Whitman Walt (1819–1892), American poet and essayist.

Born May 31, 1819 in West Hill, Town of Hunttington, Long Island. The second of nine children in a Quaker Protestant family. Father - carpenter Walter Whitman; mother - Louise Van Velsor. In 1823, his parents moved to Brooklyn in search of work. One of the brightest childhood memories was the celebration of Independence Day on July 4, 1825, when he was kissed by the Marquis de Lafayette.

At the age of eleven, he began his career, barely having time to get his primary education. He worked as a courier, then as a printer apprentice for the weekly newspaper "Patriot". In his youth, he was forced to constantly struggle with poverty. He changed many professions: typesetter, newspaper peddler, clerk, salesman, school teacher, etc. He tried to publish his own newspaper; in the summer of 1839 he visited Jamaica. In 1840 he returned to New York, edited and wrote articles in the local press. He stubbornly engaged in self-education: he read a lot, attended drama and opera theaters.

Walt discovered literary ability early on. In 1842, his first novel, Franklin Evans, appeared. In 1855, using personal savings, he published the main work of his life - the poetry collection "Leaves of Grass". A philosophical work, in its epic nature, close to the Bible. Written in free verse (vers libre), it consists of separate cycles reflecting the author's ideas about time, space, inextricable connection with nature, etc. To embody his global idea, U. often used such poetic images and symbols that were considered immoral before him and unacceptable. The description of the dark sides of life, the scents of decay and decay caused a very contradictory reaction from readers and critics.

In November 1855, the famous American writer and public figure Ralph Waldo Emerson greeted the book with joy. At the same time, the eminent geologist John Peter Leslie, without hesitation in expressions, called it "trashy, profane & obscene", and its author - "a pretentious ass "). The overt homosexual overtones that permeate certain parts of the work aroused particular indignation. In the third edition of Leaves of Grass (1860) W. included the poem "Calamus" ("Calamus"), reflecting his personal experiences.

Immediately after publication, literary critic Rufus Wilmot Greiswold accused Whitman of "a terrible sin not worthy of mention among Christians."

In 1861 Whitman volunteered for the Civil War. He served as an orderly in army hospitals. Poem by W. “Beat! Beat! Drums! " became the patriotic anthem of the northerners. In 1865 W. entered the Department of Indian Affairs. Six months later, he was dismissed by order of the Secretary of the Interior, James Herlan, with the vague wording "for moral reasons."

In early 1873, Whitman suffered a stroke, after which he was left partially paralyzed.

Until the last days Whitman continued to supplement and improve the collection "Leaves of Grass". As he himself said, "this work cannot have an end." Whitman died on March 26, 1892 from pneumonia. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the poet, his coffin was buried in flowers and wreaths. Buried in Harley Cemetery in Camden.

During his lifetime, Whitman received popular recognition as the first American poet Democrat. In the minds of many ordinary people, the image of Whitman with a thick white beard was associated with the image of Christ. Englishwoman Mary Smith Vital Costello expressed the general opinion: “It is impossible to understand America without Walt Whitman and“ Leaves of Grass ... ”In the XX century. Whitman's work was admired by such poets and writers as F.G. Lorca, A. Ginsberg, Ezra Pound, Jack Kerouac, and others.

Walt whitman - American poet, publicist, his brief biography is presented in this article.

Walt Whitman is born May 31, 1819, in a poor family of farmers, in a village on Long Island near Brooklyn, New York. The large family had nine children, Walt was the eldest.

From 1825-1830 he studied at a Brooklyn school, but due to a lack of money he was forced to leave his studies. He changed many professions: messenger, typesetter-stacker, teacher, journalist, editor of provincial newspapers. He loved to travel, walked through 17 states.

Since the late 1930s, articles by Whitman have appeared in magazines, in which he opposed the cult of the dollar, emphasizing that money leads to spiritual devastation.

In 1850, some of the poet's poems were published, in particular "Europe". In this work, the author expressed his perception of history, the events of the 1848 revolution, glorified freedom.

In 1855 the collection Leaves of Grass was published. A special place in the structure of the book is occupied by the "Song of Myself", which is one of the most important parts of it. She, like the entire collection as a whole, is an expression of the author's poetic credo.

Among his favorite writers were - George Sand, P.-J. Beranger, F. Cooper.

During the civil war of 1861-1865. Whitman worked as an orderly in hospitals. The poems "Drumming" and "When the lilac bloomed for the last time" (both 1865) are dedicated to the events of the war.

Walt whitman (eng. Walt whitman, May 31, 1819, West Hills, Huntington, New York, USA - March 26, 1892, Camden, New Jersey, USA) - American poet, publicist. A reformer of American poetry.
In the collection of poems "Leaves of Grass" (1855-1891), ideas about the closeness to nature that purify man assumed a cosmic character; any person and any thing is perceived as sacred against the background of the evolution of the Universe infinite in time and space. The feeling of kinship with all people and all phenomena of the world is expressed through the transformation of the lyrical hero into other people and inanimate objects. Whitman is a singer of "world democracy", a worldwide brotherhood of working people, positive sciences, love and comradeship that knows no social boundaries. The innovator of free verse.
His main book, Leaves of Grass, was permeated with the idea of \u200b\u200bdemocracy. In the 20th century, Leaves of Grass was recognized as one of the most important literary events that marked the revolution in poetry associated with the emergence of free verse (free verse), an innovative verse system pioneered by Whitman. The poet's ancestors were from Holland.
He was born on May 31, 1819, in a poor family of farmers, in a village on Long Island near Brooklyn (New York). The large family had nine children, Walt was the eldest. From 1825-1830 he studied at a Brooklyn school, but due to a lack of money he was forced to leave his studies. He changed many professions: messenger, typesetter-stacker, teacher, journalist, editor of provincial newspapers. He loved to travel, walked through 17 states. Since the late 1930s, articles by Whitman have appeared in magazines in which he opposed the cult of the dollar, emphasizing that money leads to spiritual devastation.
He came to the literary life of America late. In 1850, some of the poet's poems were published - in particular, "Europe". In this work, the author expressed his perception of history, the events of the 1848 revolution, glorified freedom.
The early poems were only harbingers of the birth of the original original poet, who boldly declared himself in the collection Leaves of Grass, the first edition of which was published in New York in 1855. This year was significant in the poet's work, he divided his life into two stages - before the collection and after.
A special place in the structure of the book is occupied by the Song of Myself, which is one of the most important parts of it. She, like the entire collection as a whole, is an expression of the author's poetic credo. There is a legend that in 1849 Whitman experienced a strong moral shock, which determined his future destiny and the nature of his work. But in addition to the mysterious explanation, there is also a natural one: everything that the poet has achieved in life is the result of poetic self-improvement and hard work.
Among his favorite writers were W. Shakespeare, C. Dickens, Georges Sand, P.-J. Beranger, F. Cooper. During the civil war of 1861-1865. Whitman worked as an orderly in hospitals. The events of the war are dedicated to the poetry "Drumbeat" and "When the lilac last bloomed" (both 1865). In 1873, the poet was paralyzed, and he never recovered until the end of his life. He still continued to write, and his writings were filled with optimism and confidence. One of the last poems of Whitman, in which he says goodbye to the world: "Farewell, my Inspiration!" On March 26, 1892, the poet died.

