Walt Whitman and Mannahatta-New York
Author(s): M. Wynn Thomas
Source: American Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Autumn, 1982), pp. 362-378
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2712687
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WALT WHITMAN AND
MANNAHATTA-NEW YORK
M. WYNN THOMAS
Universityof Wales, Swansea
CRITICS GENERALLY
RECOGNIZE
WHITMAN'S SPECIAL
ATTACHMENT
TO
urbanlife.Mortonand Lucia White,forexample,in The Intellectual
Versusthe City,saw Whitmanas a notableexceptionto the general
werebothhostileto
rulethatAmericanintellectuals
nineteenth-century
ofWhitman
when
1 OscarHandlinthought
oftheAmerican
city.
andcritical
he criticizedruralidealistswho emphasized"the personalhardshipsof
whosegaze was
"otherobservers,
to citylife,"andpreferred
adjustment
as humanbeings,[andwho]madeouta somewhat
ontheresidents
fastened
of
"2 Whitman
thepattern
wascertainly
capableoffinding
pattern.
different
even
andNew Yorkabsorbing,
inBrooklyn
theurbanlifehe encountered
towardswhathelikedtocall,witha
Butatbottomhisfeelings
stimulating.
"mycity"wereambivaandanxiety,
mixture
ofconfidence
characteristic
of
totheenergy
contributed
lent.Theebbandflowofthistenserelationship
withNew York
passionateinvolvement
thepoetryin whichWhitman's
disclosed.
was mostfullyand compelling
feltathomeinthe
Thisessayfirst
thetermsonwhichWhitman
considers
able to respond
cityandexaminessomeofthewayshe was consequently
urban
It
then
the
andcreatively
to
life.
explores strainsthatled
positively
with
the
livingcityuponwhichhis
to
the
of
that
contact
breaking
eventually
so
poetry deeplydepended.3
HarvardUniv.
VersustheCity(Cambridge:
'Mortonand Lucia White,TheIntellectual
Press,1962),2.
HarvardUniv.Press,1963),
andtheCity(Cambridge:
2Oscar Handlin,
ed., TheHistorian
19. Yet contrastE.H. Miller'sremark:"It has been said too looselyand too oftenthat
poemsarealmost
ofhisgreatest
oftheurbanpoets.... [T]hesettings
Whitman
is thefirst
invariablyrural." See Walt Whitman'sPoetry,A Psychological Journey(New York: New
YorkUniv.Press,1968),32.
of
poetry,
doesnottakeintoaccounthistreatment
onWhitman's
3Thisstudy,
concentrating
thecityin storiesand articlesbeforeLeaves of Grass.
Walt Whitmanand Mannahatta-New York
*
*
363
*
In some of his best work, Whitmandrew implicitlyupon his early
experienceof thecitythatwas his home formostofthefirstfortyyearsof
his life.Duringthatperiod,New York grewfroma burgeoningtownofless
thousand to a vast metropolitancomplex
than one hundredtwenty-five
witha populationapproachingone and a halfmillionby 1870. The young
Whitman,a workingjournalistand editor,was closely involvedwiththe
changinglifeof his city. He understoodthe social and politicalconsequof its character.He was known,for
ences of such a radicaltransformation
instance, to have sympathizedand to have associated himselfwith the
successive waves of workingmen'smovements(partiesand unions) that
characterizedthe New York of the twentiesand thirties.4These were
primarilya reaction to the gradual breakdown of the old social pattern
wherebyan apprenticecould advance to mastercraftsmanand eventually
This patternwas destroyedby economic conditions
to smallentrepreneur.
thatproduced new social classes and divided the populationmore rigidly
intolaborers,artisans,merchants,professionalworkers,and capitalists.5
But verylittleof all thisupheaval was at least directlyreflectedin Whitman's poetryor gatheredintohis prose recollections.It was not the new
urbanorderbut the old thatcontinuedto stimulateand directWhitman's
response to his growingcity.
It was onlyafterthe Civil War thatthe extremesocial consequences of
industrialand commercialcapitalismattractedWhitman'sattention.He
reacted withalarmto "the immenseproblemof the relation,adjustment,
conflict,between Labor and its statusand pay, on the one side, and the
Capital of employerson the otherside." It meant
thecitiesand elsewhere,
through
manythousandsof decentworking-people,
handtomouth,
tokeepupa goodappearance,butlivingbydailytoil,from
trying
ofcapital
aggregation
withnothing
ahead,andno ownedhomes-theincreasing
moreand
dispensing
inthehandsofthefew. .. theadventofnewmachinery,
morewithhand-work.6
on thefree
Yet hisbestpoetrywas writtenbeforethewar. By concentrating
see JosephJayRubin,TheHistoric
connections
withthesemovements,
4ForWhitman's
oftheworkingmen's
StateUniv.Press,1973).Thehistory
Whitman
(London:Pennsylvania
Jacksonians
(NewYork:NewYork
movements
isfoundinEdwardPessen,MostUncommon
Univ.Press,1967).
5See CharlesA. Glaaband TheodoreBrown,A Historyof UrbanAmerica(New York:
1.
Jacksonians,
Macmillan,1976).Also Pessen,Uncommon
6FloydStovall,ed.,Prose Works1892(New York:New YorkUniv.Press,1966),II, 753
oftheterm"labor" see EricFoner,FreeSoil,Free
(hereafter
PW2).Forthebroadmeaning
Labor,Free Men (Oxford:OxfordUniv.Press,1970),31.
364
American Quarterly
play of humanenergiesit suggesteda harmonioussocietyin whichtraditional craftscontinuedto be practicedand honored.
