Walt Whitman
In Our Time25 Maj 2023

Walt Whitman

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the highly influential American poet Walt Whitman.

In 1855 Whitman was working as a printer, journalist and property developer when he published his first collection of poetry. It began:

I celebrate myself, And what I assume you shall assume For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

The book was called Leaves of Grass. In it, Whitman set out to break away from European literary forms and traditions. Using long lines written in free verse, he developed a poetry meant to express a distinctively American outlook.

Leaves of Grass is full of verse that celebrates both the sovereign individual, and the deep fellowship between individuals. Its optimism about the American experience was challenged by the Civil War and its aftermath, but Whitman emerged as a celebrity and a key figure in the development of American culture.

With

Sarah Churchwell Professor of American Literature and the Public Understanding of the Humanities at the University of London

Peter Riley Lecturer in 19th Century American Literature at the University of Exeter and

Mark Ford Professor of English and American Literature at University College London

Producer Luke Mulhall

Avsnitt(1087)

Modern Culture

Modern Culture

Melvyn Bragg and guests debate the state of Modern Culture in the 20th century. Culture used to be a word we mocked, a concept too foreign for the stout empiricists of Britain, a species of foreign fl...

28 Jan 199927min

Genetic Engineering

Genetic Engineering

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the implications of the developments in genetic engineering. Out of the city of Cambridge in the mid century came DNA and out of Edinburgh at the end of the century cam...

14 Jan 199927min

Feminism

Feminism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most important events of the 20th century - the rise of Feminism and the subsequent empowerment of women. What have been the most important and lasting chang...

7 Jan 199928min

The British Empire's Legacy

The British Empire's Legacy

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Britain's colonial legacy. The 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th centuries were times of colonial conquest for this country but the abiding image of empire (true or...

31 Dec 199828min

Neuroscience in the 20th century

Neuroscience in the 20th century

Melvyn Bragg and guests marvel at our brains and discuss how at the end of a century of research we still understand so little about how they work.Developments in the understanding of the brain repres...

24 Dec 199828min

The American Century

The American Century

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how legitimate it is to call the 20th century the American century. Just how benevolent has America’s impact on the world been? And how durable has American’s initial i...

17 Dec 199827min

Cultural Rights in the 20th Century

Cultural Rights in the 20th Century

On the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights at the United Nations in New York, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the current status of that original declaration. Is it ...

10 Dec 199828min

History's relevance in the 20th century

History's relevance in the 20th century

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the study of history this century. One of the debates raging in the practice of history is between the history of facts versus the imagination - a debate raised again b...

3 Dec 199828min

Populärt inom Historia

massmordarpodden
kod-katastrof
historiska-brott
historiepodden-se
olosta-mord
motiv
p3-historia
rss-historien-om-2
rss-historiska-brottslingar
rss-seriemordarpodden
rss-massmordarpodden
historianu-med-urban-lindstedt
krigshistoriepodden
bedragare
obskyr-historia
militarhistoriepodden
nu-blir-det-historia
vetenskapsradion-historia
mannen-utan-spar
palmemordet