Whitman's work is fundamental to our evolving sense of ourselves as Americans. Paradoxicallyyet accurately, Whitman is seen to be a major figure in antebellum cultureas well as a potent force in the development of modern poetry. Whitman's centrality to American culture has been recognized by publishers (e.g., Nortonand Macmillan) who have created anthologies that make Whitman poems availablefor both halves of the American literature survey course.
Whitman'ssignificance is seen in the college curriculum where he is taughtin selected History and American Studies courses and in a wide range ofEnglish courses, including Freshman English, upper division period andgenre courses, and graduate seminars. Not surprisingly, then, Leaves has hadan extraordinary impact on the development of twentieth- century literatureand culture. In decisive fashion,Whitman broke the dominance of English conventions of rhythm and rhymeand substituted for them a new and more supple free verse form suited tothe individualism of his country. "Leavesof Grass holds a central place inthe American literary tradition, and "Song of Myself" is widelyconsidered to be Whitman's single most important poem. My main focus in doing this is the way author and text areconstructed in this passage, and the way the introduction deconstructsitself by what it has to say about Walt Whitman's poems and the implicationsof Hypertext.
I want to quote a rather longish passage fromthe Introductionfor Teachers of Whitman, supplementing it with footnotes on what Ithink I read. O.k., let's do a little close reading with a nifty twistof deconstructivist cunning.
0 kommentar(er)
