Contrary to the Dave Morice's humorous cartoon above, Walt Whitman is not superman.   Although he himself might claim superhuman strength and superhuman knowledge at times in his poetry, looking at him as a superhuman figure blinds us to the fact that Whitman was an actual man, inhabiting a very real male body in 19th-century America.  As an actual man, Whitman had actual relationships with his own body and with other bodies--both male and female.   This website has been designed to help you explore those relationships.

     The first and main part of the site attempts to place Whitman's poetry in a variety of Historical Contexts. Whitman's views on gender and identity do not simply reflect the predominant intellectual and social attitudes of his time.  In fact, they often challenge those attitudes directly.   In many ways, he is not the "ideal man" of his time (and certainly not a superhuman one).    By reveling in the sexual potential of his own body and by living in and writing about his intimacy and sex with other men, to cite just a few examples, Whitman was often considered disgusting and morally corrupt by his contemporaries.   This initial part of the site allows you to look at Whitman's poetry alongside other texts--drawings,  photos, books, pamphlets--that were attempting to represent what it was to be a man during this period.  You can ask yourself, how does Whitman's views of himself and other men compare to these other representations?
     Also in that first part of the site you can explore how Whitman's views of women compared to other, popular representations of women in 19th-century America.   In this case, you can ask yourself, is Whitman as radical in his representations of women as he is in his representations of men?

     The next part of the site, which is still somewhat under construction, enables you to see the process by which Whitman constructs and changes his views on gender and identity.   By looking at his multiple Revisions of Leaves of Grass--especially his addition of the "Children of Adam" and the "Calamus" clusters of poems--we can see how he continually adjusted and expanded his understanding of men, women, and sexuality.
     Furthermore, by looking closely at his handwritten manuscripts and comparing them to the typeset published versions of his individual poems, we can also see how Whitman worked through issues of censorship and self-censorship in his writing.    We can see, to some extent, how much he was aware of his audience.

     The last interactive part of the site, which will be up some time in 1999, will discuss how Whitman performs his identity, how--often through the use of humor--he construct himself not only as a man but also as a woman, as animals and as countless other objects.  In this spirit, this section will also contain a creative exercise that enables you to become Whitman, to craft multiple genders and identities for yourself.

     Enjoy your adventure through the different areas of the site.    If you have any thoughts or suggestions for improving or expanding the site, they would be much appreciated.   Feel free to e-mail Bernie Heidkamp with your responses.

Click on any of the photos on this page (or on any page on this site) to find out more information about them.