Whitman'sfatherwas a carpenter,Whitmanhimselfa builderas well as
printer,and thisindependentbackgroundinfluencedhis depictionof ordiinhis poems. This is mostevidentin set pieces where
narycityworking-life
Whitmanwas presumablydrawingdirectlyon his own experience:
at workin citiesor anywhere,
The house-builder
squaring,sawing,mortising,
jointing,
The preparatory
ofbeams,thepushof themin theirplaces,laying
The hoist-up
themregular,
accordingas they
Settingthestudsby theirtenonsin themortises
wereprepared,
ofthemen,
theattitudes
The blowsof malletsand hammers,
theircurv'dlimbs,
in pins,holdingon
astridethebeams,driving
Bending,standing,
bypostsand braces,. (186).
But thesame appreciationoftheway in whichphysicalactioncan become
so absorbingas to command, and thereforeexpress, the energies of a
human being is evident whereverhe described people bending to and
retreatsand advances to the
blendingwiththeirwork: "The spinning-girl
humof thebig wheel. . . . The jour printerwithgrayhead and gauntjaws
worksat his case,! He turnshis quid oftobacco whilehis eyes blurwiththe
manuscript"(41-42). Such observationsare rootedintheparticularsocial,
and indeed political,experiencesof Whitman'syouthand earlymanhood.
But heretheygrowintoa spiritualvisionthatvalues people notforconvenof lifethateach possesses.
tionalreasons but forthatprecious singularity
The citywas forWhitmantheplace in whichthisnaturalequalityofmenin
and thereforeirresistibly
their"abundance ofdiversity"8mosttorrentially
displayed itself.
Seeing people at workin thisway allowed Whitmanto interweaveurban
and agriculturalworkintoone magicallyseamless garmentof description.
The whole of human society seemed, in its harmoniousvariety,to be a
microcosmofthemiraculouslyintegratedlivinguniverse.Cityand country
were not hostile opposites or stark alternatives.9They naturallycom7A11
page references
in thetextreferto HaroldW. Blodgettand SculleyBradley,eds.,
Reader'sEd. (New York:New YorkUniv.Press,1965).
Leaves of Grass,Comprehensive
8See A.O. Lovejoy'sdiscussionof the"principleofplenitude"in The GreatChainof
Being(Cambridge:
HarvardUniv.Press,1936),passim.
was inanycase a kindofhalfway
housebetween
ofWhitman's
childhood
9TheBrooklyn
wasthenbetween10,000and
himself
recalledhow"thepopulation
theseextremes.
Whitman
rural."See PW2,774.
12,000.The character
oftheplace was thoroughly
Walt Whitmanand Mannahatta-New York
365
plementedeach other.Whitmanis by turnsa "dweller in Mannahattamy
city" and "withdrawnto muse and meditatein some deep recess" (15).
Both kindsofexperienceare needed to satisfythegenerousscope ofman's
energiesand needs. This approach has the strengthsof its considerable
weaknesses. It makes no attemptto considerthe underlyingstructureand
internalcharacterof an urban society fullof growingdivisionsand conflicts,but it is admirablysuitedto theuninhibitedevocation of theexcited
and excitingsurfaceof contemporarylife. And yet Whitmannever really
participatedinthisunpredictableturbulence.He remainedan impassioned
observer,sustainedby theconvictionthatthisdisorderwas moreapparent
thanreal.
For Whitmanthe aboriginalname of New York-Mannahatta-was a
reassuringguaranteeof the naturalnessand appropriatenessof the lifeof
evoked thespirit
themoderncity."My city'sfitand noble name" faithfully
whereever
island
-shores
"A
rockyfounded
ofthegeographyoftheplace:
waves"
(507).
sea
hurrying
gaylydash the coming,going,
Now I see whatthereis in a name,a word,liquid,sane,unruly,
musical,self-sufficient,
I see thatwordof mycityis thatwordfromofold,
superb,
Because I see thatwordnestedin nestsofwater-bays,
an
Rich,hemm'dthickall aroundwithsailshipsand steamships,
islandsixteenmileslong,solid-founded,
of iron,slender,strong,
crowdedstreets,highgrowths
Numberless
towardclearskies,. . (474).
uprising
light,splendidly
In this,Whitman'smostspontaneousand best sustainedcelebrationofhis
city's vigorous diversity,the flood of sightsand sounds throughoutthe
seasons (ofthesoul as well as oftheyear)was bothreleased and controlled
in himby the word,the "specific" name Mannahatta,which "perfectly"
comprehendedand commandedthe whole of the city's life. He was thus
variegatedlifeas simultaneouslyuniquelymodable to see thisthronging,
ern and primevallyold; an expressionof the procreanturgeof the world,
the restless breed of life, but in the evolved formof a contemporary,
proudlydemocraticsociety.That societyhe saw in Democratic Vistas as
numberofcurrentsand forces,and contributions,
composed of "an infinite
and cross purposes,whose ceaseless playofcounterpart
and temperatures,
upon counterpartbringsconstantrestorationand vitality."10Viewed in
thisway even thesordid,ugly,and brutalaspects ofcitylifethatWhitman
acknowledged were redeemed by the energythat flowed in and around
'0lbid., 362.
