O Resistless Restless Race: Pioneering as a Central Ideological Concept in Walt Whitman’s Poetic World (Based on the Poem ‘Pioneers! O Pioneers!’)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2073-6681-2025-2-135-145Keywords:
Americanness; New World; ontological foundations of Americanness; axiological foundations of Americanness; pioneering; Walt Whitman; Pioneers! O Pioneers!Abstract
The article attempts to analyze the ontological and axiological foundations of Americanness in Walt Whitman’s poetry using the example of his poem Pioneers! O Pioneers!. So far, the phenomenon of pioneering, which is inextricably linked to Americanness, is insufficiently studied in the poetry of Walt Whitman, an important figure in world literature. The paper shows that pioneering is understood by Whitman not merely as the westward expansion of frontiersmen, but rather as the reconstruction of the world and the discovery of its new horizons. In Whitman’s poetic universe, pioneering, an all-American cultureme, acquires a cosmic dimension: pioneers become a new race of people leading the world and pursuing the democratic ideals of freedom, equality, brotherhood, and happiness. The pioneer, the Personality long sought by Whitman, becomes an ideal citizen of the New World: creative, industrious, courageous, proud, strong, young – a giant that emerges from nature and succeeds in everything they do. Whitman’s ideology of joy can also clearly be seen in the poem: it is manifested in his infinite faith in Americans and mankind as a whole, in the bright future of America, the vanguard of the world, and in the American Dream. In the poem, America is presented as an ontological substance congruent with the cosmos, it is ever-evolving, future-oriented, and in a state of constant flux and amelioration. This substance is the place of existence for all humanity. The image of America, as well as Whitman’s national consciousness reflected in his poetry, is in a continuous process of change and formation.References
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