem with finding “Whitman’s spirit” in Native American works is that his spirit is many-sided and changeable. There is a Whitman spirit that is expansive and dominating, that can imagine the last redwoods gladly giving themselves up to the axes of “the superber race.” But there is also a Whitman spirit that absorbs and caresses, that catalogues and celebrates difference, that extols a self that embodies diversity…” (Folsom, 43-44). In works such as “Yonnondio” we see both sides of this Whitman that Folsom speaks of. Lines such as, “A song, a poem of itself-the word itself a dirge, Amid the wilds, the rocks, the storm and wintry nigh, To me such misty, strange tableaux the syllables calling up” (Whitman, 641). These lines suggest this type of mystical knowledge that Whitman receives despite the fact that he is ignorant of these visions, they are simply being created by his own mind. Despite this, we read, “To-day gives place, and fades-the cities, farms, factories fade; A muffled sonorous sound, a wailing word is borne the the air for a moment, Then blank and gone and still, and utterly lost” (Whitman,641-642). In these lines we gain a sense of remembrance and respect from Whitman rather than his words expressing the fact that he is somehow aware of the experiences and landscapes that the Native Americans experienced. This is where we get a sense of Folsom’s argument in the sense that Whitman seemed to tread on both sides in terms of writing about the experiences of Native Americans. He notes, “So, for many many recent American Indian writers, the questions they ask Whitman have to do with this contradictory nature: does he speak for the white pioneer, or does he speak for an America that thrives on its diversity of peoples?” (Folsom, 44). I believe that this same question can be asked of Thomas Cole when looking at a painting such as “Falls of the Kaaterskill”. We must return to McGann’s idea that by presenting a piece, we must also look at the time in which the piece was created. In this sense, the work of Thomas Cole was around the same time as Whitman so it seems as though Cole’s decision to place the Native American figure in the painting was somewhat questionable. Both of the works by Whitman and Cole suggest a “paradoxical” element that McGann wrote of, they both rewrite history in a sense.
https://library-artstor-org.nuncio.cofc.edu/#/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822000894640
In the final days of Whitman’s work we see not only a transformation in subject matter, but also in mood. In poems such as “To The Sun-Set Breeze”, and “Mirages”. These poems all capture a mood of departure and reverence, while also capturing beautiful natural moments that one can envision in their mind. Like some of his earlier works, these later Whitman poems brought the Hudson River School to my mind as well, and they caused me to think of the romantic tendencies that the painters of this movement shared with Whitman’s words. Unlike the paintings in which Thomas Cole depicted Native Americans, and the poems in which Whitman spoke of the Native Americans, these works in this final argument show the ways that both Whitman and the painters of The Hudson River School shared a similar sense of awe, wonder, and fear of the unknown. In the case of Whitman and these later poems, that unknown would be death. The case for the painters on the other hand, was the fear and majesty of the unknown power and mystique of the natural wonders in America.
In David Lehman’s “The Visionary Walt Whitman”, he writes about the concerns that he believed Whitman had with death. He writes, “…Whitman expresses the conviction that either death doesn’t exist or it is benign: ‘And to die is different from what anyone supposed, and luckier.’ On what does he base this conviction? There is the influence of Eastern Mysticism, which mingles so productively with the influence of Emerson. But I would argue that above all else there is the poet’s determination to defeat the fear of death. Death is his obsession, and the visionary imagination with which Whitman opposes it follows from an act of will” (Lehman,11). In “To The Sun-Set Breeze”, we see Whitman challenging death with the mystical solutions of nature. These same types of elements that we read in the poem can be seen in the works of Frederic Edwin Church, and Albert Bierstadt. The two painters create calming scenes of dusk that suggest a certain amount of peace and reverence. They also suggest the dawn of new day, despite the passing of time. In “To The Sun-Set Breeze” we read, “(Thou hast, O Nature! elements! utterance to my heart So sweet thy primitive taste to breathe within-thy sooth-Thou messenger-magical strange bringer to body and spirit of me, (Distances balk’d-occult medicines penetrating me from head to foot,) I feel the sky, the prairies vast-I feel the mighty northern lakes, I feel the ocean and the forest-somehow I feel the globe itself swift-swimming in space” (Whitman,667). These words express a sense of sadness, yet also express the magical healing wonder that nature has upon Whitman. We can see this mysticism in Frederic Edwin Church’s painting “Twilight in the Wilderness” (above). This painting depicts a sun-set over a river scene, and like Whitman’s work, it expresses the “occult medicines” that can reach one through the power of natural beauty and wonder. The same can be said when looking at Albert Bierstadt’s “Evening on the Prairie” (above) as well. These works certainly had a mystical effect upon the people who witnessed them, much like certain romantic ideas, the presentations of wonder in these paintings caused such an emotional impact some considered to be “heavenly” or “devine”. In Strazdes piece we read, “The reward to the artists for their effort is no less than a revelation of the divine in nature. The artists’ experiences make them authentic witnesses to a natural world seen by few others. Returning to civilization transformed, these artist-travelers become like priests, in direct communion with God, intercessors between the public and the landscape representing the pure workings of God” (Strazdes,357-358). I see this idea connecting these night scenes created by the Hudson River School painters and Whitman’s later work. One difference is the idea that Whitman doesn’t always have that sense of confidence in nature like painters seem to have in their work, like in Lehman’s essay, it seems that Whitman is always trying to prove something to himself.