366
American Quarterly
The cityepitomized
called"-ventilation."
whatWhitman
them,providing
process, "the GreatUnrestof whichwe are
Natureas evolutionary
part."''
on
perspective
important
passageofproserecordsanother
A memorable
avenueofapproachtoitsmeaning
an alternative
cityandoffers
Whitman's
waters"is also the "cityof
forhim.The "cityof hurriedand sparkling
Citynestedinbays!Mycity"(475)!Citylifealwaysfell
spiresandmasts/
aroundhisbelovedport.Aboutthis
mosthappilyintoplace forWhitman
side of commercehe could be unvigorous,exciting,and adventurous
New Yorkwas seenacrosswidewater,beyond
equivocallyenthusiastic.
andthebeautyoftheships
andthemasts,themerchandise
themovement
to itsvibrant
character
andlentan impressive
contributed,
whichdirectly
was "thick" withferries,coasters,
powerand energy.The foreground
modern,"and "thosedaring,careening,
"'greatocean Dons, iron-black,
fish-birds
ofgraceandwonder,thosewhiteandshadedswift-darting
things
beautyand
... everwiththeirslanting
spars,andfierce,pure,hawk-like
motion,"thesloopsandschooneryachts.Beyond,"risingoutofthemidst,
tall-topt,ship-hemm'd,modern,American,yet strangelyoriental,
withitscompactmass,itsspires,itscloud-touching
V-shapedManhattan,
"undera miracleoflimpid
edificesgroup'datthecentre,"allwell-blended
deliciouslightofheavenabove and Junehaze on thesurfacebelow."'2
alikeforwhatit
Thisstrategically
chosenvantagepointwas convenient
to see andwhatitallowedhimnotto see. Itdiscouraged
allowedWhitman
reflections
theneareracquaintancethatmighthaveled to uncomfortable
on themotivating
forcesofall thatpowerandbeauty.Butitdidallowhim
and to himequallyimportant,
to reconciletwo different,
successfully
in
a romanticvision,rose up
such
aspects of Manhattan.New York,
andhonoredas
recognised
But
it
was
also
likea naturalform.
effortlessly
to
theingenuity
a
monument
by
men,
constructed
up,
havingbeenraised
modernspirit.
and endeavoursofthemasterful
totheexperience
was able,contrary
thecityWhitman
By so conceiving
mena physitoappreciatehowitafforded
ofmanyofhiscontemporaries,
Buildings
nor
dead.
oppressive
was
spiritually
cal environment
that neither
They
had abhuman
experience.
with
saturated
for
him
dwellings
were
sorbedandcouldexudetheessenceofthelifethattheyhadknown:"You
flagg'dwalks of the cities! you strongcurbs at the edges! / ...
From the
livingand the dead you have peopledyourimpassivesurfacesand the
wouldbe evidentandamicablewithme" (150).The urgent
spiritsthereof
the
presentness, jostlingcoexistenceof thingsand lives in space that
IIFloyd Stovall,ed.,Prose Works1892(New York:New YorkUniv.Press,1963),1,289
PWI).
(hereafter
12Ibid.,170-71.
Walt Whitmanand Mannahatta-New York
367
characterizedcity living, stimulatedWhitmanto produce superblyimpressionisticpassages of poetry:13
ofbootsoles,talkof the
The blabofthepave, tiresofcarts,snuff
promenaders,
the
thumb,
The heavyomnibus,thedriverwithhis interrogating
clankof theshodhorseson thegranite-floor,
. . (36).
The snow-sleighs,
shoutedjokes, peltsof snow-balls,
clinking,
attractive
Such profusionand ceaseless ripplesof energywere irresistibly
to a poet who loved lifeto be "thick in the pores of myskin" (81). It was
what made the cityforhim the veryepitome of moderndemocraticlife:
"The presentnow and here/America's busy,teeming,intricatewhirl"(6).
elementsin urbanliving;
He loved the simplyspectacularand thrilling
the melodramaof the streetswas to Whitmanas delicious as the dramaof
the Broadway theatresthathe frequented."I sometimesthink,"he wrote
ina letterin 1868,"I am theparticularmanwho enjoystheshow ofall these
thingsin New York morethanany othermortal-as ifitwas all gotupjust
forme to observe and study."14 There is thatin Whitmanthatrelishedthe
insobrietyin great city life and celebrated its excitingunpredictability.
"There have been some tremendousfires," he wroteto Doyle in October
1868, "the [one] in Brooklyn-eight or ten first-classsteam engines."'5
The zestfulnessoftheremarkis appropriateto a manwho loved "to see the
sights.I always enjoy seeing the city let loose, and on the rampage."16
This, as much as suppressed homosexuality,surely accounted for his
sharingthe popularenthusiasmof his timeforthose modernepic heroes,
the urbanfiremen:"young men at the most reckless and excitable age of
life,who gloryin a fireas soldiersdo in a battle." 1' Whitmanloved to be
one of "the crowd with their lit faces watching,the glare and dense
shadows" (187).
His attachmentto New York meant that he could embrace several
aspects of life that many of his intellectualand artisticcontemporaries
found intolerable.In "Crossing BrooklynFerry," Whitmansympathetdevicewas
'3Thecitywas in thisrespectthenaturaldomainof a poetwhosefavorite
sidebysideinwhatHaydenWhitecalled"a democracy
ofperception
thearranging
parataxis:
onenexttoanother."WhiteisquotedinSamB. Girgus,TheLawofthe
oflateralcoexistence,
Heart: Individualismand the Modern Self in AmericanLiterature(London: Univ. of Texas
Press,1977),54.
(NewYork:NewYorkUniv.Press,1961),II, no.
ed., TheCorrespondence
'4E.H. Miller,
310,2 Oct. 1868.See also thefamouspassageon Broadway,no. 314,9 Oct. 1868.
'i5bid.,no. 309,2 Oct. 1868.
'i6bid.,no. 313,6 Oct. 1868.
CharlesMackay,quotedinBayardStill,ed.,
journalist
'7Aremark
madein1857byEnglish
UrbanAmerica(Boston:Little,Brown,1974),146-47.
368
American Quarterly
individuicallynotedthedesolatingmomentsoflonelinessthatcould afflict
als oppressed by the anonymityof crowds. Yet he made this potentially
negative,destructiveexperiencethegroundsofa positiveand constructive
discoveryof the uniqueness of the individualsoul:
stirwithinme,
I too feltthecuriousabruptquestioning
theycameuponme,....
