A proposal for Revaluation: Points of Contact and Sides of Likeness between William Blake and Walt Whitman

Abstract

This article proposes an approach to evaluating the relationship between William Blake and Walt Whitman. I begin by grounding my proposal in a critical framework. It is framed by a book history approach, but also an approach to 19th century American literature as a post-colonial literature. In regards to the book history element I trace an outline of Blake’s publication history and the poems of Blake’s that Whitman might have encountered. I then provide examples of the similarities between Blake and Whitman. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications it may have on ideas of literary influence. This is the beginning of a much larger project wherein I trace the actual influences which created the similarities that I outline here.