Whitman and Neruda as Grassroots Poets Essay -- Poet Poetry Poem Paper

Whitman and Neruda as Grassroots Poets The familial bond amidst the two poets Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda points not save to a much-needed reckoning of the affinity between the two hemispheres, scarcely to a deeper need to establish a basis for an American identity roots, as Neruda referred to his fundamental link with Whitman (Nolan 33). Both Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda have been referred to as poets of the people, although it is argued that Neruda with his city and hoidenish house, his extensive travels, and his political connections, was never re all toldy one of the mass. Nonetheless, his work and energies went into financial support the common working man, and not the elite. By the late 1940s Neruda had openly defined himself as a communist, looking for the equal treatment of all citizens of Peru. Whitman, though not overtly political like Neruda, did emphasize the compare between all in his writing. The appellation, poet of the people, is used to indicate thei r sympathies towards a common in humans, if not the common man. As the term joint carries various connotations and needs much explaining, I prefer to discuss the two authors as basic poets. Poets of the people and grassroots poets have many similarities, but by using the term grassroots I draw on grassroots theater studies which illuminate certain artistic purposes and themes. Thinking of Whitman and Neruda as grassroots poets can deepen our understanding of their personas and their work, and especially indicate a similarity of purpose between the two poets who employed different morphological styles of writing. First and foremost, the term grassroots hinges on a sense of club. It implies a political motivation from the bo... ...nity theatre is to create a dialectic between the present state and future possibilities of particular communities, moderated by a acquaintance of, and an identification with, those communities (Kershaw, 61). With this basic understanding of grass roots with in the context of community theater, let us proceed to a comparative study of grassroots sentiments in excerpts from Nerudas The Heights of Macchu Picchu, and Walt Whitmans Song of Myself. Go to synopsis Works CitedKershaw, Baz. The Politics of Performance. Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention. innovative York Routledge, 1992. Nolan, James. Poet-Chief. The Native American Poetics of Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda. Albuquerque University of sensitive Mexico Press, 1994. Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass (1855). in Walt Whitman Poetry and Prose. New York The Library of America, 1996.