Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

It is interesting how poets from different writing periods can have similar views. Walt Whitman was a Transcendentalist, and Rainer Rilke wrote at the beginning of the Modernist period, yet both have very similar ideas about a poet’s dedication to “things.” Whitman believed that a poet’s thoughts were “hymns of praise” (1855 preface to Leaves of Grass) to things, and Rilke believed that a poet had to “win the confidence” (Letters to a Young Poet) of things. Both poets also felt that we have to reach a certain level before we truly experience life. Of course, both poets had different methods of achieving this – Whitman’s method was to open oneself to the world – to nature, and to other people. By doing this, a person would almost automatically “transcend,” and be able to experience life fully. Rilke’s method was to remove our subconscious filters, thus becoming more like we were while still in the womb. Of course, Rilke’s method was close to impossible, as he seemed to know, because he never offered any way to eliminate these filters. This is where Whitman’s method is superior. Whitman presents a method of “transcendence” that involves closing one’s eyes, lying in the grass, and exper