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Thesis Statement

In his major work of poetry, Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman explores the connection between human life and nature, suggesting that he was a Transcendentalist.  

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     As Whitman was working on his poetry in Leaves of Grass, he was surrounded by the violence of the American Civil War.  This is evident in his work, as he often uses metaphors related to the civil war to explain his feelings about nature.  For example, "Tenderly will I use you curling grass / It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men / It may be if I had known them I would have loved them."  This is an excellent example of how Whitman compares a creature of nature to the violence of the Civil War.  He means that as the young soldiers are fighting and dying in the fields of battle, their blood pours into the earth, thus causing grass to grow.  When Whitman looks at the grass, he is reminded of the lives that were lost and expresses feelings of compassion and love for these men.  This kind of metaphor is common in Whitman's poetry and goes a long way to prove that he may have been a Transcendentalist.  

Annotations

Click on the link below to see an excellent example of an annotated copy of Whitman's poem that Jeremy Rivas worked on: 

Annotated Whitman