Whitman Answered The Call, by Christina Woodson, no use of this work permitted without written consent
Christina Woodson Professor Mannone English 211 2 February 2022 Whitman Answered The Call Ralph Waldo Emerson was a renowned essayist whose works continue to astonish world readers every day. He was an advocate for the ideas of self-reliance, beauty in nature, and treating this life as a gift in all ways possible. Though he was able to convey those ideas thoughtfully and persistently in his essays, there came a time when he wanted and encouraged a new voice in American Literature. In his essay, The Poet , he beckons that there should be a new poet who is “The sayer, the namer, and represents beauty… a beholder of ideas, and an utterer of the necessary and casual.” Walt Whitman began writing Song Of Myself a little over ten years later, immediately portraying a direct answer to Emerson’s request. The influence of Emerson is scattered throughout the whole poem and is a work that is consistent with the ideas that society should consider and take more into consideration. Through di...