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Open Access Knowledge and Scholarship

Date of Award

3-2014

Culminating Project Type

Thesis

Degree Name

English: M.A.

Department

English

College

College of Liberal Arts

First Advisor

Jack Hibbard

Second Advisor

Richard Dillman

Third Advisor

Jerry Wellik

Keywords and Subject Headings

Walt Whitman, Poetry, American History, Biblical Prose

Abstract

During a time when America was in great crisis, Walt Whitman set out to unite the nation with a new American Bible. His concepts of individuality and equality matched his theories of faith and spirituality. He did not envision Democracy with religion; rather Democracy as religion. Drawing directly from images found in the King James Bible, Whitman set out to heal a country divided by war. Using specific examples from the deathbed edition of Whitman's masterpiece Leaves of Grass, I will demonstrate the heavy influence of the traditional Bible to the creation of his own.

Comments/Acknowledgements

For my family who thought this undertaking was crazy, but supported me anyway. For my friends who believed I could do this even when I wasn't so sure. For Walt Whitman, who found me at an early age and never let me go.

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