A Study On Quaker Influence On Walt Whitman

Quakerism,also known as the Society of Friends,was a Protestant denomination founded by George Fox in the 17 th century during the English Civil War.In 1681,Quaker William Penn was granted land in eastern North America by King Charles II and then English Quakers emigrated to North America and founded the colony of Pennsylvania.Quakerism took root and thrived in this new land,exerting a distinct influence on the development of the North American colonies and later the United States of America.Quakers believe in God’s supreme goodness and possess a strong faith in the goodness of God.Their beliefs in Inner Light,simplicity,equality,and freedom,as well as their opposition to hat removal and slavery,their pursuit of peace,and rejection of oaths are all distinctive Quaker beliefs and practices.Walt Whitman(1819-1892)is known as the father of modern American poetry,for he set aside the constraints of traditional poetic writing from the British Empire and continental Europe and pioneered free verse.However,Whitman’s poetry failed to gain widespread attention during his lifetime due to its controversial themes.Actually,his poetry was not embraced by academics and popular readers and disseminated worldwide until the mid-20 th century.Since then,Whitman has been rightfully recognized as one of the greatest American poets.The relevant English literature shows that Whitman’s life and thoughts bear a distinct Quaker imprint.However,it has hardly been researched in China until now.Although the English literature in this vein is relatively rich,it is basically general and fragmentary in its examination of Quaker influence on Whitman’s life.Therefore,the study first combs Whitman’s interactions with Quakerism in life,outlining Quaker influence throughout Whitman’s life,and finding out the general feature of the influence.Then the study seeks to examine the influence of Quakerism on Whitman’s thoughts through a close reading of his classic poems in Leaves of Grass and his essays in Complete Prose Works: Specimen Days and Collect,November Boughs and Good Bye my Fancy.Specifically,the study adopts a literary sociological perspective and uses academic literature,biographies and memoirs to examine the following two questions: What influence did Quakerism have on Whitman’s life? What influence did Quakerism have on Whitman’s thoughts?The body of the thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One provides a review of relevant literature on Quakerism and Whitman in both domestic and English academia in three aspects:Quakerism studies,Quakerism and American literature studies,and Quakerism and Whitman studies.Chapter Two is a four-fold overview of Quakerism: the origins and development of Quakerism,the essentials of traditional Quakerism,the essentials of Hick’s liberal Quakerism,and Hicks’ unique religious ideas.Chapter Three,based on Whitman’s biographies and the memoirs of his friends,sorts out the Quaker influence on Whitman’s life.Chapter Four,echoing Chapter Two,analyzes the influence of Quakerism on Whitman’s thoughts through a close reading of his poems in Leaves of Grass and his essays in Complete Prose Works: Specimen Days and Collect,November Boughs and Good Bye my Fancy.This study finds that,in terms of Quaker influence on his life,Whitman went through three stages of acceptance in his early years,alienation in his middle years,and renewal in his later years.The influence was manifested in his calm,simple and silent personality traits,as well as in his habits of refusing to take off his hat indoors and dressing plainly.It also finds that Whitman’s thoughts,particularly freedom,democracy,and equality,show a great affinity with Quaker beliefs,especially those of Hicks.The study,based on Whitman’s biographies and the memoirs of his friends,reviews the Quaker influence on Whitman’s life chronologically.In addition,it fills the gap in the study of Quaker influence on Whitman and enriches the perspective of Whitman’s studies in China.The introduction of Quakerism into the field of American literary studies in China not only opens up a whole new field but also provides an opportunity to reexamine the literature concerning Puritanism and American literature.