In theday amongcrowdsofpeoplesometimes
Was one withtherest,thedaysand hapsoftherest,
Was calledbymynighestnameby clearloudvoicesofyoungmen
or passing,
as theysaw me approaching
leaningof
Felttheirarmson myneckas I stood,or thenegligent
theirfleshagainstme as I sat,
or publicassembly,
Saw manyI lovedin thestreetor ferry-boat
yetnevertoldthema word,. . (162-63).
On the one hand he registeredthe vivacityand lovingintimacythatthere
of lives and close contactofbodies. On the other
was in thisintermingling
he deliberatelytracedthegrowthoftheweary(and potentiallydespairing,
even cynical) suspicion that throughit all the essential self remained
ingloriouslyisolated and untouched.Otherwriterscould regardthischilling isolation as irreducible,and sardonicallyaccept the inevitabilityof
havingto "prepare a face to meetthefaces thatyou meet." But Whitman
made the experienceof separatenessintothe verygroundupon whichhe
it intocommon
was best able to meet his fellowmen,and so transformed
groundbetween themand him.
Whitmanvalued crowded citylifenot onlyforits sustainingfellowship,
heightenedsense of sepabut also because it generateda correspondingly
rate identities.It promptedman to confronthis essential existence as a
soul. This self-realization,when properlymatured,permeatedand enrichedhis relationshipswithhis fellowsand his world. Furthermore,the
cityadvanced men to related insightsinto the paradoxical natureof that
world. The human currentsof the streetssuggestedthe coincidence of
fluidityand permanence,as did the flowingriverand its tides. Appropriately enough it was here, crossing BrooklynFerry, that Whitmanwas
granted the vision of permanence-in-impermanence that came to
Wordsworthin the Alps when he firstheard "the stationaryblasts of
waterfalls"and saw the woods "decaying but never to be decayed."
withan olderand rapidly
Whitman's(mainlyunconscious) identification
disappearingformof urban life did not make him (like Wordsworthin
"Michael," forinstance) the elegiast of a dyingcommunity.He actively
liked what otherwritersdeplored: the factthathumanbeings in the city
were not embedded in deeply traditionalformsof life that shaped their
personalidentitiesand determinedthecourse oftheirwhole existence. He
Walt Whitmanand Mannahatta-New York
369
frombinding
ofurbanman,hisrelativefreedom
likedtheapproachability
ofrelationship,
thewayin whichhe remained
or commitments
contracts
andfreeenough
malleableenoughtoreceivethestampofnewimpressions
The verytone of Whitman'spoetry
to be movedin new directions.18
were at least freeto become
presupposeda milieuin whichstrangers
tome,/You cando
"I do notaskwhoyouare,thatis notimportant
friends:
butwhatI stillinfoldyou" (74).
nothing
and be nothing
*
*
*
masteryofthisurbanworldwas perhapsmoreapparent
Yet Whitman's
mostclearlyshowedthe
ofthecityWhitman
thanreal.Forinhishandling
inhisconcepelements
contradictory
dangerously
andsometimes
different
America.
tionofcontemporary
towardsall manifeshospitality
In theearlyLeaves of GrassWhitman's
his uncritical
acceptanceof urbanlife.The
tationsof energyfacilitated
and
mystery,
delightintheplenitude,
impulsewas rootedintheromantic
to the
varietyof thecreateduniverse.God was imaginedas committed
oflife,evenatthecostofallowingevilto exist.19
ofa diversity
promotion
citylifewithinthisvitalistic
Whitman's
geniuslay in hisaccommodating
Andwhenhewaspossessedbysucha faithhecould,
philosophy.
romantic
accept"each day's fluxand
in "Song ofMyself,"trustingly
particularly
behind/
"a musicofconstancy
ofdiscovering
lapse" ofcitylife,confident
" 20 It becamea fieldofenergy
ofacquaintanceship.
The widepromiscuity
and exploredon thesamegenerousand uninhibited
enteredby Whitman
termsthathe exploredhisownbodilyself.Whoever"havingconsider'd
by subtle
thebodyfindsall its organsand partsgood, . . . understands
thelarge
and
of
a
a
The
city,
poem,
analogiesall othertheories,! theory
politicsofthesestates"(392-93).
abletosustainthismodeof
was Whitman
Yet onlyathismostoptimistic
ofthequotidian
seeing.Ittooka whiteheatoffaithtoweldtherandomness
so as to fashiona credibleand durablevision.The
to thetranscendental,
showedthestrain.21True,it notonly
1860Leaves of Grass particularly
Whitman's
themeofurbanpride:"forI thinkI
but
continued augmented
havereasonto be theproudestsonalive-for I amtheson ofthebrawny
18Fora sociologist's appreciationof this side of Whitman,see V.W. Turner, The Ritual
(London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1969), 203.
Process: Structureand Anti-Structure
19See Denis Donoghue, Connoisseurs of Chaos (London: Faber and Faber, 1966), 34.
20CharlesTomlinson,Selected Poems, 1951-1974(Oxford:OxfordUniv. Press, 1978),133.
2IRobin B. Hoople also sees the 1860 version as a crucial step in Whitman'schanging
attitudeto the city. See "Walt Whitmanand the City of Friends," in K.W. Cameron, ed.,
Scholars' Companion to the American Renaissance, 1st ser. (Hartford:Transcendental
Books, 1977), 45-51.
