~ Representations ~
I will show of male and female that either is but the equal of the
other,
And sexual organs and acts! do you concentrate in me, for I am determine'd
to tell you with courageous clear
voice to prove you illustrious.
-Walt Whitman, "Starting From Paumanok" (lines 164-65)
Born in 1819, Walt Whitman grew up during a time when
definitions of "manhood" and "womanhood" were dramatically shifting and when
any type of sexual expression was increasingly seen as dangerous.
As populations began to move from smaller, well-defined
rural communities to emerging urban centers that were regional hubs of
transportation and commerce, men and women were increasingly expected to
occupy "separate spheres." Men were expected to take responsibility
for worldly affairs in the arenas of business and government, while women
were expected to take responsibility for domestic affairs in the confines
of the home.
In these separate spheres, furthermore, men and women
both were continually reminded, by proponents of chastity and health reform,
to maintain strict control over their bodies, to resist a variety of temptations
and to confine their sexual activity to, at the most, sexual intercourse
between a husband and a wife.
In this contentious atmosphere, Whitman did not avoid
issues of gender and sexuality. Instead, he made them the central
concern of his poetry and often presented perspectives that disturbed and
offended his audience. Most obviously, Walt Whitman challenged mainstream
attitudes toward gender and sexuality by continually writing about intimacy,
love and sex between men. But Whitman also challenged these attitudes
by speaking openly, among other things, of the enjoyment of masturbation
and of losing control of one's body.
Although he often challenges prevailing attitudes, at
other times, it must be noted, he appears to be supporting them. For
example, although he often calls for "equality" between men and women,
what he means by that equality is not always clear. Women do not appear
very much in his poetry, and when they do, they appear simply as "moral mothers"
or as sexual vessels.
Ultimately, you, as readers of Whitman, are responsible for interpreting Whitman's views on gender and sexuality and determining his stance in relation to the mainstream attitudes of American society in the 19th century (and, by extension, the America of our day). To help you begin this process of interpretation, this section of the site provides you with a variety of examples of visual and written texts concerning gender and sexuality that appeared in the United States from the 1830s through the 1860s, the time period of Whitman's youth and of his composition of the bulk of his major poetic work, Leaves of Grass. Intertwined with these popular representations of men and women are Whitman's own poetic representations of them.
You want to observe the differences as well as the similarities not only between the historical representations and Whitman's representations but also between the historical representations themselves. Keep a pen and notebook by the computer or simply open up a word processing program along with your web browser, and write down all your reactions. You will need them as you work through discussion questions throughout the site.
Click on the representations of men on your left or
the representations of women on your right to begin your journey into
19th-Century America.
As you move through each section, be aware of the many links that will take
you back and forth between representations of men and women. Ask yourself
how these representations connect and relate to each other.