Keep Your Enemies Close

To write an adequately formed argumentative work of literature, one must incorporate the complexities of both addressing and obliterating the opposing argument.  It may be precarious to propose that “Leaves of Grass” subliminally embodies the essence of an argumentative poem, but when comparing it to the work of Martin F. Tupper one should perceive the subtle contrasting elements it denotes in regards to “Proverbial Philosophy.”  One article I found that highlights multiple similarities within the works, also points out how in “Leaves of Grass” the similarities exist in an attempt to combat (though not entirely) the Tory/Evangelical Protestant view that Tupper presents.

Take a look at this passage:

“Whitman's consideration of Tupper on the whole, though, cannot be reduced to simple ideological rejection. As Kenneth Price points out, Whitman employed the tactics and themes of many poets whose work he considered unacceptable on the whole. Whitman once commented that "all kinds of light reading, novels, newspapers, gossip etc., serve as manure for the few great productions, and are indispensable or perhaps are premises to something better." Price notes that "this observation is telling, for it accurately describes Whitman's ability to use what he does not necessarily accept."ll Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy and some of his other poems may well have served as premises (Tupper's critics would have preferred "manure") for Whitman's Leaves of Grass.”

Martin Tupper, Walt Whitman, and the Early Reviews of Leaves of Grass
-Matt Cohen

I couldn’t have said it better myself, and if I tried I most likely would have been bordering on the delicate line of plagiarism.  But getting back to analyzing the two mens work, I must point out that “Whitman employed the tactics and themes of many poets whose work he considered unacceptable on the whole” which mimics the concept of strengthening one’s work through adding a concessional statement of sorts.  Whitman understands that in order to appropriately address an opposing opinion he must not simply disregard it, but rather he must immerse himself in its convoluted waters and embrace its inadequacies (to a certain extent of course).

An example (also from Cohen):

“Whitman directly attacks the commonplace poetic evocation of the "dumb, driven cattle," overturning popular pith in extremely conversational terms. In Section 13 of "Song of Myself," Whitman parries Tupper's ox with:

Oxen that rattle the yoke and chain or halt in the leafy shade, what is that you express in your eyes?
It seems to me more than all the print I have read in my life.”

Fascinating how even Whitman’s self-liberating poem incorporates a direct oppositional inquiry to Tupper’s “dull grazing ox” perhaps indicating his beef with Tupper’s opinion of the literary status quo.  Whitman seemed to know even before he published his work that it would not be widely accepted in the literary world (and perhaps even among the commoners as well) yet he, in his rebel like ways, arguably presents “Leaves of Grass” as being an overall argumentative poem against a politically driven world of literary Milton-esk braggarts.