Walt Whitman's Influence on Allen Ginsberg and William Carlos Williams Essay

Walt Whitman is believed to be among the most influential American writers and was largely involved in the transition from transcendentalism to realism. The poet is widely known for the free verse writing style. Although Whitman's work was considered controversial in his time, it has continued to inspire and influence generations. As such, by looking at the works of Allen Ginsberg and William Carlos Williams, the following paper demonstrates how Whitman influenced other American writers who came after him.

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Walt Whitman's influence on Allen Ginsberg and his work is evident in Ginsberg's work. On comparing the works of these two poets, a clear link between the two is apparent. In Whitman's "Song of Myself" section 24, the poet writes:

"Walt Whitman, a losmos, of Manhattan the son,

Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, eating drinking and breeding,

No sentimentalist, no stander above men and women or apart from them,

No more modest than immodest.

Unscrew the locks from the doors!

Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!" (Whitman).

On the other hand, in his poem entitled, "Howl", Ginsberg states:

"Who poverty and tatters and hollow-eyed and high sat up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating across the tops of cities contemplating jazz,

Who bared their brains to Heaven under the EI and saw Mohammedan angels staggering on tenement roofs illuminated" (Ginsberg 21).

From these two extracts, it is evident that Whitman influences the style adopted by Ginsberg whereby the two commence their sections in a similar style. While Whitman repeats the terms "unscrew" and "no", Ginsberg uses the same style and repeats "who" in the opening statements of his part I of Howl. The two poets apply litany which is a style involving a series of words that are repetitive. In the two works, the authors have enhanced rhythm by having the readers recite the words "unscrew" and "who". Ginsberg continues to use the repetition style in other parts of his work involving the terms, "Rockland", "Holy" and "Moloch" to achieve the same purpose of emotionally charging readers to join the author's cause. Also, it appears that from Whitman's work, Ginsberg was able to borrow the use of free verse without having to include rhyming words. The incomplete sentence, "Madness, starving hysterical naked" as used by Ginsberg in Howl matches with Whitman's "Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, eating, drinking and breeding" in "Song of Myself". The incomplete sentences suggest Ginsberg's neglect of punctuation in the same way that Whitman did in his work. This further implies a refutation of traditional language rules and hence of traditional institutions as well.

Another writer who depicts Whitman's influence is William Carlos Williams whose work has a lot of similarities to that of Whitman. The two authors give special attention to the theme of every-day workingman's life. A possible reason behind this could be because the workingman leads a life that is more natural and can be said to represent everything that transformed America into a great nation. This is evident in Whitman's "Song of Myself" and Williams' "To Else". In the "Song of Myself", section 15, the following lines focus on the workingman in America:

"The carpenter dresses his plank, the tongue of his foreplane whistles its wild ascending lisp,

The pilot seizes the king-pin, he heaves down with a strong arm,

The mate stands braced in the whale-boat, lance and harpoon are ready,

The duck-shooyter walks by silent and cautious stretches,

The deacons are ordain'd with cross'd hands at the alter,

The farmer stops by the bars as he walks on a First-day loafe and looks at the oats and rye," (Whitman)

In this section, Whitman focuses on the daily life of America's workingman, whose contribution to the building of the nation is significant. Similarly, Williams seems to be invoking Whitman in an American dialogue. In his poem, "To Else", Williams starts by weaving together issues related to an industrialized, populated and expanded America;

"The pure products of America go crazy...Jersey with its isolated lakes and valleys... men who have taken to railroading out of sheer lust of adventure"(Williams 2).

The descriptions by Williams appear to be targeted to Whitman who would probably have loved them. The first line of Williams' "To Else", "The pure products of America go crazy", suggests that the author is not very certain or optimistic. Further, the poem describes an uncertain America that is moving at a fast rate with people who are largely described negatively. It is notable that both Williams and Whitman are in love with the every-day language which plays a critical role in their poems by helping the authors provide vivid descriptions of things as they appear in reality. In essence, the wide use of every-day language increases the authors' accessibility to real life. Additionally, by closely looking at William's work, he seems to be very experimental by trying out new words in his poems. This can be linked to the courageous progress shown by Whitman in breaking form, which to some extent paved the way for experimentation by America's future poets in search of their individual form.

Conclusion

Conclusively, as demonstrated herein, Walt Whitman had a strong influence on other writers who came after him. This has been underpinned by a close similarity between the work of Whitman and those of Ginsberg and Williams both in terms of the used literary style and presented themes. For Ginsberg, his use of litany and repetition seems to have been borrowed from the works of Whitman due to the similarity evident in the application of these styles. Also, Ginsberg appears to have imitated Whitman's use of free verse with the exclusion of rhyming words in his poems. In the same way, Williams appears to give attention to the theme of every-day workingman's life in America in a way that strongly resembles that of Whitman. Moreover, this poet uses descriptions that seem to be targeted at Whitman in addition to lines that appear to be invoking the participation of Whitman in a dialogue about America.

Works Cited

Ginsberg, Allen. Howl. Museum of American Poetics Publications, 2006.

Whitman, Walt. Song of Myself (1892 Version) by Walt Whitman. www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45477/song-of-myself-1892-version.

Williams, William Carlos. "Tatters (1906-16)." William Carlos Williams Review, vol. 30, no. 1-2, 2013, pp. 1-9., doi:10.1353/wcw.2013.0007.