Essays
Author: Len Gougeon
Seeks to correct the "sanitzed and stilted view of Emerson" that prevailed among Emerson's Brahmin friends and still dominates much Whitman criticism, and argues that Emerson and Whitman share a belief in "the body and the senses" as "essential elements of human nature"; using Norman O. Brown's theories, goes on to posit that for Emerson and Whitman "one of the primary drives of Eros . . . is desire for union with the world, with the natural environment," and that both writers sought a "sensual language" to express this desire: "For both Emerson and Whitman, humanity must literally come to its senses, in word and deed."
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How to Cite: Gougeon, L. (2006) “Emerson, Whitman, and Eros”, Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. 23(3/4). doi: https://doi.org/10.13008/2153-3695.1797