Close reading Walt Whitman
Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair’d in the adamant of Time.
From ‘America’ by Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) is one of the USA’s most significant nineteenth-century poets. Exploring themes of the body and the soul, Whitman regarded ordinary people as topics worthy of poetic celebration. His writing has had a huge influence on American poetry and culture. He believed passionately in the democratic power of poetry as something innately American, once stating that: ‘the United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem’.
In these 2-hour sessions, Dr Mariah Whelan will guide students through a series of close reading exercises to explore a selection of Whitman’s poems. Together we will observe, analyse and discuss the how the poems work as artistic objects, focusing on issues of language, sound, form and imagery.
Two sessions on Sunday afternoons UK time. Mariah will provide a selection of poems to people who enrol for the course.
From Song of the Open Road
1.
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)
Dates
Sundays, 8 February and 15 February 2026
14.00-16.00 British Time
15.00-17.00 Central European Time
Morning in the Americas
Course fees (includes 20% VAT)
£86.00 Full price
£80.00 CAMcard holders and students on a low income
Links
• Walt Whitman Archive on his life and works.
• Poetry Foundation on Whitman.
To book, click on the image below.
