Talk:Walt Whitman

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Semi-protected edit request on 8 August 2018

Include Walt Whitman in American Socialists.

Semi-protected edit request on 13 March 2019

Like to add a little bit about how w.w. was a minor point with Breaking Bad, TV show Pabth0s0n (talk) 21:39, 13 March 2019 (UTC)

 Not done Just too minor to warrant inclusion here, I think. There's no other "in other media" type trivia in the "Legacy and influence" section and this sort of material is generally shunned at Wikipedia. Perhaps worth mentioning at Breaking Bad (although pretty insignificant even there), but not here. Martinevans123 (talk) 21:50, 13 March 2019 (UTC)

 Not done: per above DannyS712 (talk) 07:37, 14 March 2019 (UTC)

Opinions and facts need to be kept separate

Whitman lived in a specific political time and was outspoken about much of the politics in his journalism and letters. Opinions regarding his attitudes toward different races and sex should be kept separate and labeled as opinions since to read Whitman literally he felt everyone was equal in each regard. Working in Washington D.C. first with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and then with the Attorney General meant that Whitman was aware of much of the political climate of his times and that he had a unique perspective on the Civil War as he first watched and then assisted with the tremendous amount of returning soldiers wounded and dying who lined the National Mall in tents. Whitman's main duty was to help the soldiers write letters home and to assist with simple medical procedures like changing bandages; however, his interaction with these soldiers changed his poetry and his outlook considerably. His letters show a distinctly different voice developing as he worked with the soldiers more and grew into the poet we know today. After his first stroke left him unable to continue his duties he still wrote about the experiences and attempted to make sense of what he experienced.

Suggesting that Whitman had racist overtones or explicit writings on his own personal sexuality is hard to prove. There are passages which explain certain situations he encountered but with a more journalistic writing than an extant statement on race relations or sex. It is difficult to separate any artist from the world of experiences they had and we should not attempt to do that by using opinions and interpretations of Whitman's work when simply explaining his work, life and influence. At the very least opinions and interpretations should be marked as such in any listing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JulesHef (talk • contribs) 02:28, 21 March 2019 (UTC)

Internal link to Mary Berenson

The article mentions "Mary Smith Whitall Costelloe"; this ought actually to be "Mary Whitall Smith Costelloe", she being born "Mary Whitall Smith", daughter of Logan Pearsall Smith and Hannah Whitall Smith (as her own article indicates). Search results- including the Whitman Archive- only bring up the latter, with nothing for "Mary Smith Whitall Costelloe". She was apparently at any rate better known as "Mary Berenson", per the title of her article, but either way an internal link could usefully be added to this article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.144.66.120 (talk) 14:58, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Thank you so much for this comment. How certain are we that this is the same person? I can easily make that update and link if appropriate to do so. --Midnightdreary (talk) 17:42, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Hello, just reading this article and wondered about this person, and saw this posting; these sources seem pretty definitive:

https://whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/encyclopedia/entry_86.html https://ir.uiowa.edu/wwqr/vol17/iss3/2/ https://whitman-prod.unl.edu/biography/correspondence/tei/loc.01344.html https://itatti.harvard.edu/mary-berenson The Harvard site seems the most helpful in bringing it all together (her birth name/ parents, married name, friendship with Whitman). Also I guess the first commenter meant she was daughter of "ROBERT" Pearsall Smith (his son was Logan), as Mary Berenson's article here says that, with sources.

Walt Whitman Statue at Rutgers Camden

In the legacy/statues section, the Walt Whitman statue in front of the campus center/union should be mentioned, the campus green is a few blocks from the Walt Whitman House.