Poetic Visions: Walt Whitman and Charles Baudelaire

Walt Whitman: Poet of the American Spirit

Walt Whitman writes from the viewpoint of the pioneer, the founder of the new American nation and its new espacio vital. His work not only covers the "poetic" but encompasses the entire American community, instilling pride in being part of something larger – a homeland, a universe. His approach balances the epic (as a collective venture) with an intimate and lyrical exaltation of participation. Whitman holds an optimistic view, trusting in the strength of society. His poetry is vital, energetic, and promotes community and nature. Throughout his poems, he spreads faith in humanity and the American citizen. The poetic element binds all his work.

Key Aspects of Leaves of Grass

In Leaves of Grass, Whitman employs free verse, utilizing both elaborate and simple language. His style is akin to ceremonial and celebratory singing, almost an anthem, with a stark, clear rhythm. His subjects do not merely describe the mundane; he describes absolutely everything, without selecting aesthetic objects. Anything is considered an aesthetic object: the mineral, the vegetable, and the animal. He conceives of sex as vital and expressive of nature at its most intense.

Charles Baudelaire: Poet of Modernity and Melancholy

Baudelaire's Core Themes

• Disgust with Reality and Society: This leads to Spleen, a profound tedium that pushes him to seek escape through artificial paradises, evil, the eroticism and anonymity of the crowd, and ultimately, death.
• The City as Poetic Space: The city is depicted as a poetic realm where an individual can cease to exist, merging with the mass of people on the streets.
• Reflection on Artistic Creation: He reflects on artistic creation, which transforms the visible world into the invisible (beauty, truth, ideals). Only the poet is able to discern these hidden realities.

Masterpiece: The Flowers of Evil

His masterpiece is The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du Mal), a collection of poems that can be divided into six sections:

• Spleen and Ideal: Here, he confronts the mundane and the ideal, ultimately leading to boredom and melancholy.
• Parisian Scenes: The poet merges with the crowd in the city to forget anguish and find fleeting beauty.
• Wine: He seeks happiness in artificial paradises, but only achieves a fleeting, often destructive, poetic state.
• Flowers of Evil (the section): This section depicts a descent into perversion and vice.
• Revolt: Showcasing the negation of conventional values and beliefs, and the exaltation of rebellious symbols like Cain or Satan.
• Death: Viewing death as the ultimate escape and the final destination.

Other Works: Prose Poetry

Baudelaire also has a less famous book, Paris Spleen (or Little Poems in Prose), which uses poetic prose without a conventional narrative argument.