I Sing the Body Electric (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Walt Whitman
- First Published: 1860
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Gay men, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Gender roles, Slavery or slaves, Women, Men, Human anatomy, Soul
The Poem
“I Sing the Body Electric” appeared in the 1860 third edition of Walt Whitman’s revolutionary volume of poetry, Leaves of Grass, as poem 3 of the “Enfans d’Adam” (later Anglicized to “Children of Adam”) sequence. It is a celebration of the beauty of the human body, both male and female, that dwells on its physicality, its many forms, its sexuality, and its divinity. The poem—in the final, 1892 edition of Leaves of Grass discussed here—is composed of nine numbered sections of free verse.
The title, joyously proclaiming the...
[The entire page is 1638 words long]
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