May 1999 marked the 180th anniversary of the birth of American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892), whose book Leaves of Grass continues to be a unique phenomenon not only in American but also in world literature. And not only literature ...

The fact that Whitman was in many ways ahead of his era becomes more and more obvious over time - in the 19th century. Whitman found no followers either in America or in Europe, and for a long time he remained incomprehensible and unrecognized in literature. And only with the arrival in literature of Verharn, Aragon, Mayakovsky began to gradually realize the true role of the poet in the world literary process and the significance of the legacy left by him.

"Whitman is a behemoth monster ..."

For many of those whose acquaintance with poetry barely overstepped the boundaries of school textbooks, the idea of \u200b\u200bany poetry is often very stereotyped. Immediately reminiscent of the indispensable "pensive" landscapes, and philosophical pathetics, and languid sighs about love. What will a reader who is accustomed to perceive poetry to meet in this way, accidentally opening a volume of an old American poet with a seemingly melancholy lyrical title "Leaves of Grass"?

I praise myself and I praise myself

And what I accept, you will accept.

For every atom that belongs to me

belongs to you too.

I, an idle tramp, call my soul

I wander around idle and, lazily

stooping down, I examine a summer blade of grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood is created

from this soil, from this air;

Born here of parents

born here of parents

also born here,

I am now, thirty-seven years old, in full

health, I'm starting this song

And I hope not to finish her to death.

(translated by K. Chukovsky)

« It’s not poetry at all! - someone will be indignant. - What is he writing about? About what every carpenter and housewife already knows ?! " But this is exactly how (with rare exceptions) Walt Whitman's poetry was perceived by his contemporaries. The impression from reading, say, the first 30-40 lines can really be just that. But then we read further and find ourselves, without noticing it, into a completely special poetic world, where we are amazed not only by the unusual form of presentation and the richness of colors, sounds, smells, but also by the extraordinary scale of the author's thought. The murmur of a brook and street noise, the "rough voice of the rebellious sea" and the cry of a crushed fireman, the clatter of a printing machine and a pure contralto in the church choir - everything merges in these verses into a single music of life:

The baby sleeps in the cradle

I lift the muslin and for a long time

i look at him,

and gently ward off the flies with my hand.

The youth and the ruddy girl turned off the road

and climb the bush covered

mountain,

I watch them vigilantly from the top.

The suicide is spread out in the bedroom

on the bloody floor

I take a close look at the corpse

with blood-splattered hair and note

where the gun fell.

this -

I come and I go.

The images pass in front of us in succession, layering, uniting, entering into dialogues, and - an immense and majestic Cosmos grows.

The nature of the story is fluid. Impressionistically, the motley flashing of images is replaced by a concentrated description of a separate phenomenon or person, rapid agitation - by the majestic calmness of the prophet. The feeling that we have before us is not just poetry, not just literature. What fascinates us?

No one has yet managed to fully understand what the extraordinary magnetism of these simple and, at first glance, not even very poetic lines is. The English historian John Symonds, who wrote a whole book dedicated to Whitman, and suddenly discovered that the image of Whitman seemed to elude him, remaining the same inaccessible and unsolved, exclaims: “Whitman is a monster-hippopotamus: he rushes menacingly through the thickets of the jungle, breaking bamboos and creepers. ... Whitman is the air in which vague visions, mirages, some towers, some palm trees flow and waver, but when we stretch out our hands to them, they disappear again ... "

The free and uninhibited imagination of the author of Leaves of Grass crosses vast spaces, “swallowing” everything in its path - from a delicate pattern on a butterfly's wing to a printing press, from a street crowd to tailed meteors. The poet, as it were, extends his muscular hand to us, lifts us high above the ground, invites us to visit the "gardens of the planets", teaches us to hear the music of the Cosmos in the rustle of the grass, teaches us to love without making any conventions or distinctions.

"A sprinkler of useless rhymes ..."

Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in the family of a poor farmer in the small village of West Hills on Long Island, a few dozen miles from Brooklyn, which is now part of New York. Having started earning a living quite early on his own, Whitman got into the editorial office of a small local newspaper, where he first performed the role of a printer and typesetter, and then gradually turned into an author of individual notes, feuilletons, even published stories and poems.

However, Whitman's fate as a poet is mysterious. Almost all researchers admit that the value of early Whitman's work (30s-40s) seems to be very limited. He writes rather mediocre articles and no less ordinary verses, which the editor published even once with such an ironic comment: "If the author had worked on these lines for another half hour, they would have become unusually beautiful."

What happened to Whitman in the middle of his life, when the poems that compiled the collection "Leaves of Grass" began to be created? What kind of internal rebirth led him to the creation of the famous book, which later brought its author worldwide fame? What turned a hereditary carpenter and an ordinary reporter, “sprinkler of rhymes that nobody needed” into a Poet, whose work continues to amaze and fascinate the reader?

