Current Search: 19th century (x) » Frabrizio, Ryan. (x)
-
-
Title
-
The ecstatic Whitman: the body and sufistic influences in Leaves of Grass.
-
Creator
-
Frabrizio, Ryan., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of English
-
Abstract/Description
-
This thesis examines Walt Whitman's use of the body in his poetry as a location for spiritual experience, and how his use of the body bears strong connection to its use by medieval Persian Sufi poets. The first chapter focuses upon Sufi poetry's role as a shared point of interest between Whitman and his onetime mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. Their differing philosophies regarding the cultivation of the soul caused them to absorb Sufi ideas into their own bodies of work in separate ways, and...
Show moreThis thesis examines Walt Whitman's use of the body in his poetry as a location for spiritual experience, and how his use of the body bears strong connection to its use by medieval Persian Sufi poets. The first chapter focuses upon Sufi poetry's role as a shared point of interest between Whitman and his onetime mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. Their differing philosophies regarding the cultivation of the soul caused them to absorb Sufi ideas into their own bodies of work in separate ways, and contributed to the split that eventually occurred between them. The second chapter focuses upon connections between Whitman's poetry and that of Jalaluddin Rumi, one of the greatest Sufi poets yet an oftoverlooked figure in Whitman scholarship. The final chapter examines multiple ways in which Whitman expresses the divine nature of the body in several poems from Leaves of Grass, and how those expressions reflect Sufi influences.
Show less
-
Date Issued
-
2012
-
PURL
-
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342049
-
Subject Headings
-
Criticism and interpretation, Aesthetics, Criticism and interpretation, Criticism and interpretation, American poetry, Persian influences, Sufism in literature, Beauty, Personal, in literature
-
Format
-
Document (PDF)