Whitman as a poet of Democracy

Walt Whitman, the representative poet of America, is primarily the poetic spokesman of Democracy. He is considered one of the greatest poets of democracy, and that, not only in American literature, but in the world literature as well. He believed in the inherent dignity and equality of all men and women.  He gave priority of individual over society. All individuals should be developed so that they produce. He brought about innovation in poetry. The realistic tradition in American literature is strengthen by Whitman. He liberated the American sense and sensibility from the shackles of conservation and Puritanism. He celebrated the beauty of everyday things and works democracy and common people whom he hailed as the most important force in society. He greeted the revolutionary event and developments of his time and advocated international craftsmanship. His conception of democracy is based on this belief.

‘Leaves of Grass’ is regarded as his ideal of democracy. The democratic conception is everywhere in his poems. In his famous elegy on the death of American President Abraham Lincoln, ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’, his democratic thoughts are found. In almost every poem he indirectly presents a noteworthy report to liberate poetry from the tameness, the preciousness and the antiquarianism which has been afflicting it in the second half of the ninetieth century both in England and America. He tried to create for the modern democratic world a new poetry. He sings of the common man the sailor, the carpenter, etc.  he emphasized the use of the common language. He laid stress on liberty, fraternity and brotherhood. Without these ideals, there is no questions of democracy. In the poems Whitman celebrates himself. But the self- celebration is the celebration of himself as a man and an American. His democracy is ideal and universal. The body of his thought is nationalistic. His democracy is spiritual because he sees in democracy the possibilities of universal peace, tolerance and brotherhood. Whitman is not a mere idiolist, a theorist of democracy but his democracy is practical.

Human, equality, human dignity and progress are major themes of Whitman’s poetry. The idea of union attains a great height in the time of death. He is the most revolutionary of poets. His treatment of love and sex is equally revolutionary.

Thus, Whitman is a great poet of democracy. He greatly influenced the coming generations of English and American poets. He is, indeed, the greatest poet of American democracy and his ‘Leaves of Grass’ is the Bible of democracy.