A few weeks ago in church, I was excited to hear the following psalm, and made a note to pass it along to the class once we began reading Walt Whitman this semester. Whitman clearly borrows from the Bible and yet calls for a new “religion”.
Psalm 103
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 When the wind has passed over it,
it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer.
17 But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.
In his preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass, Whitman writes,
“There will soon be no more priests. Their work is done. They may wait awhile..perhaps a generation or two..dropping off by degrees. A superior breed shall take their place…the gangs of kosmos and prophets en masse shall take their place. A new order shall arise and they shall be the priests of man, and every man shall be his own priest. The churches built under their umbrage shall be the churches of men and women. Through the divinity of themselves shall the kosmos and the new breed of poets be interpreters of men and women and of all events and things. They shall find their inspiration in real objects today….They shall arise in America and be responded to from the remainder of the earth.”
What do you make of this bold prediction of Whitman’s? Has it come to pass? Why or why not? Do you see him doing what he suggests in his poems?
ALICE E. CLARK says
I think this is wishful thinking by Whitman, who hoped that people would take the word of poets, known for their keen observations and higher thinking rather than fall for the hucksterism of religious zealots. Literature in Whitman’s day was dramatic, primarily relying on religious texts or epic narratives. Like art of the 1850s that start to lean away from gods and religious scenes, this poem focuses on nature, people, and scenes of everyday life that, in Whitman’s hands, becomes heroic. I especially enjoyed the cadence and imagery, and was surprised by its sexual innuendo and relevancy today. As Nicole says, people have a multitude of choices and can make up their own minds which, if any, religion they wish to follow.
STEVEN PAUL ROBERTS says
I agree with you on this Sharnise. I think that he is calling for organized religion to be replaced by one’s own spiritual conquests. Whether this is through nature, a supreme being,love, or whatever inspires one’s soul to live and prosper spiritually.
SHARON ELLEN GRAHAM says
I was struck by the similarities of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass and the bible. Parts of the poem Song of Myself read like the psalms. I found myself thinking of Scientology when Whitman talked about “and nothing, not God, is greater to one than one’s self is.” (48th paragraph) I don’t think Walt Whitman was only against organized religion, I think he was against any institution that gave pat answers instead of promoting free thinking. He did not follow the rules for traditional poetry but instead wrote poems in a new and unique voice. I think the message he sent was be true to yourself, don’t let others think for you.
KATHERINE MARIE DEANDREA says
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” was taken from Act 4:12 of the Bible.
KATHERINE MARIE DEANDREA says
It sounds to me in Whitman’s preface to the 1855 edition of leaves of grass, especially when saying, “Through the divinity of themselves shall the kosmos and the new breed of poets be interpreters of men and women and all events and things,” that he is making a statement that he himself and others like him are the start to a future in which poets will inspire the world in “all events and things” much like the bible does. I disagree with what Whitman is saying. I do not believe that there will be no more priests. Although we live in a society where it may seem that more people are moving in a direction away from God, at the same time, more and more people are moving toward God and the only way to do that is through Gods teachings from the Bible. I think it is alright for people to interpret them and use lines from the Bible to help their own writings. I don’t think people need to see real objects in order to come up with a good piece of writing or inspiration for others. Though in that line it says, “Through the divinity of themselves,” which I understand to mean “through their power,” each individual can find inspirations on their own. I disagree with this. The writings in the Bible help people to find inspirations and understand more their faith.
He may be right in some ways. Today less people go to church but still believe in God. They may be teaching themselves their religions at home by themselves. However, there are still a great deal of people who attend church each week and have been for generations and generations into the past, that I don’t believe that it will ever come to a point in the future where no priests will be left.
In the Bible it states: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” If a person has faith in God, and understands what God did for us (sent us his son Jesus Christ to die for us on the Cross), this verse is interpreted that, no one else besides Jesus Christ can save us from our sins. I believe that we can talk to Jesus Chris through prayer and the readings from the Bible. In my Catholic religion, we believe that in order to receive full forgiveness for our sins, we need to use the process of reconciliation, where we confess our sins to our priest and use the Bible to sit down and pray to God and ask for forgiveness. I do not believe that this could be done without use of a Bible, which is the main reason why people even believe in God in the first place.
Our world will never be what Whitman said in the preface to Leaves of Grass. Too many people have a strong faith and will continue to pass down their beliefs through generations and generations. Some may do as he said and find their own interpretation of “all events and things” but never will Priests or Bible usage disappear all together.
ALISON JAENICKE says
Thanks for your thoughtful comments on this complicated issue, Sharnise. I do not think that what Whitman predicted has come to pass–“every man shall be his own priest”–because people still need to live in community with others who seek God in traditional houses of worship. While some people may seek God on their own, or in groups of poets, I agree with you that “clergy are still revered as spiritual counselors in many cultures.”
Thanks again!
SHARNISE A JOHNSON says
I do not think Whitman’s prediction has come to pass. Sure, there are more people who spiritually connect with God without the aid of a priest. There are certainly more people who are willing to admit that they do not subscribe to a particular religion and those who admit a non-belief in God altogether. Whitman’s views are definitely easier to digest today. This is a major shift from the late 19th century.
