Evoking National Unity: Suffering, Sympathy, and Patriotic Wars in Leaves of Grass

Abstract

The first edition of Leaves of Grass in 1855 is impressively filled with bloody scenes such as a suicidal scene, a suffering slave, a mashed fireman, and martyrs of war. The sensational scenes not only attract people’s attention but also establish common ground upon which people are linked together. The blood imagery begins on the personal level, but it is developed to the public level. To evoke national unity, Whitman employs effective devices such as sympathy with victims, empathy with sufferers, and sensationalism. On the other hand, Whitman’s persona appears as a sympathetic figure in Leaves of Grass. The sympathetic yet omniscient persona identifies himself with many suffering characters in a series of vignettes. Whitman mentions destructive and sensational moments in his poems to bring up a moment of patriotic togetherness. Paradoxical as it seems to be, national union comes from a moment of disaster. In other words, the source of national unity ironically comes from the destructive scenes such as the shipwreck, the hounded slave, and the mashed fireman. Whitman interweaves suffering, sympathy, and martyrdom into national unity in Leaves of Grass.