Title: Images of “the Realities and Science” : Walt Whitman’s American Realism
Abstract: In his poetry and prose, Whitman emphasizes that America needs “poems of the realities and science.” His ardent enthusiasm for science and technology is usually associated with visual arts. It is evident that the images of “the realities and science” are the results of his desire for the reconciliation of science and art. The numerous images in Leaves of Grass have their origins in his imagination incorporating science and art. Significantly, his visual imagination corresponds to photography, the new visual technology of his time. Photography, as a product of scientific and technological achievements, has much influenced Whitman’s poetry. Whitman finds that photography, as a “mechanical,” “honest,” and “realistic” medium, could embody his scientific optimism and artistic realism simultaneously. Whitman’s catalogue technique seems to be derived from photography because the images strongly evoke the snapshots from a camera. It is not surprising that his recognition for photography has an indivisible connection with the American realist painter Thomas Eakins who systematically uses photography in his paintings.
Publication Year: 2011
Publication Date: 2011-02-01
Language: en
Type: article
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