“My Lovers Suffocate Me”: Sexuality, Crowding, and Urban Ambivalence in “Song of Myself” (2012)

Undergraduates: Jonathan McClure, none none none

Faculty Advisor: Eliza Richards
Department: English

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The nineteenth century was a time of unprecedented urbanization in America. Living and writing in Brooklyn and New York City (which were not yet unified), Walt Whitman witnessed this urbanization firsthand. Literary critics usually paint Whitman as a blithe singer of urban life, failing to recognize the ambivalence of his poetry. Even when this ambivalence is recognized, it is typically only in his later work; the first (1855) edition of Leaves of Grass is generally seen as purely celebratory. Through close readings of “Song of Myself,” the most important poem of the edition, my research demonstrates that Whitman’s profound ambivalence is in fact already present in the first edition. Whitman’s ambivalence is inextricably linked with sexuality, so I focused much of my study on the contrasting sexual energies of the country and the city. Although much critical work has been done on Whitman's attitude toward the urban, and many other studies have focused on the role of sexuality in his work, few studies have sought to connect the two themes. My work connects these fields of study by demonstrating the link between sexuality and urban anxiety in Whitman's work, locating the source of both within the poet's ambivalent attitude toward the city's newly-burgeoning multitudes. (Note: my research was made possible by the generous funding of the SURF grant).