LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 6 June 2012
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Symbolism in Whitman’s Poems

Premalatha, M. A., M. Phil., Ph.D. Candidate

A number of influences operated upon Walt Whitman (1819-1892) from childhood which inspired him to become a poet. His father’s democratic ideas went a long way towards making him a poet of democratic ideals. He expressed his ideas about democracy, love, sex, mysticism and science in his poems. While expressing his ideas he used symbols from nature, such as grass, plants, birds and heavenly bodies, enabling readers to understand his ideas clearly. “Indirection is an important aspect of the technique of communication of a mystic” (Briggs). In his poems he has made use of indirection and symbolism, as well as sensuous and concrete imagery in a highly sophisticated manner, to convey his perceptions.

Purpose of symbols in his poems

Symbolism is essentially an oblique or indirect mode of expression, which suggests much more than is actually described or asserted. It increases the expressive power and range of a writer, and enables him/her to communicate to his/her readers’ highly abstract and metaphysical truths, which cannot be conveyed directly by the use of ordinary language. Whiteman’s poetry is highly, symbolic for he believed that true art is suggestive, and that it requires much painstaking labour. Moreover, he wanted to communicate to his readers his own perceptions of nature, man, and the world.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Mrs. Premalatha, M. A., M. Phil., Ph. D. Candidate
Lecturer in English
Sir M. Visveswaraya Institute of Technology
Krishnadevaraya Nagar, International Airport Road, Hunasmaranahalli
Bangalore – 562157
Karnataka, India
karthiklatha@gmail.com
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