Insights: Whitman's Legacy

The story of Walt Whitman and the attempts to attack and censor his famous poetry book Leaves of Grass by the Christian Examiner, the Boston District Attorney, the Reverend Fredrick Baylies Allen and even his publisher James Osgood sheds light on some of the powerful forces within the American social fabric that were active during Whitman’s lifetime. Those forces attempted to enforce a moral code onto on American society in regards to what books were allowed to be widely accessible to the public.

Whitman’s attempts to position himself as the working class poet may have been a result of his own disagreements to how those establishment forces attempted to mold art and literature for the rest of American society. This is evident in the documents of how his relation to Emerson changes through his life time. Emerson was a member of the upper class elite whom Whitman looked up to and considered a mentor. As he aged, his stance changes and Emerson become someone whom Whitman tried to disassociate and distance himself and his literary works from (Morton 2005).

In the present, books continue to be censored for the public good in form of book challenges initiated and lobbied by public libraries, parents, school districts, as well as religious organizations. The American Library Association keeps a data repository of banned and challenged books in the United States and releases an updated report every year. The organization conducts annual events to raise awareness about banned books in American society the form of Banned Book week.

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10