Emily Dickinson

Walt Whitman:

A Creative Outlet In

An Un-accepting Society

Walt Whitman is generally considered to be the most important American poet of the 19th century. His works challenged the conventional gender roles of his time. Walt Whitman lived and wrote during a time period where: American women lived in an age characterized by gender inequality, the upper-class married the upper-class and the lower-class married the lower-class and heterosexuality was the norm while homosexuality was considered repulsive and despicable. Gender identity and sexuality was considered taboo, disgraceful and scandalous. Speaking about topics concerning sexual feelings, gender identity, lust or desire was greatly disapproved of and looked down upon. Whitman’s writings touch on the subject of homosexuality, and how lonely he was left feeling because of his own personal issues with gender identity and his sexuality. Whitman’s admiration for men can be seen in his poetry even though it is apparent that he tried to hide his homosexual feelings in some way. He shows how isolated and lonely his life style had to be in such an un-accepting society.

In his poem “As I Lay with My Head in Your Lap, Camerado”, Walt Whitman deals with many gender identity issues throughout the poem by using tone, manner and imagery. Whitman’s comrade he is speaking to is obviously male because the word “Camerado” is masculine. The image depicted by the title and first line of the poem allows the reader to visualize Whitman’s head in another man’s lap. Whitman is telling the other man that he knows the words he has spoken to him are “…weapons, full of danger, full of death” (Whitman 302).

Romantic and intimate words spoken between men were considered faux pas and unacceptable. If over heard, both the speaker and recipient could have been subjected to ridicule and humiliation at the least. In the ensuing sentences, Whitman exclaims that he does not care to be cautious or afraid of ridicule; or the “threat of what is call’d hell is little or nothing to me; And lure of what is call’d heaven is little or nothing to me” (Whitman 302). He does not care if he will be damned and go to hell because of his sexuality or gender identity. Whitman could also be using the word “hell” as a metaphor for how life would be if his true sexuality and gender identity were to be made public. “Hell” might not be the fantasized place for sinners to go after death, but what his life might be like if the “true” him ever was made public. The era of Whitman was also the era of the American Civil War. Whitman felt like he was a true soldier. Unlike the soldiers that fought in the war and carried around their bayonets, Whitman felt that he was in the most danger because of his sexuality. He has “confronts peace, security and all the settled laws, to unsettle them” (heterosexual expectations and societal norms) (Whitman 302).

Calamus 20 and 22 are other poems by Walt Whitman that can be viewed as being filled with Whitman’s anxiety and sorrow over his confusion of his gender identity and sexuality issues. In Calamus 20, Whitman compares himself to a live-oak tree that is solitary and without its lover. Whitman refers to the oak’s leaves as being joyous and claims that if he