"I am not what you supposed, but far different"

Genders and Identities
in the Poetry of Walt Whitman

Introduction Who/What/Where is Walt Whitman?
Historical Contexts: Representing Men, Women and Sexuality in the 19th Century Does Whitman Resist or Support the Prevailing Attitudes of His Time? Journey Into 19th-Century America and Make Your Own Comparisons...
Changing Bodies: Issues of Revision and Censorship What Did Whitman Take Out and Put In and Why? Take a Look at Whitman's Manuscripts and Edit Whitman Yourself...
Boasting Identity: Performing Whitman/Performing Yourself Is Whitman a Man? Is He a Woman? Is He Everybody? Is He You? Become Whitman For a Day and Find Out...
What's at Stake: A Teacher's Guide and a Theoretical Background to the Site Includes Annotated Bibliography of Suggested Historical Documents and Criticism (Adventurous Students Welcome!)

Site created by Bernie Heidkamp, University of Maryland College Park

For info on photo at the top of the page, see The Whitman Gallery at the Whitman Hypertext Archive

This website was first developed for Martha Nell Smith's Fall 1997 course on Dickinson and Whitman in Manuscript, Print, and Digital Cultures.