Walt Whitman and the Class Struggle (Hardcover)


By reconsidering Whitman not as the proletarian voice of American diversity, but as a historically specific poet with roots in the antebellum lower middle class, Andrew Lawson in ""Walt Whitman and the Class Struggle"" defines the tensions and ambiguities about culture, class, and politics that underlie his poetry. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources from across the range of antebellum print culture, Lawson uses close readings of ""Leaves of Grass"" to reveal Whitman as an artisan and an autodidact ambivalently balanced between his sense of the injustice of class privilege and his desire for distinction. Consciously drawing upon the languages of both the elite culture above him and the vernacular culture below him, Whitman constructed a kind of middle linguistic register that attempted to filter these conflicting strata and defuse their tensions: ""You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, / You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself."" By exploring Whitman's internal struggle with the contradictions and tensions of his class identity, Lawson locates the source of his poetic innovation. By revealing a class-conscious and conflicted Whitman, he realigns our understanding of the poet's political identity and distinctive use of language, and thus valuably alters our perspective on his poetry.

R853
List Price R1,053
Save R200 19%

Or split into 4x interest-free payments of 25% on orders over R50
Learn more

Discovery Miles8530
Mobicred@R80pm x 12* Mobicred Info
Free Delivery
Delivery AdviceShips in 12 - 17 working days


Toggle WishListAdd to wish list
Review this Item

Product Description

By reconsidering Whitman not as the proletarian voice of American diversity, but as a historically specific poet with roots in the antebellum lower middle class, Andrew Lawson in ""Walt Whitman and the Class Struggle"" defines the tensions and ambiguities about culture, class, and politics that underlie his poetry. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources from across the range of antebellum print culture, Lawson uses close readings of ""Leaves of Grass"" to reveal Whitman as an artisan and an autodidact ambivalently balanced between his sense of the injustice of class privilege and his desire for distinction. Consciously drawing upon the languages of both the elite culture above him and the vernacular culture below him, Whitman constructed a kind of middle linguistic register that attempted to filter these conflicting strata and defuse their tensions: ""You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, / You shall listen to all sides and filter them from yourself."" By exploring Whitman's internal struggle with the contradictions and tensions of his class identity, Lawson locates the source of his poetic innovation. By revealing a class-conscious and conflicted Whitman, he realigns our understanding of the poet's political identity and distinctive use of language, and thus valuably alters our perspective on his poetry.

Customer Reviews

No reviews or ratings yet - be the first to create one!

Product Details

General

Imprint

University of Iowa Press

Country of origin

United States

Series

Iowa Whitman Series

Release date

March 2006

Availability

Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days

First published

March 2006

Authors

Series editors

Dimensions

216 x 156 x 17mm (L x W x T)

Format

Hardcover

Pages

186

ISBN-13

978-0-87745-973-6

Barcode

9780877459736

Categories

LSN

0-87745-973-8



Trending On Loot