Whitman The Patriot

During the Civil War, Walter Whitman served as a nurse to do his part in securing the sanctity of the nation which he had such high admiration for. By 1871 Whitman had perfected one of his most famous poems called, “Song of Myself”, by removing the word “American" from the verse, "American, one of the roughs, a kosmos" and merging the meaning kosmos with the quote "Walt Whitman am I, of mighty Manhattan the son" to its final form in 1871: "Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan the son." Many experts such as Richard Rorty, a writer, openly criticized Whitman as not being a patriot during such a crucial time in the nation’s history. Due to all the atrocities that the Union soldiers had to go through during the bloody Civil War era, Rorty believes Whitman lost his sense of nation patriotism “After the Civil War, the story might go. Whitman saw the rampant greed and materialism around him as profanations of the sacred blood-sacrifice he witnessed so closely in Washington hospitals between 1862 and 1866” (Cushman). Critics can point to the evidence that Whitman had developed a belief that all American’s were greedy and had lost touch with core American values; however, as Cushman proves, Whitman later removes American from his poem because he believes that kosmos and American are synonymous. Whitman regards himself as such a devout patriot that he does not need to explain what he is implying, and that it is understood that his poem is reflecting American values when he uses the word kosmos. In order to understand Whitman’s reasoning we have to look at the revised verse as a whole. Kosmos is used to describe both Whitman and the city, as if they are both cosmopolitan, then the last three words of the revision tie everything together. Whitman is the son of Manhattan, which is the son of America which is a kosmos. In one simple verse Whitman declares his identity, patriotism, and pride for his city and country. Furthermore, more evidence can be drawn from the fact that Whitman never revised the quote which claims "The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem." If Whitman truly became anti-American he would have undoubtedly changed or expunged this verse.

Cushman, Stephen "Whitman and Patriotism." 163-185. Virginia Quarterly Review, 2005. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 Dec. 2009.

Whitley, Edward "Whitman's Occasional Nationalism: "A Broadway Pageant" and the Space of Public Poetry." Nineteenth-Century Literature 60.4 (2006): 451-480. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 7 Dec. 2009.