A Study Of Leaves Of Grass From The Perspective Of Transcendentalism

Walt Whitman is a poet who is regarded as the "American Singer". As a poet, he is quite different from other poets in America who chose the traditional thoughts and writing style, Whitman has written a lot of poems to praise the spiritual world, the nature and the individual. He widely uses the writing style "free verse" in his poetry and he is considered the "the Father of Free Verse". During his life time his poems were not very popular among the public and Leaves of Grass received a lot of misunderstanding and criticize. At his old age, people slowly recognized the value and greatness of his work. He is also considered to be "The Poet of American".The scholars have researched Leaves of Grass from the perspective of feminism, democracy, Ecocriticism, imagism and so on, Whitman poems reflected the profound value both in his writing form and contents. This thesis aims at researching Leaves of Grass from the perspective of Transcendentalism in an effort to make a deeper and wider understanding on this piece of work.This thesis is composed of six parts:introduction, chapter one, chapter two, chapter three chapters four and conclusion.Introduction gives a general introduction to this thesis, including the train of thought, the argument points, the evidences and the significance of the research on Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.Chapter one brings out a brief and general introduction to Transcendentalism. This chapter includes the history of transcendentalism, the origins and its influences on American literature.Chapter two, three and four make detail discussion on Leaves of Grass from the perspective of transcendentalism. This parts cover below ideas:The emphasis on spirit and soul, the emphasis on nature and the emphasis on individualism. In his writings, the reader can find the thoughts of spirit and soul, nature and individualism which are very similar to the thoughts in transcendentalism.Chapter two focuses on the ideas of spirit and soul. The author discusses the spirit and soul in Whitman’s poems, and it includes the combination of universal Oversoul and the individual soul, and the combination of body and soul. In chapter three, the author analyzes the images and meanings of nature elements in Whitman’s poems. Like the Transcendentalists, Whitman loves nature and likes to praise the nature elements. The natural elements in his poems usually content deeper and wider meanings and images. In chapter four, the author discusses the reflection of individualism in Leaves of Grass. It included the following aspects:the praise for human body and spirit, and the ideal kind of individual.At last comes the conclusion. In the summary the author also shows the significance of analyzing Leaves of Grass from the perspective of Transcendentalism. Both Whitman and the Transcendentalists have brilliant ideas and thoughts.Even today, the thoughts in Transcendentalism and Whitman’s works, just like the love for nature, the praise for individual, the emphasis on spirit over matter, which still need learning and discussing, they have great significance on the relationship between man and nature, as well as the balance of the body and the inner world.