More than one generation of researchers is trying to understand the mystery of Whitman's sudden birth as a Poet.

"A rare ... cosmic mind burning with infinity ..."

One of the most interesting interpretations was presented by the Canadian theosophist Richard Beck in his book Cosmic Consciousness (Russian translation, 1914). He was personally acquainted with Whitman and was the author of one of his first biographies. “Whitman’s case does not fit the idea of \u200b\u200bgradual evolution at all,” Beck writes. - This is a mutation, a leap. After more than mediocre writings, he immediately got pages on which eternal life was inscribed in fiery letters, pages of which only a few dozen appeared over the entire centuries of the conscious life of mankind.

The authors of such pages, according to Beck, were Moses, Lao-Tzu, Dante, W. Blake (several more figures are named in this row). All of them have experienced some kind of internal rebirth, acquired a special gift of providence, which the Canadian researcher calls "cosmic consciousness." Cosmic consciousness, according to his theory, represents a new evolutionary stage of consciousness of all creatures on Earth, following simple consciousness (animals possess it) and self-consciousness (which distinguishes man from the animal kingdom). The concept of cosmic consciousness is reflected in many religious and philosophical systems of the world ( tao - in Taoism, world harmony - in Pythagoras, eidos (ideas) - Plato, satori - in Zen Buddhism, oversoul - at R. Emerson, noosphere and The mind of the universe - in Russian cosmism). Whitman calls this higher consciousness, which resides in him along with self-consciousness, - "My Soul", "My Spirit". Such a consciousness descends on a person suddenly, but it is prepared by some conditions, which the Canadian researcher lists in his book.

Studying the biography and work of Whitman, R. Beck, and after him and other researchers, put forward a hypothesis according to which the emergence of the book "Leaves of Grass", which is very different from the early literary experiments of the poet, was the result of a kind of "cosmic enlightenment." It happened to the poet at the age of 35.

Beck sees nothing more than a metaphorical description of a sudden insight in the famous 5th chapter of Song of Myself, the central poem of Leaves of Grass:

I believe in you, my soul, but my other self

should not be humiliated in front of you,

And you must not humiliate yourself in front of him ...

I remember one time we lay together

on such a transparent summer morning

You put your head on my hip

and gently turned to me

And opened her shirt on my chest,

and stuck her tongue into my naked heart ...

Immediately arose and spread around me

peace and wisdom that are higher than ours

earthly reason,

And I know that God's hand is my promise,

And I know that God's spirit is my brother ...

And that the foundation of all that exists is love.

Regarding Whitman's prose, one can find lines that are very remarkable from Beck's point of view: “A rare, cosmic, artistic mind, burning with infinity, alone can see the diverse, vast, cacocean, feelings of the people ... For those who deserve to be chosen, there is still a prophetic vision ... for them there is a scripture and a path, they, obedient, reverently listen to the voice, gestures of God, the Holy Spirit, which others do not see and do not hear. " And further: “Loneliness, the consciousness of the identity of one's personality with the Universe, a suitable mood - and the soul bursts out: like smoke, all the dogmas of the church and sermons dissipate. Loneliness and silent thought, sacred horror and strong desire and, hitherto imperceptible, inner consciousness ”(relaxation - VP).

Is this just a metaphorical description that is found in many writers, or is it an attempt to reflect a more than vivid and equally concrete feeling when Whitman writes in his diary: “As if for the first time the whole Universe silently plunged me into its bright, unspeakable wisdom, which is above all that our books, arts, sermons, insights and new sciences can express. The hour of the soul, religion is a visible testimony of God in space and time, clear and clear as never before. We are shown unspeakable secrets, the whole sky is paved with them. " He writes about all these states as simply as he could describe a change in his mood or a change in physical states.

However, reading Leaves of Grass, we feel that Whitman seems to be talking about the presence in himself of some new vision of the world, a new awareness of things, a divine “something”. It is so different from the usual "I" of Whitman the American, typesetter and reporter (with indissoluble unity with him) that the poet calls this new ability of his consciousness "another I". Here's one example.

In "Song of Myself" the poet describes himself as being included in the whirlpool of various events: next to him are "the latest discoveries, inventions, societies, old and new writers", signs of everyday life ("my dinner, my dress, my loved ones, views, compliments, duties "), Here are worries, diseases, raptures," lack of money ", social upheavals (" battles, horrors of fratricidal war, fever of false information, spasms of news ") ... But then the lyrical hero notes:" All this comes to me during the day and at night and leaves me again (like any stream of events that take place in time - V.P.). But all this is not I, ”- that is, not the essence of a person who is immortal and whose lot is eternity:

Far from this hustle and bustle

what I am is worth,

Stands, never bored, complacent,

sympathetic, idle, holistic,

Stands and looks down, stands straight

or leans on with an arm bent at the elbow

on some kind of invisible support.

Looks, tilting his head to one side,

It both participates in the game and does not participate,

watches her and is surprised at her.

Life on the pages of Leaves of Grass resembles a kind of colorful performance in which you can participate, performing a variety of roles, or you can not participate, because this change of fascinating and fascinating scenery is a game against the background of the unshakable laws of nature, Space, Eternity - an “invisible support” for the soul, the true "I".

Whitman was alien to mysticism in the form in which it appears, for example, in the works of Emmanuel Swedenborg or Jacob Boehme. It is to him that the words belong: "I accept reality without any reservations, I am all filled with materialism." But do not forget that in Whitman's worldview materialism had a very specific meaning, as a tribute to the poet's passion for natural science discoveries, astronomy, and also as a consequence of his surprisingly sensual, “material” experience of the world of colors, forms, movements. He did not have, in a strict sense, his own philosophy, but he had an attitude.

"I could tell what is in me and what is in you, but I can't ..."

When reading Whitman, one cannot but pay attention to one characteristic feature, which many researchers recognized as central in the poet's work. The entire collection of poetry permeates with an amazing sense of the unity and harmony of the world - a thought embedded in all world religions. Moreover, Whitman not only states this, but examines in detail in the artistic world of Leaves of Grass. There is nothing small and large, important and secondary, central and peripheral here. That is why "and a cow, dejectedly chewing gum, is beautiful, like Venus de Milo." With some even paradoxical aspiration that would later attract the attention of Russian futurists to his name, Whitman never ceases to assert:

I believe that a leaf of grass is no less

the day of the stars

And what is no worse than their ant, and a grain of sand,

and a king's egg,

And that the tree toad is a masterpiece

above which there is no ...

