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Chu 1Candice ChuDr. S. MooneyENGL 25254 December 2008Conflicting and Converging Views of God and America through the Eyes of Walt Whitman and 17
th
Century Pilgrim-Puritan WritersIn the early 17
th
century, America became home to two groups of English emigrants: thePilgrims and the Puritans. Both groups came to the New World in search of religious freedomand better opportunities, and both were largely successful; they each colonized portions of the New England area, set up their own autonomous governments and, most importantly, establishedways of life based on their strict religious views and moral codes. Approximately two hundredyears later, American poet Walt Whitman published his controversial poetry collection,
 Leaves of Grass
. On the surface, Whitman’s poetry, which expresses ideas of humanism, blatant sexualityand sentimentality, is a far departure from 17
th
century Pilgrim-Puritan ideals. However, a closer look at the works of Pilgrim-Puritan authors William Bradford, John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreetand Edward Taylor reveals that, although dissimilar in key aspects, these religious 17
th
centuryauthors share many views on God and America with the revolutionary 19
th
century poet WaltWhitman.When the Puritans arrived in the New World, they believed that they were creating whatwas to become God’s prophesied “City upon a Hill” (Winthrop, “Modell” 317). They wished to breathe life into a land that they saw as basically divine in nature. It was the land that God hadgiven to them in a covenant centuries earlier. The Puritan (and Pilgrim) quest to live and thrive inAmerica was not just a simple desire or vague outline; it was a holy mission, a vocation. Thisintense yearning for a great and worthy America was also realized by Walt Whitman in the mid-
 
Chu 2to-late-1800’s. Whitman has often been hailed as the “poet of democracy,” the voice of Americaand the ultimate American “everyman.” He had a certain vision of America that was not unlikethe vision of his Pilgrim-Puritan counterparts. This vision involved a strong sense of spiritualityand human introspection. Whitman often wrote essays and poems about the despicable state of American politics, and the corruption that threatened to overwhelm many aspects of Americanculture. The Puritans demonstrated similar concerns in a number of jeremiads that were published years after the settlement of the first generation Puritans. These jeremiads were literarytexts that warned the Puritans against their increasingly materialistic and wicked behavior. LikeWhitman’s works, the jeremiads were prompted by a fear that the America that the authors knewwas on the brink of a downfall. For both Whitman and the Pilgrim-Puritan writers, this fear hadmuch (in the case of the latter, everything) to do with their ideas of God.The subject of God is discussed thoroughly in the literary works of both Whitman and thePilgrim-Puritan writers, and evidences the passionate idea of spirituality and God in their everyday lives. Although Whitman’s religious views were far from traditional, there is nodenying that God played a crucial role in his life and was the subject of many of his poems.Whitman was extremely passionate about his belief that God was inseparable from his life, andthat he could “hear and behold God in every object” (“Song” 48.20). This is a key similarity between Whitman and the Pilgrim-Puritan writers, who also strongly believed that God was present in every facet of life. This idea can be observed in the theological doctrine of typology— the interpretation of the Old Testament as a prefiguration of the life of Christ and the modernlives of God’s chosen people (the early Christians). In other words, this sort of typologicalthinking led the Pilgrims and Puritans to believe that nothing on Earth was arbitrary or withoutmeaning. Everything was a sign from God—a symbol of his favor or rejection. All externalrealities were physical expressions of God’s will. A prime example of theological thinking can
 
Chu 3 be found in William Bradford’s
Of Plymouth Plantation.
In this account, Bradford attributes anumber of events (the death of an irreligious sailor, the safe passage of the Pilgrims across theseas, the actual settlement at Plymouth) entirely to the good will of God (327-329).The similarity between Whitman’s and the early Christians’ notion of God’s ubiquity is best captured, however, in the concept of nature. Whitman often wrote about the majestic andsensual transcendence of nature, glorifying it as not just beautiful, but truly holy. This reverenceis mirrored in Anne Bradstreet’s “Contemplations.” In this poem, Bradstreet describes nature asthe ultimate manifestation of God, a most powerful conduit in which Man can experience thetrue divinity of the Lord. Again, the most striking parallel at hand is between Whitman’s andBradstreet’s corresponding convictions that nature is a direct manifestation of God Himself. Theworship of nature is incomplete—erroneous—without the appreciation and praise of God inconnection with it. However, Whitman is much more liberal with his interpretation of the actualrelationship between God and Man.Through his writing, it is clear that Whitman’s idea of worship and organized religion ismuch more relaxed than the harsh, obligatory relationship between the early Christians and their Church. Whitman’s relationship with God, as described in “Song of Myself,” is friendly,appreciative and satisfied. He sees no reason to go to Sunday service and pray on his knees whenhe can just look around and appreciate God in the world around him. He even asks the reader,quite blatantly, “Why should I wish to see God better than this day?” (48.22). This questionwould horrify a Pilgrim or Puritan only two centuries earlier, whose religion clearly dictates thatall those who are God’s chosen people will strive endlessly and actively to show that they are inGod’s favor. While they work to prove to each other that they are indeed one of God’s elect,Whitman declares, “I loafe and invite my soul, / I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass” (4-5). Clearly, Whitman is confident that the way to connect his body and mind
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