The American Revolutionary Spirit Jefferson’s Ward System and Whitman’s Poetics
The American Revolutionary Spirit Jefferson’s Ward System and Whitman’s Poetics

Summary/Abstract: The formation of Whitman’s poetics can be explained from various perspectives: mystical experience, Transcendentalism, politics, sexuality, and so on. Among these factors, the es- say aims to study Whitman’s poetics in the context of politics, especially concerning the continuation of the spirit of ’76 — the American Revolutionary spirit. The essay empha- sizes the influence of Jefferson on Whitman, particularly Jefferson’s ward system — the link so far overlooked — and argues that it has bearing on Whitman’s poetics. Jefferson sought the continuation of the American experiment of self-government, and, in this con- text, proposed a ward system — the county subdivision into smaller units. I will demon- strate that Whitman the Journalist showed great interest in Jefferson’s ward system, and that this new link puts Whitman’s poetics in a new light; Whitman’s “interior American republic” is a further subdivision of Jefferson’s “ward republic.” Before Whitman sought to solve the paradox of the individual and mass as well as the states and federal govern- ment — as the essay argues — Whitman, like Jefferson, needed to grapple with the para- dox of the revolutionary spirit which includes contradictory elements, i.e. the spirit of the new and the concern with stability based on it.

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