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Popular Culture Review
Mariella Alboni, Whitman commented that “all persons appreciated Alboni, the
common crowd as well as the connoisseurs, for her the New York theaters were
packed full of...young men, mechanics, ‘roughs’, etc., entirely oblivious of all
except Alboni.”^ Between these years. Whitman formulated a philosophy and poetic
vision which would unite the nation through the celebration of its entirety. This
vision would be presented by an egalitarian bard who would expose the nation’s
disparate parts as a cohesive whole. This vision would also tacitly put forward an
inclusive reformist program which would embrace much of both the nation’s
conservative and radical elements.
Manifesto: The Introduction to Leaves O f Grass (1855)
Whitman clearly expected his first edition of Leaves o f Grass to have an impact
far beyond that aesthetic sphere. In his introduction to the 1855 edition (which
made up nearly ten percent of the book’s whole) Whitman formulated a program
which included rambling, but nonetheless clear definitions of the nation, the people,
the poet as a conduit between the two, and the nature of the perfect state wherein
all three served the synergetic purposes. It is in this introduction, in essence a
poetic/philosophical manifesto, that Whitman laid out his radical, abstract formula
which was intended to have moderate, concrete results if American working-class
reformers heeded them.
Am erica, for W hitm an, represents all that encom passed humankind.
Specifically, its size, varied geography, and disparate populations and interests
fostered a microcosm of the world itself. The poet described this nation as essentially
“action united from strings necessarily blind to particulars and details magnificently
moving in vast masses.”^* Here, Whitman’s metaphor serves as his symbol for the
seemingly discordant nation. What was interpreted by many as a broad land divided
by sectionalism, country and city, rich and poor, is, in fact, a harmonious orchestra
of “strings” which, in the making of the nation’s existence, is a product of the
particulars, but works to create an entirely cohesive “movement.” This symphonic
revision of divisive pohtics into a mutually-dependent whole is the essential facet
of Whitman’s project.
The people in this symphony are its parts and product. Whereas other states
are “indicat[ed]” by their leaders”, America is so by “the common people.”^- These
common people, however, are included in activities as diverse as “the coming of
immigrants...the free commerce...the endless gestation of new states...the convening
of Congress...the noble character of young mechanics...the factories and mercantile
life and labor saving m a c h in e ry ...H e re , then, we see that for Whitman, the
“common people” includes every enterprise in American hfe. None are to be
excluded from the state because the state is essentially a product of their activity.
Though in the particular their interests might seem divergent, the poet “...does not