Walt Whitman’s America by David S. Reynolds

“There is no apparent structure to the preface; as with the poetry that follows, its very lack of structure enacts the free-flowing cultural interactions it announced. Still, it makes an argument that can be briefly paraphrased as follows. America desperately needs poets to repair its deficiencies and realize its potential. Its deficiencies include corrupt politicians on all government levels, the specter of disunion, widespread vice, failed relations between the sexes, and distortions in many popular romances and pictures. Its potential lies in the ideals of democracy and union, in free individual expression, in the nation’s ample geography, and in cultural areas like music and art. The poet’s role is one of restoration and reconciliation. In a time of failed social rulers, the poet announces himself superior to the president. He is ‘hungry for equals,’ who are found among common folk and outcasts rather than legislators. In the absence of a viable political democracy, the poet announces a new cultural democracy formed by various kinds of phenomena, from spiritualism to phrenology, from art to physiology. Because the poet lovingly absorbs virtually all of America’s tastes, he in turn will be absorbed by his country.”

-David S. Reynolds, 1995