The Promised Land Project: Walt Whitman and the Modern Democratic Song

Turning Vision into Action....at least hypothetically

Strike up the music of the band
We're blazing a trail for the promised land
Heaven on earth is within you.

Through the writing of stories, poetry, essays, and a novel, I’ve creatively contended with the consumer culture and the problem of the ideal in the modern era. This preoccupation in time would lead to a vision of cultural transformation and where I believe our democratic society needs to go to truly progress beyond the modern era. Conceding my limited credibility, this blog provides a synthesis of recognized visionaries, poets, and writers with the objective of making a credible argument. Ultimately, it is a certain feeling the project strives to inspire and sustain on a certain level, making more vital use of poetry and the arts; consequently whether one agrees or not is less important than whether one senses it and feels it over time.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Walt Whitman and the Modern Democratic Song

Walt Whitman consciously set himself apart from Europe in order to write poetry deemed distinctly American and the muse, more or less, would oblige. But Whitman could only set himself apart so much; for example, he wrote poetry in the English language, a language derived from Europe.

As the industrial revolution and the modern era would begin in Europe then become transplanted in America, so would the individual consciousness that first arose in Europe (see the previous blog, May 22) become transplanted to take an American form. The poem "One's Self I Sing" opens the final version of Leaves of Grass as follows, somewhat misconfigured:

One’s Self I Sing
One’s-self I sing, a simple separate person,
Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.

Of physiology from top to toe I sing,
Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the
Muse, I say the form complete is worthier far,
The Female equally with the Male I sing.

Of life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
Cheerful, for freest action form’d under the laws divine,
The Modern Man I sing.