Essays
Author: C. Carroll Hollis
Provides an explanation for Whitman's use of sequences of dots to break up lines internally in the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass by arguing that Whitman was using a standard convention of nineteenth-century oratory-the Rhetorical Pause-and goes on to integrate this insight with a substantial reading of the first edition emphasizing the poem's radical effort to present the poet engaged in an oratorical performance; uses ideas from nineteenth-century oraticians including Samuel Kirkland and Dr. James Rush, as well as contemporary language theorists including Derrida.
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How to Cite: Hollis, C. C. (1984) “Rhetoric, Elocution, and Voice in Leaves of Grass: A Study in Affiliation”, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. 2(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.13008/2153-3695.1068