WHITMAN’S POETIC POLITICS: SYNCHRONICALLY AND DIACHRONICALLY SHARED EXPERIENCE
WHITMAN’S POETIC POLITICS: SYNCHRONICALLY AND DIACHRONICALLY SHARED EXPERIENCE

Summary/Abstract: As many critics have mentioned, ordinary individuals are the subject matter of Leaves of Grass. A closer look shows that in focus are their experiences, categorized into two types: one on a contemporary solidarity (synchrony), and the other on a sense of continuity with the past (diachrony). The paper argues that Whitman’s emphasis of the synchrony and diachrony of experience is about the process of purely descriptive of everyday experience turning into a unique American experience of self-government which enables its Republicanism. This new perspective of Whitmanian individual experiences helps us to gain deeper understanding of his works.

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