But, I still see members of the clergy as active members in their respective communities. Clergy are still revered as spiritual counselors in many cultures. People still attend various houses of worship. Regularly. And these houses of worship are still being led by Priests, Pastors, Bishops, Imams, Lamas, etc.
SHARNISE A JOHNSON says
I’m not really well-versed on religion, but I do believe that Whitman is calling for the end of organized religion. When he says, “dismiss whatever insults your own soul” this tells me “to thine own self be true” and to do what feels right.
I can see how asking everyone to give alms and to love the earth and to despise riches sounds like religion, but the feeling I get from the entire quote is that your religion should be based on what your soul tells you is right. So, perhaps Michael is correct when he says that “he has become his own religion.”
MARIA CHRISTINE ZAPOTOCKY says
I believe that the prediction of Whitman has most certainly come to pass. We are seeing more and more the dissolution of Catholic churches around the world. I believe people are more in tune with their one-on-one relationship with God versus having a man act as mediatior between the two.
Whitman’s poetry, with its beautifully descriptive ties to nature, displays a relationship between God and man.
ALISON JAENICKE says
Interesting distinction, Angela!
ANGELA MCCLELLAN says
I can’t help but notice the link between literacy and the dissolution of a formal clergy system. Whitman, greatley influenced by deism, is also highly well-read and a writer as a profession. He, along with other people who can read and have access to books and ideas, are not as dependent on another person or institution telling them what they should believe or the proper way to interpret religious texts. From what I’ve read of American deist Ben Franklin, they seem to be similar in terms of being highly literate and in favor of individual religious beliefs instead of blindly following clergy. Being able to read and write is a major key to the religious freedom and individualism that Whitman refers to in his statement.
ALISON JAENICKE says
Thanks for offering these insights, Michael. I like your line, “Whitman has become his own religion.”
And I appreciate your throwing in this useful Biblical passage. I am especially intrigued by the sentence, “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” Hmmm. Whitman seems to see and know “the Lord” (or divinity) in many things, people, actions…
Michael King says
From what I have read so far, Whitman very much agrees with the New Though movement which, while having been formed in his time, has become its own religion, of sorts. Yet at the same time not, in the sense that New Though churches tend to follow any teaching that promotes love. He definitely has religious tendencies, but in another sense, he has become his own religion. Whitman strikes me as a person who very much follows a combination of metaphysics and the belief of self-as-God. While some of these terms are placing current ideas on a historical person, they seem to fit his overall themes found in ‘Song of Myself.’
To address the original question, I think in a number of ways his predictions are coming to pass, and in other ways not.
The fact that priests still exist (at least in the Christian tradition) has little to do with anything other than a lack of understanding about what Jesus actually did (Which was to complete the sacrifices once for all, so that priests were no longer necessary, because sacrifices were no longer necessary). Whitman’s assessment of priests fading away is really a 1900-year-late diagnosis of what ought to happen anyway. In reality, he’s making a vague biblical reference on the subject, not writing something original.
Jeremiah 31:33-34 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
I have no idea what he’s talking about as far as ‘kosmos”, but I know a good number of prophets, and know a bunch of people (myself and wife included) who while they might not be considered prophets, hear from God on a regular basis. So it all depends on who you know and/or your life experience and understanding of the fact that God wants to talk to us all as to whether you think the prophet-thing is at all true. It is definitely moving more in that direction. The whole “every man shall be his own priest” thing is basically an idea taken right out of the book of Hebrews. So again, a good idea, just not original to him.
His last few lines I don’t agree with the premise of, so while I’d say it hasn’t come true, I see that as a good thing.
ALISON JAENICKE says
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Nicole.
I particularly like where you arrive by the end of your exploration:
“I think what has occurred is that people now realize they have a choice in how to find the spiritual aspect of life….which may or may not involve God’s House, and a man who is supposedly embodying his voice.”
Whitman finds “the spiritual aspect of life” in many places and creatures, none of it a church or priest.
Here’s another quote from his 1855 preface:
“This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or numbers of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, reexamine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body….”
Sounds like a religion to me…
NICOLE E OESTRICHER says
I think Whitman’s prediction is partially true. In today’s society religion’s influence has greatly decreased then that of Whitman’s society where the ruling of the church and the Bible were the law of morality. You can definitely point that out by the amount of controversy that surrounded Whitman’s poems due to its sexual/sensual/homosexual conotations. His writings though unique and slightly praised, were different and not morally correct for the time. In this day and age his words would be more excepted, as people have broaden their religious perspectives, and made up their own minds on what is moral and immoral. We have made up our own rules on how to live our lives, and the words of writers, as well as the images of photographers, painters, and the like have portrayed a new interpretation of what is man and woman and their roles in this world. In terms of what religion was Whitman is correct, it has died a little, but it has not been replaced by “prophets and kosmos”. Priests still have a major influence in certain people’s lives, and some do not have a religion at all. I think what has occurred is that people now realize they have a choice in how to find the spiritual aspect of life….which may or may not involve God’s House, and a man who is supposedly embodying his voice.