And the mouse is a miracle that one can

shake the sextillons of the infidels!

The cosmic consciousness of the author allows not only to encompass the entire Cosmos, but also to penetrate deep into space. The poet constantly leads us to the idea that the world is not finite, that everything in it is interconnected, each particle of the cosmos has its own unique meaning in the universe. “And about an insignificant speck of dust, the wheels of the Universe can stumble,” he says. Any point of the Universe for Whitman contains the whole Universe and each, thus, is able to become his window to another world:

At night I open the hatch and watch

how far the worlds are scattered in the sky ...

My sun has a sun

and my sun obediently travels around him ...

And behind him are even greater,

before which the greatest stand

small dots ...

How does a person feel in this Cosmos? Whitman's hero is organically included in it. The poet speaks the same language with the world and even identifies with it:

If you want to understand me,

go to the mountain or to the seashore.

The nearest mosquito is a comment to me,

and traveling waves is the key!

It is said extremely simply, artlessly, in a confidential and friendly manner, but the power of the image, its scope give the thought inherent here extraordinary depth. Similar images are found quite often in Whitman, and the reader, following the poet, involuntarily also spreads his chest and tunes in to Whitman's breadth and volume.

However, we will come to a dead end if we try to determine exactly who he is - the protagonist of the Leaves of Grass poems. In Song of Myself, the poet seems to be answering us:

I am of all colors and all castes,

all beliefs and all ranks are mine,

I am a farmer, gentleman, artisan,

sailor, mechanic, quaker,

I'm a prisoner, pimp, brawler

lawyer, priest, doctor.

Next, we learn that he is both a Southerner and a Northerner, and a Yankee industrialist, and a Kentucky pioneer, and a persecuted slave, and many, many others. A motley mosaic of transformations follows, in which the poet tries with enthusiasm to take on all forms, and not only beautiful and noble ones.

The idea of \u200b\u200bsuch multidimensionality is not new and found artistic expression in the cultures of both the West and the East. For example, the variability of the hero of Leaves of Grass resembles in its essence the metamorphosis of the ancient Greek god Proteus, whose name became a symbol of diversity in European culture: he could take any form - a lion, dragon, panther, flowing water. This image reflects the philosophical idea of \u200b\u200bthe unity and variability of the world, which is essential for the Greeks.

The idea of \u200b\u200binterpenetration and all-identity of beings in the Universe is also found in the traditions of Taoism. Of course, one of the most famous Taoist parables comes to mind in this connection: “Once I, Zhuang Zhou, saw myself in a dream as a butterfly - a happy butterfly that fluttered among the flowers for pleasure and did not know at all that she was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly I woke up and saw that I was Zhuang Zhou. And I didn't know if I was Chuang Zhou, who dreamed that he was a butterfly, or a butterfly that dreamed that she was Chuang Zhou. But there is undoubtedly a difference between Zhuang Zhou and a butterfly. This is what the transformation of things is! " Whitman hardly knew this parable. But what strikingly similar thoughts! It is based on a single representation expressed in the language of different cultures.

The lyrical hero freely makes the transition from life to death and back. For him, any earthly shell is temporary, and therefore he is not afraid to lose, throw off one and try on another. This thought echoes the ancient Indian concepts of life and death in the Upanishads: “Just as a caterpillar, reaching the end of a blade of grass and approaching another [blade], is pulled [to it], so this Atman, throwing away this body, dispelling ignorance and approaching to another [body], pulls up [to it]. "

In addition, the lyric hero feels his inseparable connection with the previous hundreds and thousands of generations:

In his reflections, he turns to the origins of the universe, to the moment when all that exists. The poet tells about how life develops, how cosmic evolution, in which he himself is included, makes his steady ascent:

My embryo in the centuries

was not lazy.

Nothing could hold him back ...

For him thickened into the planet

world nebulae.

Long strata layered

to give it ground,

The giant trees gave themselves to him for food,

And monsters, a-lizards cherished him in their mouths

H.P. Blavatsky in The Secret Doctrine cites Swedenborg's reasoning, which is also interesting in comparison with Whitman's cosmology, since the Swedish mystic scientist had a noticeable influence on the literature of American romanticism, in particular, on Emerson: “The first reason is the infinite or the infinite. It gives being to the finite and limited. .. What produces a border is analogous to movement. The drawn border is a point, the essence of which is movement ... ". Being is born from Non-Being - a thought that can be traced in the Upanishads, and in the Bible, and in ancient representations, and in Taoism. In Swedenborg's understanding, like Whitman's, in the root cause of the world, in the “first natural point”, time, space, evolution originate, which are manifestations of the Absolute, the world Logos.

Related moments are also revealed when comparing the Whitman universe with the cosmic views of N.K. and Helena Roerich. According to the Teaching of Living Ethics, “manifesting, or emerging from an unmanifest state, the Absolute creates its own offspring ... Having created as a result of a creative act the first generation - Primary Matter, the Absolute interacts with it, endowing it with an impulse of intelligence”. It is this impulse that is the primary source of the evolutionary movement, the source of improvement of any living organism, including humans. "Hidden in the depths of the finest psychic structures, a particle of the Absolute gives rise to an impulse in a person to higher goals and subtle luminous worlds."

The individual life of a person, according to Whitman, is a point on the scale of eternity; the cosmic cycle between birth and death is only a moment in the historical existence of mankind.

However, in the cosmic sense, earthly evolution is associated not only with the development of biological species. On the path of evolutionary improvement is the knowledge of the most intelligent of living beings - Man. This idea also has a history. Suffice it to recall, for example, the original idea of \u200b\u200bobscuration that developed in Christian religious thought. It originated in the bosom of the spiritual tradition of hesychasm and is expressed, in particular, in the words of the theologian and thinker of the 4th century. Basil the Great: "God became a man so that man could become a god." Later, this ideal received a fairly clear form in the works of the Byzantine theologian of the XIV century. St. Gregory Palamas.