370
American Quarterly
in "Mannahatta,"Whitcity" (438). The editionfeatured,
and tall-topt
and unequivocalact ofhomageto hiscity.
man'ssinglemostmemorable
qualified
Yet at theend of ChantsDemocratiche revealedsignificantly
ofcitiesandthespreadofinventermsofbeliefin "theapprovedgrowth
tions": "They standforrealities-all is as it shouldbe" (487). These
ofany,"
were"thevisionsofpoets,themostsolidannouncements
realities
and
werefreedom
valueswhosesocialandpoliticalmanifestations
spiritual
thecitywastostand--or,perhaps,
Forandbythesestandards
democracy.
ofcities
to knitthevisionsofpoetsto theactualgrowth
to fall.In trying
Whitmanwas eventuallyto findhimself(in Auden's sardonicphrase)
wererevealed
realities
saddle.Materialandspiritual
inanexpanding
sitting
ratherthanconverging.
diverging
by timeto be inexorably
was consistently
lookingaway fromthe
In Enfansd'Adam Whitman
The
towardsnature,theWest,andthefuture.
presentsceneand turning
contexts.New inlandcities
citywas securelyplacedin theseredeeming
Through
thenewgardenthe
ofAdamicsongs,/
"I, chanter
werepredicted:
wanderedthrough
these
West,the greatcitiescalling"(107). Whitman
thathe had
satisfied
his own Mannahatta,
including
citiesofthefuture,
and thattheywillfindhim"unchanged"
theirdevelopment
anticipated
in "Once I Pass'd Througha PopulousCity,"
(594). But, significantly,
cannolongerrecallthe"ephemeral[urban]shows,architectures,
memory
onlya woman
customs,traditions":"now of all thatcityI remember
casuallymettherewhodetain'dme forlove ofme" (109).
This is of course one of the mainthemesof Calamus. There were
thepublic
rejecting
fiercely
occasionsin thatcollectionwhenWhitman,
withhislover,sounded
worldofthecityinfavorofhisprivaterelationship
surprisinglylike the Arnold of "Dover Beach." The sacred was
besiegedby the profane."City of Orgies" (125) and "A
everywhere
between,on theone
Glimpse"(131) bothturnon a dramaticdistinction
rowsof. . . houses,"
tableaus,""interminable
hand,a worldof"shifting
andoathandsmutty
jest," andon theother,the"swift,flashof
"drinking
me love."
eyes offering
fromtheserecurring
conclusions
Whitman
seemedtodrawtwodifferent
thecourseofCalamus. One was thattheworldmustbe
during
situations
and
abandoned,as beingofuncertain
effectively
accepted,and therefore
concededin"Oftheterrible
So Whitman
character.
perhapsunredeemable
Doubt of Appearances"(120) and "I ThoughtThat KnowledgeAlone
(sometimesa
WouldSuffice"(595). The otherwas the determination
buoyantconviction)thathe could "give an exampleto loversto take
of
theStates"(115).His "brotherhood
shapeandwillthrough
permanent
whatHartCranewouldlater
lovers"(129)thenbecamea savingremnant,
whomthemodernworld,
call a "visionarycompanyof love," through
be redeemed:"I will
withitscities,wouldeventually
identified
frequently
Walt Whitmanand Mannahatta-New York
371
makeinseparablecities,withtheirarmsabout each other'snecks" (610). It
was an ideal thatnaturallysoughtrefugein (or derived strengthfrom)a
dream: "I dream'd in a dream I saw a cityinvincibleto the attacksof the
whole oftherestoftheearth,/I dream'd thatwas thenew cityof Friends"
(133). Such a Philadelphiawas not, of course, a futurestructureentirely
withoutfoundationin the present. Whitmanwas buildingshakilyupon
those intermittently
urban examples of passionate (and thereforeinherentlyexclusive) masculinelove commemoratedin Calamus. Yet thereis
no avoidingtheimpressionthathisfuturehopes wereraisedas muchon the
withtheurbanpresentas on thismistakenfaith
groundsofdisenchantment
in its potentialforgrowth.22
The immediatesocial source of this dissatisfactionby the end of the
fiftieswas almost certainly,as poems in Drum-Taps show, New York's
reluctanceto tackle the problemof the South. A deeper, underlying,and
unacknowledgedcause was surelyWhitman'ssuspicionthatthedriftofthe
city)was nottowards,but
modern(as discernibleinitsmostrepresentative
away from,democracyas he conceived of it. There were occasions when
his faithin the cityas a naturaldemocraticforcefailedcompletelyand he
could see New York onlyas the veryantithesisof everythinghe believed
in. "The citiesI loved so well I abandon'd and left,I sped to thecertainties
suitable to me" (293). The "Nature" to which he then,in mindif not in
retreatedwas not reallya substantialplace in whichhis
body, temporarily
social
and thrive.It was insufficiently
imaginationmightsettlepermanently
to satisfythe multitudinous
needs of his simultaneouslysolitaryand gregarious nature. It was invariablywith relief-definitivelyexpressed in
"Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun" (312-14)-that he patched up his
quarrel and resumedcity life: "wherever humanityis most copious and
significant-letitall filterintome."23 "New York loves crowds-and I do
too," he wrotewithdisarmingsimplicityand frankness."I can no moreget
along withouthouses, civilization,aggregationsof humanity,meetings,
hotels,theatres,thanI can get along withoutfood." He rejectedas misanthropic and shallow his previously recorded wish to "live absolutely
alone" and "to hear nothingbut silentNature in woods, mountains,far
recesses. "24
22E.H. Miller believes there is a nostalgia for pastoral society in Calamus. See Walt
Whitman'sPoetry, 150.
23PW1, 354, 354-55.
24Acrucialdocumentis no. 3, 28 Oct. 1849,"Some Poetic ComparisonsBetween Country
and City," inLettersfroma TravellingBachelor, firstcollectedin Rubin,HistoricWhitman,
318-23. Whitmansees fewerstrengthsthan weaknesses in rurallife. Coarse and insular,it
and to harden,throughenforcedisolation,into"a singular
causes people to age prematurely
sortofegoism." Countrylifeis fullyas wickedas urbanlife,withtheadditionaldisadvantage
that"out of citiesthe humanrace does notexpand and improviseso well morally,intellectually, or physically."
