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

Whitman and Neruda as basic Poets The familial bond amongst the two poets Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda points not only to a much- selected reckoning of the affinity between the two hemispheres, but to a deeper need to establish a basis for an American identity roots, as Neruda referred to his natural 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 country house, his massive travels, and his governmental connections, was never really one of the mass. Nonetheless, his work and energies went into supporting the common working man, and not the elite. By the late 1940s Neruda had openly be himself as a communist, looking for the equal treatment of all citizens of Peru. Whitman, though not overtly political like Neruda, did emphasize the equality between all in his writing. The appellation, poet of the people, is used to indicate their sympathies towards a commo nality in humans, if not the common man. As the term commoner carries miscellaneous connotations and needs much explaining, I prefer to discuss the two authors as grassroots 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 simile of purpose between the two poets who employed different structural styles of writing. for the first time and foremost, the term grassroots hinges on a sense of community. It implies a political motivation from the bo... ...nity theatre is to create a dialectic between the set out state and future possibilities of particular communities, moderated by a knowledge of, and an appellative with, those communities (Kershaw, 61). With this basic understanding of grassroots with in the context of community theater, allow 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 analysis plant CitedKershaw, Baz. The Politics of Performance. Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention. New York Routledge, 1992. Nolan, James. Poet-Chief. The autochthonal American Poetics of Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda. Albuquerque University of New Mexico Press, 1994. Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass (1855). in Walt Whitman Poetry and Prose. New York The subroutine library of America, 1996.