The thought that man is not the crown of creation, that "Homo sapiens is not the completion of creation", but "serves as an intermediate link in a long chain of beings" and that consciousness and life in their current form must inevitably follow "superconsciousness" and "superlife" , continues to develop in the religious and scientific branches of "Russian cosmism", in the works of the philosopher V. Solovyov and outstanding scientists - V. I. Vernadsky, A. L. Chizhevsky. Similar ideas are reflected in the bosom of the cosmic ideas of the World Theosophical Society, where the evolution of man is considered in the transcendental plane. In particular, A. Bezant, a student of E.P. Blavatsky wrote in one of her works: “Comparing the infant soul of a savage standing at the lowest level with the liberated soul of the God-man, it seems absolutely incredible that the first soul could contain all the fullness already expressed in the perfect soul, and that the difference between the two is reduced to the stage of evolution, at the very beginning of which is the infant soul, and at the very end - the soul of the victor. " Man is approximately at the middle stage of the evolution of all living things. “Below is a long chain of lower kingdoms - animal, vegetable, mineral ... Above, there are endless hierarchies of superhuman entities - Manu, Buddhas, Builders, Lords of Karma ...”.

Whitman's creations are directed to the future of mankind, these verses lift the veil and reveal a new level of consciousness, a new level of cosmic vision and understanding of the world.

The author of the book "Cosmic Consciousness" concludes that the cases of reaching the state of "superconsciousness", illumination with the development of mankind are becoming an increasingly frequent phenomenon and that this is an indication of a certain evolution of human consciousness as a whole. “Humanity is steadily moving towards this high moral level,” Beck writes, “and it will certainly reach it, and this book is an assistant in such progress.” Let's see how Whitman says about it.

To reach the state of the Absolute, to absorb the images of all the gods of the world, the lyrical hero of the Song of Myself seeks:

I accept Jehovah's dimensions myself,

I lithograph Kronos, son of Zeus,

and his grandson Hercules,

I buy pictures of Osiris, Isis,

Baal, Brahma and Buddha ...

Accepting that they were alive

and did what was due to them

done on time ...

Taking rough sketches

all kinds of gods to fill

they are better than themselves.

He also believes in the ideal of bonding.

experience of the highest perfection, and the perception

takes it for granted:

Supernatural is not such a miracle

i myself am waiting for my time to come,

when I become one of the gods

The day is coming for me

when I start to work miracles no worse

than the best of them.

The interpretation of evolution in the artistic structure of Whitman's poems speaks of the poet's holistic vision of the life of the Universe, of a deep understanding of cosmic processes.

Closely related to the concept of cosmic evolution, the image of the road is one of the central ones in Leaves of Grass. Whitman gives it a special ambiguity and symbolism:

We will dissolve everything in that goal

to which we go, in those days and nights

to which we go

To embark on another

an even more significant path.

To go to the same goal where they go

all creations, whether God created them or not ...

To understand that the whole world

there is a road, a lot of roads, roads

for traveling souls

However, there are also a select few on this path - those who, possessing superconsciousness and having received cosmic illumination, are ready to take on the difficult mission of pioneers. The seers and heroes, who have gone far ahead, remain the great companions of mankind on the main of its paths - the one along which the souls of people march to freedom and perfection. Their path is not easy. In "Democratic Distances" Whitman, reckoning among them the ancient Hindus, Moses, Christ, Dante, Shakespeare, wrote: “Can't we, using our favorite metaphor, equate these giants and those like them with planets, planetary systems, rushing about free paths in the spaces of another sky - cosmic intellect, soul? "

According to Whitman, evolution in a broad sense is also the path of the Soul. Along with this, the image of the road has another hidden meaning. The road becomes a symbol of human interaction with the world, a symbol of a person's comprehension of the secrets of life:

You, road, I walk over you and I look,

but I think I don't see everything

I think you have a lot of that

what you can't see with your eyes.

It is no coincidence that "all religions and philosophies" are tested by the hero on the way, which, perhaps, "are good in audiences, but do not suit anywhere under wide clouds, among nature, by running streams." The road confronts "bookish" knowledge about life with knowledge that is genuine, immediate, intuitive. It gives a chance to find out the true value of things: "Here everyone is tested, here everyone realizes what is in him." The road gives the key to understanding the cosmic meaning of life, understanding the place of a person in this world:

She's not far, she's here at hand

Maybe since you were born,

you have already been to it, without knowing it yourself.

It is characteristic that such a rethinking of the image of the road echoes the traditions of Taoism, where this symbol is central: the hieroglyph "Tao" means "path" in the broadest sense, having many contiguous meanings. True knowledge, from the point of view of the Eastern sages, does not consist in the study of objects in order to master them (which is typical for the Western way of thinking), but in achieving "one-being" with the world. The main commandment for the Taoist is to follow the Path, deviation from Tao is a violation of cosmic balance, harmony. At the same time, the "path" of a person is individual, and everyone is destined to go through his own "path" in life - a path that is nevertheless part of the great Path of all that exists:

Neither me nor anyone else can get through

this road for you.

You must go through it yourself ...

Are you talking to me, oh dear:

"Do not leave me?"

Do you say to me: “Do not dare to leave -

if you leave, are you lost? "

You express me better than myself

express myself

You are more to me than that song

which is created by me.

The image of the road is directly related to the traditions of romantic metaphorization of the motive of the journey. The romantic hero, on the one hand, seeks direct unity with the entire Earth, strives to be a citizen of the world, to come closer to Eternity. On the other hand, he never stops there. Traveling, the hero feels free, not immersed in vain worries.