372
American Quarterly
from,thecity
Yet his outbursts
against,and removalofhis sympathy
misanthropy.
They
ofpique,norromantic
werenotsimply
demonstrations
andsorrowful,
bothbitter
wererather
theresultofchronicdisappointment,
acdeplored,but reluctantly
at whathis citywas becoming.Whitman
of
factthatcitylifehadproducedan aristocracy
cepted,theundemocratic
of sucha class was
and ineffectuality
wealth.The unrepresentativeness
withwhichittriedto ape the
evidentintheuneaseandself-consciousness
Buttherewereother,
oftheEuropeangentility.25
artifices
andconventions
and
unmistakeably
indigenoussocial forcesthatposed a verydifferent
them.
understood
valuesas Whitman
grimly
seriousthreatto democratic
commercialism
anddedicatedmaterialism
He wrestled
withtheenergetic
thathad madeNew Yorkwhatit was by mid-century.26
Attracted
as he was to so manyaspectsofthelifegeneratedand suswas in no positionto condemnthem
tainedby theseenergies,Whitman
to renounceand denounce
roundly.He was quiteunableand unwilling
haddone.
andallitsworks,as Carlyle,forinstance,
commercial
capitalism
to
changing
reactions
muddled,
andconstantly
His ownmixed,sometimes
and
his urbanworldwerethe resultof notobjectingto it on principle,
notalwayssuccessto discriminate,
havingtherefore
to striverepeatedly
betweentheshifting
positivesand negativesin its
fullyor convincingly,
and
of the strength
mercurial
character.Whitman'senviousadmiration
andunremitting
hostility
untrammelled,
clarity
ofCarlyle'sunambiguous,
tomodern
"His rude,rasping,
taunting,
understandable.
lifewastherefore
contradictory
tones-what are morewantedamidthe supple,polish'd,
Jesus-and-Judas
equalisingsuffrage-sovereignty
money-worshipping,
America?"27
echoesofcurrent
*
*
*
civilwarto a head,
Whitman's
owninternal
The outbreakofwarbrought
his
andthenapparently
toan end.He couldat lastopenlyadmittohimself
naggingdoubtsabout his society:"Long had I walk'd my cities,my
One doubtnauseous
countryroads throughfarms,onlyhalfsatisfied/
undulating
likea snake,crawl'don thegroundbeforeme" (293). Andhe
could do so because he now believedhimself
that,like
to be confident
Simeon,hiseyes had seen thesalvationofhispeople,Israel:
25PW1, 199.
26FortheJeffersonian
tradition
of antiurbanism
thatis relevanthere,see theWhites,
IntellectualVersusthe City,and RobertA. Dahl, PluralistDemocracy in the U.S. (Chicago:
RandMcNally,1967),60-64.
27PW1,285.
Walt Whitmanand Mannahatta-New York
373
I am glutted,
ButnowI no longerwait,I am fullysatisfied,
I have witnessedmycitieselectric,
I havewitness'dthetruelightning,
and warlikeAmericarise,. . (293).
I havelivedto beholdmanburstforth
In "Song of the Banner," a pre-Sumterpoem, he was openlyanxious that
and therefore
his city'sfirstand lastloyaltymightproveto be to prosperity,
peace, at any price. When the Northeventuallydeclared war, it also, in
Whitman'seager eyes, declared itselfto be firmlyfordemocracyand the
union. His reliefis evidentin the raptureof his welcome forNew York's
mobilizationin "First 0 Songs for a Prelude" (279-80). Thereafterhe
continuedto protesthis pride in his martialcityand his excitementat its
aroused and purposefulenergy: "Manhattan streetswiththeirpowerful
throbs,withbeatingdrumsas now" (314). When he wentto Washington,
the "big-cityboy" in himcame out occasionally: "this cityis quite small
potatos afterlivingin New York." Even the franklycommercialspiritof
his home city now seemed to him healthycompared withbureaucracyriddenWashington,whose grandpublic buildingswere whiteelephants.
He yearnedfor "the oceans of life and people" thatcharacterizedNew
York.28
But his misgivingswere too fundamentaland substantialever to evaporate completely.New York trade thrivedcallously on the war. Whitman
notedon a wartimevisithome how "here in all thismightycityeverything
goes witha bigrushand so gay, as iftherewas neitherwar norhospitalsin
the land. New York and Brooklyn appear nothingbut prosperityand
plenty."29And it is noticeablethateven in the poem wherethe currentof
his pridein wartimeNew York runsmoststrongly,thereis stilla considerable undertowof doubt about the way in whichit mightchoose to use its
prodigiousstrength:
Cityof ships!
(O theblackships!0 thefierceships!)
and sail-ships!)...
steam-ships
sharp-bow'd
(O thebeautiful
and glittering
tides!
Cityofthesea! cityof hurried
in
rushor recede,whirling
Citywhosegleefultidescontinually
and outwitheddiesand foam!
Cityofwharvesand stores-cityoftallfacadesof marbleand iron!
mad,extravagant
city(294)!
Proudand passionatecity-mettlesome,
No passage from Whitman's poetry better captures his fascination,
28Correspondence,II, no. 333, 12 Dec. 1868.
29Correspondence,I, no. 94, 9 Nov. 1863.
