Let's Have An Orgy

So I must admit that I received a fair amount of my information from reading Iona’s blog.  However, I didn’t want to copy her so I also found an article in the New York Times that helped me formulate my own opinion regarding the Oneida Community and how it relates to Leaves of Grass.  I could be interpreting the situation incorrectly, but it seems to me that the Oneida Community was one giant orgy of sorts that implemented such concepts regarding... well, communal everything so to speak.  They were attempting to creating their own “Garden of Eden” where the only rule seemed to be that you are not above anyone else, and no one else is above you.  They practiced “complex marriage” which essentially meant that everyone in the community was married to everyone else, therefore eliminating concepts such as jealousy and greed because if you wanted someone you were more than entitled to have them for a night or two.

I believe that Whitman would be able to get behind the whole “Hey I’m a free spirit” let’s have a giant orgy kind of thing, but overall I do not believe his philosophies adequately coincide with Oneidas.  One thing in particular Whitman would have difficulty accepting, would be the notion of a communal “leader” who assigns the rest of the community work and gives them “purpose” in the newfound Garden of Eden they have created.  This is the opposite of placing precedence upon a lifestyle that embraces loafing, and in a way contradicts their free-spirited sexual way of life which is the only thing a free and flowing savage such as Whitman, would possibly support.