This idea is present as central to such great representatives of the era of romanticism as L. Tick, E.T.A. Hoffman and, of course, Unalis. Whitman inherits it. The lyrical hero of the book is constantly on a journey. He cognizes the world, reveals its hidden, divine harmony and beauty, visits its hidden corners. In this case, the image of the road is extremely concrete, material. The journey includes all his real attributes - "raincoat", "good shoes", "a stick cut off in the forest." "I go wherever I please, I am my own complete master, endowed with unlimited power," says Whitman's hero. The whole world spreads out in front of him, he goes on the road “with a light heart”, wanderings give him “a deep lesson: to accept everything, not to reject anyone, not to give preference to anyone,” that is, how to absorb the world, dissolve in it.

It is impossible to ignore the special presence of the lyric hero Whitman intuitiveness in cosmic insights - an extremely intimate quality. The poet nowhere speaks directly about intuition, but it is precisely this approach to reality, trust in his inner experience that largely determines his worldview position: It is not in schools to finally test wisdom:

Those who have it cannot pass it on to those

who does not have it.

All wisdom is in the soul, it cannot be proven

she will discover herself

And wisdom in every subject, phenomenon,

quality, and she doesn't need anything else ...

There is something in the flow of things and phenomena,

what attracts her from the soul ...

Intuitive, direct knowledge of the world is contrasted in Leaves of Grass with the knowledge of the book, expressed in the generally accepted concepts of culture and science. "The bindweed outside my window pleases me more than the metaphysics of books," says Whitman, for nature is for him a natural source of cosmic knowledge. A person must independently penetrate into the essence of things; for everyone in the world there are their own riddles and answers, their own way of comprehending life:

Only grain is nutritious;

Where is the one who will rip off the husk

for you and me?

Who can cope with the craftiness of life -

for you, for me, who will take pictures for us

the shell of things? ...

Logic and sermons never convince

people,

The dampness of the night is deeper

penetrates

into my soul.

Breath of the summer evening N. N. Yakimov

Whitman's hero never ceases to amaze us. As soon as we saw in him a clairvoyant, a prophet possessing the highest, cosmic knowledge, he suddenly admits that he understands little at all in this world. How is this so? - we will be surprised. However, let us recall the famous words of Socrates, who was considered the wisest of the Greeks and to whom, by the way, R. Beck also attributes "approach" to the field of cosmic consciousness.

The hero of Leaves of Grass appears suddenly bewitched, like a man for whom everything is suddenly filled with a new meaning, before whom the language of words and human concepts are powerless. Suddenly, the boundaries of perception expand, the most ordinary things lose their usual uniqueness, destroying simplified ideas about them. The world becomes ambiguous:

The child said, "What is grass?" -

and brought me handfuls of herbs

What could I answer to the child?

I know no more than he what grass is.

Maybe this is the flag of my feelings

woven from green matter -

colors of hope.

And now the grass - a ridiculously familiar product of nature - turns out to be Whitman's greatest mystery. The poet does not know whether it is a "handkerchief from God" with a mark in the corner, or whether it is the child himself, or whether it is a sign of the cosmic meaning - "the hieroglyph is always the same." But Whitman does not have an abstract abstraction from the thing itself, its appearance, its usual, “everyday” meaning.

Such intuitionism is almost like a “clap of one hand” - an image so well known to everyone who is even a little familiar with the traditions of Zen Buddhism. The famous doctor D. Suzuki, thanks in large part to whom the West discovered this unique Eastern teaching, noted: “Before the study of Zen for man, mountains are mountains and water is water. When the truth of Zen flashes to him, thanks to the instructions of a good master, the mountains for him are no longer mountains and water is not water; later, however, when he really reaches the place of Peace (that is, Satori, the Upper Light), the mountains again become mountains, and the water - water. "

Isn't that why Whitman often only states, only points to the inexpressible, to the fact that cosmic vision is the possession of some kind of "knowledge without knowledge", which is difficult to translate or not translate at all into the language of words and concepts?

I can't say

how the ankles of my legs bend and what

the reason for my slightest desire ...

I could tell what's in me

and what's in you, but I can't ...

Maybe I could say more.

Only contours! ...

At the same time, Whitman finds value in the understatement of his thoughts, in the fact that they are not dogmas for the reader, but each time they are filled with new shades of meaning at the moment of reading:

If they are not a riddle and not a solution to a riddle,

they are nothing.

If they're not as close to me

so far from me they are nothing.

Lao Tzu saw in such a perception a sign of a higher comprehension of the essence of things. Remember his famous aphorism: “He who understands knows a little; who knows a lot, he does not understand? “The opposition of 'this' and 'that' is the reason for the darkening of the Path,” says another Chinese sage Chuang Tzu. According to Dr. Suzuki, “Prajna (the highest wisdom - VP) is both will and intuition ... This is not analytical thinking, whose work is purely consistent. This is a leap over the abyss of dualism and contradictions. " How can one fail to recall the characteristic lines from “Song of Myself”: “But suddenly ask a question, jump far beyond the limit, and still bring it even closer ...”!

Whitman's particular paradox, which is quite common in Leaves of Grass, may be an attempt to make a leap beyond the usual work of the mind, the linearity of logic:

I am a disciple among the ignorant, I am a teacher of the wisest,

I am a beginner beginner but I have experience

myriads of centuries.

... I am as stupid as I am wise

I have no worries about others, I only

and I care about others.

Ebb and flow in me, I'm a singer

reconciliation and malice ...

I water the roots of everything that has sprung up.

However, Whitman, with his characteristic directness, does not hide his own inconsistency:

Do you think I'm contradicting myself?

Well then, I’m contradicting myself.

Whitman often speaks as if by passing remarks, but they reveal sparkling novelty in seemingly banal thoughts; and this "unkempt" thoughts fascinates the reader:

Reading a book, a glorified biography,

human life?

So when I die, someone will mine

describe life?

(As if who really knows

something about my life.

No, often I think myself

i don't know anything about my real life.

A few faint hints, a few confused

scattered, barely noticeable strokes,

I try to find for myself

to draw here.)

And then the reader's perception begins to seem to work in a new mode. A veil seems to fall from concepts and objects, revealing their true essence. Whitman strives for the simplicity of expressing thoughts, there is nothing far-fetched, complicated in his poems. Lao Tzu spoke about the value of such artlessness:

Show the simplicity of an unpainted canvas.

Keep the artlessness in you

an unfinished piece of wood.