American Quarterly
374
withthebeautyand dangerous
amountingalmostto a hopeless infatuation,
energyof his city. The hyperbolicphrases are designed to flatterand
appease, to secure its morallyambivalentpower forthe democraticcause
in this war.30
Whitmanemergedfromthe war determinedthathe had been convinced
ofthegloryoftheAmericanfuture.This optimismwas different
from,more
willed than, the visionaryidealism thatproduced the greatpoetryof the
fifties.A contributingfactor may have been the imperativeneed that
Whitmanfeltafter1865to believe beyondall possibilityofdoubtthatall the
thathe had helplesslywitnessedhad not been in vain;
pain and suffering
thatthedeaththroesof soldierswere also thebirthpangs ofa forthcoming,
united,democraticnation. Most of Whitman'sdiminishedenergyduring
ofpreserving,
thelasttwentyyearsofhis lifemusthave gone intotheeffort
world,theequilibriumof
intheface ofa disfiguredratherthantransfigured
thisoptimismthatwas forhima matterof lifeor death. The price he paid
was theseveringofthatvitalconnectionbetweenhis visionaryimagination
and the "rude, coarse, tusslingfacts of our lives and theirdaily experiences"31 upon which his poetryso deeply depended, and to which his
involvementwithhis cityhad contributedso much. He retired,as Specimen Days shows, to Nature; "the only permanentreliance forsanityof
book or humanlife."32
*
*
*
Andyouladyof ships,youMannahatta,
turbulent
city,
Old matronofthisproud,friendly,
frown'd
Oftenin peace and wealthyouwerepensiveor covertly
amidall yourchildren,
(282).
old Mannahatta
Butnowyousmilewithjoy exulting
In callingNew Yorkby thename ofMannahatta,Whitmanwas doingmuch
morethanexhumingthe old poetic device of personification.Mannahatta
was New York as itrevealeditsessentialselfto thefavouriteson who was,
at least in his creative fantasy,on such lovinglyfamiliarand uniquely
intimatetermswithit. Insofaras itis oftenforWhitmana kindofredeeming
archetypeof New York, Mannahattahas somethingof
and long-suffering
London, Jerusalem.
theimaginativestatusofBlake's visionoftransfigured
It is appropriatethatWhitmanshould, out of his own familystrugglesas
well as his poetic needs, have imbued his city with such a personality
30Jdiscusstheselastpoints
Identity
morefully
in"Whitman
andtheAmerican
Democratic
BeforeandDuringtheCivilWar,"JournalofAmericanStudies,15(1981),73-93.
3'PW2, 479.
32PW1,120.
Walt Whitmanand Mannahatta-New York
375
precisely at the time when many Americans were beginningto identify
themselveswiththeircities in a new way. Urban historianshave noted
how, around the middleof the century,
indebatesaboutthepropercompetinotionsofthe"generalinterest"emerged
tivecoursefortheircityto pursue;therailroadorthecanalwas desired,orwas
Baltimore
or
talkedaboutas desired,notjustbythisorthatgroupofaggressive
businessmen
butby"Baltimore"or"Philadelphia."Inthiswaythe
Philadelphia
setof
thattheypossessedoneoranother
citiesacquiredpublicimages,indicating
."
individual
characteristics
and challengWhitman'sMannahattawould seem to standin an interesting
ingrelationshipto such calculated processes of "communitypersonification," motivatedmoreby commercialambitionsthanreal love.34But after
the war Whitman'sMannahattagrew increasinglydistantfromthe actual
historicalNew York.
"Human and Heroic New York," Whitmancalled itin Specimen Days;
and the eulogisticpassage so entitledwas a convenientsummaryof the
quintessentialAmericannessof thatcityas, in his increasinglywilfuloptimism,Whitmanwas capable of seeing it even as late as the 1880s. He
found "the human qualities, of those vast cities . . . comforting,even
heroic,beyond statement."35The citizens were possessed of
at you,a singular
finephysique,cleareyesthatlookstraight
alertness,
generally
combinationof reticence and self-possession, with good nature and
tasteandintellect,
surely
manners,
rangeofaccording
prevailing
friendliness-a
beyondanyelsewhereuponearth.36
Blank assertionreinforcedby blusteringrhetoricseemed to be theorderof
the day as Whitmantried, with a desperation more often comic than
poignant,to convince himselfby convincingothers that contemporary
New York was a cityanimatedby the spiritof democraticcomradeship.
His idealismno longergrewspontaneouslyfroma heightenedappreciationof the potentialof contemporarylife.It existedonlyin simple,empty
defiance (or perhaps obdurate ignorance?)of the facts. Unlike Blake or
Shelley,Whitmancould notmakegreatpoetryout oftheglowingmaterials
provided by the visionaryimaginationalone. He was no constructorof
33Glaaband Brown, Urban America, 36-37.
34He preferrednot to use the name "New York," partlybecause it originatedwiththe
"tyrant" Duke of York, laterJamesII. "A prettyname, this,to fastenon the proudestand
mostdemocraticcityin theworld!" See C.J. Furness,ed., Walt Whitman'sWorkshop(New
York: Russell and Russell, 164), 61.
35PW1,171.
36Ibid., 171-72.
376
American Quarterly
alternativeworlds. More literal-minded
thanthey,he remaineddependent
upon the inspiringeloquence of real life;even "the hard,pungent,gritty,
worldlyexperiences and qualities in American practical life."37 When
those ceased to speak to him,or at least when theybegan to speak in a
foreignlanguage,Whitmanwas leftmaroonedin his dreams,incapable of
writingauthenticpoetryand drivento barrenprophecy.
By the timeWhitmancame to write"Human and Heroic New York,"
thepassion had gone fromhis affairwiththecity,and had been replacedby
pious, wishfulsentimentality.
He himselfsensed the change early. "I am
well as usual," he wrote in September 1867 to friendsin Washington,
ofcourse-butI
andgo dailyaroundNew YorkandBrooklyn
yetwithinterest,
etc.-have notthezest
findtheplacesandcrowdsandexcitements-Broadway,
offormer
times-theyhavedonetheirwork,andnowtheyaretomeas a talethat
is told.38
Yet powerfulpoetryhad arisen fromthe violentpsychologicalpatternof
his longstandinglover's relationshipwith New York, fromhis bitter,
periodicrevulsionsagainstthecityand his subsequentreconciliations,and
fromhis alternatingfeelingsof trustand betrayal.
