Walt Whitman: poet for our times?

‘Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes)‘

From Song of Myself (1892)

American poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892) forever changed the literary landscape of his own time and influenced generations of readers and poets who followed (William Carlos Williams, Allen Ginsberg and Fernando Pessoa, to name a few). Whitman startles us with his radical rejection of tradition together with an uncontained celebration of love, friendship, democracy and nature.

How can we, in our challenging times, connect to Whitman’s passionate and thunderous celebration of man and nature? Can his poetry add depth to our own dismay at war, climate emergency and ailing democracy? Can it offer us a literary way forward?

The summer of 2025 seems exactly the right time to be reading Whitman. His poetry is irresistible both for its oceanic lust for life and its unshakable freedom.

In this introductory study we will explore selections from two of Whitman’s iconic ‘songs’, in which his enthusiastic voice and powerful verse speak directly to us, beckoning us to join him on his poetic road.

JOINING DETAILS:

• Four two-hour meetings led by Vivien Kogut
• £120 for four meetings, to include opening notes and resources
• Wednesdays, 4-25 June, 5.30-7.30 pm (UK)

  • 4 June: Song of Myself
  • 11 June: Song of Myself
  • 18 June: Song of the Open Road
  • 25 June: Song of the Open Road