In the poem “Mirages” we read, “People and scenes, animals, trees, colors and lines, plain as could be,Farms and dooryards of home, paths border’d with box, lilacs in corners,Weddings in Churches, thanksgiving dinners, returns of long-absent sons, Glum funerals, the crape-veil’d mother and the daughters, Contestants, battles, crowds, bridges, wharves, Now and then mark’d faces of sorrow or joy…” (Whitman, 677). As the final poem mentioned in my essay, the intention of using “Mirages” lies simply the idea of Whitman naming objects and events merely as ideas. Like some of his other works, Whitman relies almost upon memory and image. We rely upon his poetic word to gather his insight and outlook. In terms of what he says, it goes along the ideas of McGann’s “romantic ideology, they go along due to the fact that this work is merely image: or mirage.
The final image I have chosen from The Hudson River School painters is Thomas Cole’s “Old Age” from “Voyage of Life”. The painting expresses an individual floating along the river of life and reaching its end, or in this case, reaching the mystical aura of clouds that Cole painted. As Whitman faded in health in these later years, I thought of this work in particular, it captures the essence of wonder and remembrance, as well as capturing the idea of fading away. This is a central idea in “Mirages” and “To The Sun-Set Breeze”. In these poems we see a reflection of nature and a reflection of the past. It doesn’t seem as tranquil for Whitman as it is presented in Cole’s painting, but in “To The Sun-Set Breeze” we read of the sea and the calm that it brings Whitman’s soul. We also can look towards Whitman’s late poem “Twilight”, in the poem Whitman describes a dream-like haze that he fades into which eventually leads to “oblivion”. We read, “The soft voluptuous opiate shades, The sun just gone, the eager light dispell’d- (I too will soon be gone, dispell’d,) A haze-nirwana-rest and night-oblivion” (Whitman, 651). This poems acts as a solid comparison to Cole’s painting in my mind due to the fact the paint itself presents a soft haze of light, but is surrounding by the black oblivion that we read of in the poem. The character in the poem is being sent to this place by a mystical guide. After reading the poem, I now imagine Whitman at the center of this painting, traveling into the hazy oblivion. It seems as though Lehman addresses Whitman’s “obsession” with the beautiful, fearful, and mystical elements of death. This poem acts as a physical representation in my mind of Whitman addressing this fear, and trying to see it as something beautiful.
To conclude, I’ve found that The Hudson River School and the works of Walt Whitman interact with each other in very harmonious ways. Sometimes both of the parties tend to represent things they might not understand, or even create something that they shouldn’t have. For instance, the ways in which McGann and Folsom adressed their tendencies to create false/illusionary representations of events or places in history. Despite this, I found that there was a beautiful relationship shared between the romantic paintings of Hudson River School and the dramatic/somber works of the late Whitman. It makes me wonder about other movements of American art and their influence/subjects could relate to Whitman and his work. Whitman is truly one of the greatest poets to have ever come out of America, so it wouldn’t surprise me if his influence was found in the works of other American art movements. The final question I pose is whether or not Whitman or The Hudson River School painters created their works with each other mind. Their work seems so closely tied in idea that they must have known of each other. It can be seen that the works of the Hudson River School and Whitman relate to each other in their grandiose views of life, and epic presentations of nature. In my mind, The Hudson river School and Walt Whitman are a pair that’s meant to be.
Works Cited:
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass: The “Death-Bed” Edition. Modern Library. 2001. Print.
Whitman, Walt, and Louis Untermeyer. The Inner Sanctum Edition of the Poetry and Prose of Walt Whitman. With a Biographical Introduction and a Basic Selection of Early and Recent Critical Commentary , Edited by Louis Untermeyer. Simon and Schuster. 1949. Print.
McGann, Jerome J. The Romantic Ideology: A Critical Investigation. University of Chicago. Press. 2004.
Folsom, Ed. “Chants Native American.” Walt Whitman: The Measure of His Song. Jim Pearlman, Holy Cow! Press. pp. 43-48.
Strazdes, Diana. “Wilderness and Its Waters: A Professional Identity for the Hudson River School.” Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal . Vol. 7, no. 2. 2009. JSTOR.
“Modern Art Movements, Artist, Ideas and Topics.” The Art Story. www.theartstory.org. web.
Lehman, David. “The Visionary Walt Whitman.” The American Poetry Review. Vol. 37, no. 1. 2008. JSTOR.
National Portrait Gallery. npg.org.uk. web (Portrait of Walt Whitman)
the-athenaeum.org.web (Thomas Cole, “The Clove, Catskills”)
thomascole.org (Thomas Cole, “Falls of the Kaaterskill”)
explorethomascole.org (Portrait of Thomas Cole)
iaphamsquarterly.org (Frederic Edwin Church, “Twilight in the Wilderness)
Bierstadt, Albert. “Evening on the Prairie.” ARTSTOR. web. (Albert Bierstadt, “Evening on the Prairie)
oceansbridge.com (Thomas Cole, “The Voyage of Life: Old Age”)
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