Reflection: The Writing Style of Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is a very interesting writer, to say the least. With such popularity in today’s world, it is hard to imagine that at one time, he was virtually cast aside by his fellow writers. That is what happened, though; his writing style made him an outcast of sorts in the writing community. Some even despised his book because of his writing style. It was only until years after his death that people realized how good of a poet he actually was.

Instead of just following the writing styles of the other poets of his time period when he wrote his poems, he decided to try and create a new style; one unique to him. His main goal with this new writing style was to reach a wider audience in America so that more people would be able to read and understand poetry (Connors 1). He also wanted to revitalize the poetry scene during his time which had become mundane and seldom contained the “vigor and creativity Whitman knew existed” in America at the time (Connors 1).

The solution that he saw to the problem of poetry not being widely read by many Americans was fairly simple, he decided to make his writings easier to understand than the other writings out at the time. The way that he put this into practice was by writing in free verse, which means that there would be no meter or rhyme in his poetry. I believe this is because someone is restricted to meter and rhyme while writing a poem, they are forced to use a specific set of vocabulary that would satisfy the limits of their style. This in turn creates many cases where writers are forced to use unnecessary complexity simply to make sure that their writing style is “correct.” Now free from these restrictions, Whitman was free to express his feelings exactly like he wanted to without heed for whether or not he had enough syllables or if he rhyme scheme was correct. With less excessive figurative language, more readers would be able to read and understand Whitman’s poetry, which is what he wanted to accomplish. Another aspect of Whitman’s writing style was that he thought of all Americans, including himself, as one whole.

This extremely different writing style, which I assume would come across as an insult to the other writers of the time, angered many of his peers. One even got so mad at the near blasphemy that Whitman’s portfolio seemed to poetry that he through his copy of Leaves of Grass into his fireplace (Connors 1). As even more insult to Whitman, he was not invited to a meeting of prominent writers of his time period, either out of forgetfulness or on purpose (Connors 1). Whitman caught a break, though, when Emerson wrote a letter praising him, hailing him as a great poet who had a long and successful career ahead of him. This not only increased to popularity and legitimacy of Whitman’s writings but it also inflated his ego making it even bigger.

Connors, Judith. "Whitman, Walt." In Bloom, Harold, ed. Walt Whitman, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2002. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.