This is exactly how Walt Whitman appears before us. That incomprehensible feature of his personality, which R. Beck relates to the field of cosmic consciousness, gives the appearance of the poet a kind of elusiveness, incomprehensible to the end and to himself:

There is something in me - I don't know what,

but I know: it is in me ...

I don't know him - it's nameless - it's a word

not yet said.

It is not in any dictionary, this is not a saying,

not a symbol.

Something that rocks it is bigger than the Earth

on which I swing.

For him, the whole Universe is a friend whose embrace

wakes me up.

Trying to somehow explain his hidden essence, the lyric hero correlates himself with nature, which is also open to man and in which, nevertheless, there is always an understatement, a mystery:

You think I'm a pretender

and I have hidden goals?

You are right, I have them

just like the April rains

by the mica on the cliff side.

Do you think I'm eager to surprise you?

Does the light of day surprise

or a redstart singing early in the forest?

Am I more surprising than they? ...

Moses, Mohammed, Dante and Blake spoke about the inexpressibility of their transcendental experience. Their words are often confused and contradictory, the stories seem incomplete and inconsistent, but they gave rise to the greatest books in terms of their significance for world culture. Such books include the Upanishads, Tao Te Dzin, Dhamma-Pada, Kabbalah, the Bible, the Koran and, if we turn to less well-known works, the mystical poems of the Sufis, the writings of St. Teresa, M. Eckhart, J. Boehme. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman can also be classified as a work whose innermost essence is still being debated.

You can treat the theories of the Canadian doctor of medicine, mystic R.Bekk in different ways, but the fact that the pages of Leaves of Grass sound the most ancient esoteric truths, which embody the sacred knowledge about space and man, is sometimes really striking:

180 years later ...

Introduce everyone who reads me:

what if, invisible to you,

now looking at you ...

The words of my book are nothing

her aspiration is everything.

A lonely book, unrelated to others,

it cannot be comprehended by reason.

But the secret that it says,

breaks through on every page ...

These are truly the thoughts of all people

at all times, in all countries,

they were born not only in me.

If they are not yours, but only mine,

they are nothing or almost nothing.

And so, rereading Whitman, we find in his poems a new richness of meaning. At the same time, the poet remains extremely open and accessible. Before us is a living person, and his thoughts move naturally and freely.

It is impossible to give an unambiguous answer about the origins of Walt Whitman's creative inspiration, as, indeed, any other poet. Did he possess a special, cosmic consciousness, or did something else give the book Leaves of Grass its unique flavor, depth and inexhaustible energy? None of the explanations exhaust the completeness of the American poet's creative gift. We have been separated for almost two centuries, and the value and relevance of his poetry continues unabated.

Why do we turn to poetry? Are we looking for just rhymed lines in it, or are we trying to understand ourselves, to find answers to the questions of life that worry us?

Whitman destroys the traditional concept of poetry and makes you see the world around you in a new way. The poet constantly tries to remove all conventions (including "poetic" ones) and in this he sees the possibility of genuine knowledge of reality. “Anyone will not understand my book, who wants to look at it as a literary phenomenon with aesthetic and artistic goals,” he wrote in the preface. The world of Leaves of Grass is life itself. A life that has no limits - neither in space nor in time.

D. Suzuki. "Basics of Zen Buddhism". Bishkek, 1993.

And, of course, "The Genesis of the Spirit" by Yu. Slovatsky. - Approx. ed.

Poet, journalist (1819-1892)

Walt Whitman was an American poet whose collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, is a landmark in American literary history.

Synopsis

Poet and journalist Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, New York. Considered one of the most influential American poets, Whitman strove to transcend traditional epics and abandon normal aesthetic form to reflect the potential freedoms to be found in America. In 1855 he independently published Leaves of Grass; This book marked a landmark in American literature, although it was considered highly controversial at the time of its publication. Whitman later worked as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War, writing Drum Taps (1865) in connection with the experiences of soldiers wounded by war. Continuing to publish new editions of Leaves of Grass along with original work, Whitman died on March 26, 1892 in Camden, New Jersey.

Background and early years

Dubbed the "Bard of Democracy" and considered one of the most influential American poets, Walt Whitman was born on May 31, 1819 in West Hills, Long Island, New York. The second of eight surviving children of Louise Van Velsor and Walter Whitman, he grew up in a family of humble families. While Whitmans previously owned a large tract of land, much of it had sold out by the time Walt was born. As a result, his father went through a series of attempts to reclaim some of his former wealth to a farmer, carpenter, and real estate speculator.

Whitman's love for America and its democracy can be at least partly attributed to his upbringing and his parents, who showed their own admiration for their country by naming Walt '; younger brothers after their favorite American heroes. Names included George Washington Whitman, Thomas Jefferson Whitman, and Andrew Jackson Whitman. At the age of three, young Walt moved with his family to Brooklyn, where his father hoped to seize the economic opportunities in New York. But his poor investments prevented him from achieving the success he longed for.

At age 11, he was fired from Walt Whitman School to help with family income. He began working in a lawyer's office with the Brooklyn attorney team and eventually found work in the printing business.

His father's growing dependence on alcohol and conspiracy politics was in stark contrast to his son. ' s preference for a more optimistic course, more in line with his mother & apos; with disposition. “I am in favor of a sunny point of view,” he said in the end, as he said.

Journalist with opinion

When he was 17, Whitman turned to teaching while working as an educator. for five years in various parts of Long Island. Whitman hated the job in general, especially given the dire circumstances in which he was forced to teach, and by 1841 he was once again targeting journalism. In 1838, he started a weekly magazine called The Long Islanders, which quickly curtailed (although publication would eventually revive), and then returned to New York, where he worked on fiction and continued his newspaper career. In 1846, he became editor of the famous Brooklyn Daily Eagle, which served in this capacity for almost two years.

Whitman proved to be an erratic journalist with a sharp pen and a set of opinions that did not always coincide with his leaders or his readers. He supported what some saw as radical positions on women's property rights, immigration and labor issues. He criticized the passion he saw among his fellow New Yorkers in certain European ways and was not afraid to follow the editors of other newspapers. Not surprisingly, his tenure was often short and had a tarnished reputation in several different newspapers.