Afterthe war, prose became Whitman'sprimarymediumof expression
as hispoetryfalteredand failed.In Democratic Vistas he made hissupreme
effort
to reconcilehisaspirationfor,and beliefin,a goldenage ofAmerican
democracy,withwhat he permittedhimselfto see of the cynical opportunismof theGilded Age. And whenhe came to balance thepros and cons
of his contemporarysociety, to take the weightof its characterand try
justly to estimateits quality,he turnedto his most recentexperiences of
New York, confidentthatit would, as always, faithfully
epitomizeforhim
boththestrengths
and weaknesses ofcontemporary
America.The resultis
a splendidlyfulldisclosure-honest even perhapsbeyondWhitman'sconscious intentions-of his conflictingfeelingsabout his city.
He showed remarkableself-knowledgewhen he remarkedhow the vigorous, ample lifeof the great cities "completely satisflies]my senses of
power, fullness,motion, etc., and gives me, throughsuch senses and
appetites,and throughmyaestheticconscience,a continuedexaltationand
absolutefulfillment.'"
Kindled,his rhetoricswelledto a diapason ofpraise:
I realize(ifwe mustadmitsuchpartialism)
thatnotNaturealoneis greatinher
fieldsoffreedom
andtheopenair,inherstorms,
theshowsofnight
andday,the
37Correspondence,II, no. 362, 23 April 1870.
38Correspondence,I, no. 249.
Walt Whitmanand Mannahatta-New York
377
the workof mantoo is equally
forests,sea-but in theartificial
mountains,
streets,
of teeminghumanity-intheseingenuities,
great-in thisprofusion
feverishelectriccrowdsof men,their
goods, houses,ships-thesehurrying,
businessgenius(notleastamongthegeniuses),andall thismighty,
complicated
here.39
concentrated
wealthand industry
many-threaded
But thenaestheticappreciationwas ousted by the moral sense. Whitman
obeyed its sterninjunctionsto shuthis eyes "to theglow and grandeurof
the general superficialeffect." He searched minutelyfor "men here
worthythe name," for"crops of fineyouths,and majesticold persons,"
forthe arts and mannersof a "great moraland religiouscivilisation-the
onlyjustificationof a great materialone." His conclusion was "that to
severe eyes, usingthe moralmicroscopeupon humanity,a sortof dryand
flatSahara appears, these cities, crowded withpettygrotesques,malformations,phantomsplayingmeaninglessantics. 40
As in thispassage themoraleventuallyprevailsover the"aesthetic," so
too in Whitman'slife did the moralistquench the poet. New York, one
graduallyrealizes as one reads, was judgingWhitmanas surelyas Whitman
was passingjudgmenton New York. The poet's ideal menand womenare
thinand anaemic creaturescomparedto so "thick and burly'"41a worldof
establishedin the firstparagraph.
unregeneratesas thatmagnificently
Whitman'stragicdilemmaas a poet was clear. His imaginationintuitivelyrecognizedits truehome ("I don't wonderyou like and are exhilaratedby New York and Brooklyn-They are the onlyplaces to live," the
crippledWhitmanwrotefromCamden in 187842).It craved thatuninhibcontactwiththeteeminglifeofthecityand the
ited,butnotindiscriminate,
timesthatproducedthe gloriouslyfreshpoetryof the earlyyears. But the
older Whitman,ailingas well as aging,and (in spite of his proteststo the
the energiesthat animatedcontemporary
contrary)palpably mistrusting
life,could not any longergive his imaginationhis unqualifiedsupportand
blessing.He retreatedto theconsolationsoftheideal underthepretenceof
advancing to the future43;or else he turned,like so many disappointed
social revolutionariesbefore and afterhim, away fromthe recalcitrant
'
39PW2,371.
40Ibid.,371-72.
41William James's phrase to describea worldinadequatelyserved by the "shiveringlythin
wrappings" of transcendentalidealism. See A Pluralistic Universe (London: Longmans,
Green, 1909), 136.
42E.H. Miller,ed., The Correspondence(New York: New York Univ. Press, 1964),III, no.
863, 10 May 1878.
430fcourse Whitmanfromthefirstenvisagedtheideal democraticsocietyas a cityofgreat
personalities(e.g. "Song of the Broad-Axe." secs. 4 and 5, L G, 186-90); butthisserved his
poetrybest when it stimulatedratherthan (as later) inhibitedhis appreciationof the actual
contemporarylife of New York.
378
American Quarterly
materialofa social and politicalworldto themuchmoreamenableworldof
the spirit. Somewhere along the road leading away fromhis estranged
city he lost his shapingspiritof imagination.
There is, however,a touchingpostscript,whichcomes in the formof a
remarkmade in a letterhe wrote in 1889, verynear the end of his life.
tell
SupposeyouandNellyhaverec'dyourbigbookbythistime-I can hardly
why,but feel verypositivelythatif any thingcan justifymyrevolutionary
and a
it is suchensemble-likea greatcityto modemcivilisation,
utterances
a man,a woman.44
wholecombinedparadoxicalidentity
Althoughitwas to therankprofusionofnaturallifethatWhitmanhad, with
a sure instinct,turnedfora titleforhis life's workhe could not,at theend,
ofLeaves of Grass as a kindofcity.It is perhaps
forbearfromalso thinking
his last,unconscious,and mostappropriatetributeto theholdof "tumultuous, close-packed,world-likeNew York"45 over his creativeimagination.
44E.H. Miller,ed., The Correspondence(New York: New York Univ. Press, 1969),IV, no.
152, 5 March 1889.
45Correspondence,II, no. 317, 17 Oct. 1868.