Walt Whitman (1819-1892), for many the quintessential New York and by analogy American poet, relied on creative repitition in consecutive lines for the force of his poetry. His poetry often has a certain hypnotic quality that inspires as it informs. This quality can be traced indirectly through religious or quasi religious speech and writings such as the [Harlem Renaissance]? poet [James Weldon Johnson]?.
Whitman's break with the past made his poetry a model for the French symbolists? (who in turn influenced the surrealists?) and "modern" poets such as Pound, Eliot?, and Auden?. To get a flavor of this power, consider and read aloud these lines from "Leaves of Grass" (1855) (his most famous poem):
|
![[Home]](wikipedia.png)