In 1848, Whitman left New York for New Orleans, where he became editor of Crescent. It was Whitman's relatively short tenure - only three months - but it was there that he first saw the evil of slavery.

Whitman returned to Brooklyn in the fall of 1848 and founded a new newspaper, The Free Land, called The Brooklyn Freeman, which eventually became a daily newspaper despite initial problems. In the years that followed, as the nation's temperature over the issue of slavery continued to rise, Whitman's own anger over the issue also increased. He is often worried about the impact of slavery on the future of the country and its democracy. It was during this time that he turned to a simple 3.5-by-5.5-inch laptop, recording his observations and shaping what would ultimately be seen as pioneering poetry.

"Leaves of Grass"

In the spring of 1855, Whitman finally found the style and voice he was looking for, a self-published graceful collection of 12 unnamed poems with a preface titled Leaves of Grass. Whitman could only afford to print 795 copies of the book. The grass leaves are marked by a radical departure from established poetic norms. The tradition was abandoned in favor of a voice that came directly from the reader, in the first person, in lines that were not based on a rigid meter and instead showed an openness to playing with form when approaching prose. On the cover of the book was the iconic image of the bearded poet himself.

The leaves of the grass attracted little attention at first, although it caught the attention of fellow Ralph Waldo Emerson, who wrote praise to Whitman. collection as "the most outstanding example of wit and wisdom" from the American pen.

The following year, Whitman published a revised edition of Leaves of Grass featuring 32 poems, including a new play Poem in the Sun (later renamed Brooklyn Ferry Crossing), and a letter from Emerson to Whitman and the poet. answer to him.

Fascinated by this newcomer to the poetry scene, writers Henry David Thoreau and Bronson Alcott ventured to Brooklyn to meet Whitman. Whitman, now home-based and a real housekeeper (his father died in 1855), lived in the attic of the family home.

By this point, the Whitman family was marked by dysfunction, instilling an urgent need to escape family life. His drunken older brother Jesse would eventually go to an insane asylum in Kings County in 1864, and his brother Andrew was also an alcoholic. His sister Hannah was emotionally unwell and Whitman himself was forced to share bed with his mentally disabled brother.

Alcott described Whitman & apos; as "Bacchus-eyebrow, bearded like a satyr, and title," while his voice sounded like "deep, sharp, sometimes gentle and almost melting."

Like its earlier edition, this second version of Leaves of Grass did not receive much commercial distribution. In 1860, a Boston publisher published the third edition of Leaves of Grass. The revised book had a promising promise and also noted the sensual grouping of the Children of Children verses. The series Adam, which explores eroticism between a man and a woman, and the series Calamus, which explores intimacy between men. But the outbreak of the civil war led to the publishing company ceasing operations, further intensifying Whitman's financial struggles. as a pirated copy of The Leaves became available for some time.

The severity of the civil war

In late 1862, Whitman traveled to Fredericksburg in search of his brother George, who had fought for the Union and was being treated there for the wounds he had received. The following year, Whitman moved to Washington, D.C. and found a part-time job at the treasurer's office, spending most of his time with wounded soldiers.

This volunteer work has proven to be vital. changes and tires. By his own rough estimate, Whitman visited 600 hospitals and examined 80,000 to 100,000 patients. The job took physical toll, but also pushed him to return to poetry.

In 1865, he published a new collection called Drum-Taps, which represented a more solemn realization of what the Civil War meant to those in the thick of things, with poems such as “Blow! Hit! Drums! "And" Vigil, strange, I kept on the field one night. " A subsequent edition of The Sequel was published the same year and included 18 new poems, including his elegy to President Abraham Lincoln: When the Lilac is Last in the Blossom of the Palace.

Peter Doyle and Beyond

In the early years after the Civil War, Whitman continued to visit the wounded veterans. Shortly after the war, he met Peter Doyle, a young Confederate soldier and wagon conductor. Whitman, who had a quiet history of getting close to young men during the great bans on homosexuality, developed an instant and intense romantic bond with Doyle. When Whitman's health began to deteriorate in the 1860s, Doyle helped restore his health. The relationship between the two men underwent a number of changes in the years that followed, and Whitman felt he suffered greatly from Doyle's feelings of rejection, although the two would later remain friends.

In the mid-1860s, Whitman found a permanent job in Washington, DC, as a clerk in the Indian Bureau of the Home Office. He continued to pursue literary projects, and in 1870 he published two new collections: Democratic Perspectives and Pass to India, as well as a fifth edition of Leaves of Grass.

But in 1873 his life changed dramatically for the worse. In January of that year, he suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. In May, he traveled to Camden, New Jersey to see his ailing mother, who died just three days after his arrival. Whitman himself found it impossible to continue working in Washington and moved to Camden to live with his brother George and daughter-in-law Lou.

For the next two decades, Whitman continued to tinker with Leaves of Grass. The 1882 edition of the collection brought the poet fresh newspaper coverage after the Boston County attorney objected and blocked its publication. This, in turn, led to steady sales, enough for Whitman to buy his humble home in Camden.

These recent years have been fruitful and disappointing for Whitman. His life's work has received much needed validation in terms of recognition, especially abroad, as during his career many of his contemporaries viewed his products as prudent, disagreeable, and unsophisticated. Yet while Whitman felt a renewed appreciation, the America he saw after the Civil War disappointed him. His health also continued to deteriorate.

Death and legacy

Walt Whitman died in Camden on March 26, 1892. Until the very end, he continued to work with Leaves of Grass, which went through many editions in its lifetime and expanded to 300 poems. Whitman's last book, Farewell, My Fantasy, was published a year before his death. He was buried in the large mausoleum he built in Harley's Camden Cemetery.

Despite previous protests surrounding his work, Whitman is considered one of America's most revolutionary poets, inspiring a host of targeted scholarships and media that continue to grow. Books about the writer include Walt Whitman's award-winning America: A Cultural Biography (1995) by David S. Reynolds and Walt Whitman: A Song of Myself (1999) by Jerome Loving.