Essays

Portraits and Politics: the Specter of Osceola in Leaves of Grass

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Abstract

Examines Whitman's "Osceola" and discovers the poem is a result of the poet's "piecing and pasting" his lines out of bits of George Catlin's description of Osceola and Catlin's recording of Dr. Frederick Weedon's account of Osceola's final days; argues that Osceola "remains merely symbolic for Whitman--a text to read and interpret."

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How to Cite: Walkiewicz, K. (2008) “Portraits and Politics: the Specter of Osceola in Leaves of Grass”, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. 25(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.13008/2153-3695.1842