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Article: Walt Whitman's "Body Electric".(Teaching Notes)(Book review)
- Article from:
- Radical Teacher
- Article date:
- March 22, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Center for Critical Education, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WALT WHITMAN'S "BODY ELECTRIC"
Selected Poems by Walt Whitman, Dover Thrift Editions, $2.00
During our era of religious fundamentalism, violence, and political apathy, Walt Whitman's abolitionist poem, "I Sing the Body Electric," takes on increased relevance. I find the poem unusually successful in sparking discussion about respect towards difference and the power of human agency.
I start off by introducing students to Whitman's complex persona as "the one and the many"--a bard of democracy, an iconoclast, a Gay man in a society with narrowly defined gender roles, and an active citizen who served as a nurse during the Civil War. I offer that, ...