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WALT WHITMAN'S
"THE SLEEPERS"
Ed Folsom, The University of Iowa
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The
Poem (1855) |
| Few poems in Whitman's Leaves of Grass have as long and as complex a history of composition, publication, and revision as "The Sleepers." And no other Whitman poem speaks so directly to current psychological, sexual, and racial concerns. This site offers the poem in its first published version (when it was untitled) and in its final published version. The site also offers an overview of the way the poem has been read as a kind of proto-Freudian investigation of human psycho-sexual behavior and explores the way that Whitman's concerns about race in America are manifested in his original drafts of the poem and in his incessant revisions, culminating in his surprising decision to delete the powerful Lucifer/slave passage from the final published version of the poem. You are invited here to examine the manuscript sources of the poem, think about its cultural resonance, and compare the early and late versions. "The Sleepers" has been one of the most talked-about Whitman poems over the past century, and the "Critical Views" link above presents an anthology of approaches to this powerful and haunting work. Anywhere in the site, click on the first image of Whitman at the top of the page in order to return to this index page. |
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Part
of THE CLASSROOM ELECTRIC: |