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Politicizing The Reader In The American Lyric-Epic: Walt Whitman's Leaves Of Grass And Pablo Neruda's Canto General, William Allegrezza

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Both Walt Whitman and Pablo Neruda wanted to create epic works that would distinguish American literature from the literary traditions of Europe, works that would grow organically from the native landscapes and peoples of the Americas. Part of their projects included creating works that would act as political sourcebooks for their cultures. Whitman wanted to foster a democratic culture in the United States through writing a grand poetic work, while Neruda wanted to create a communist culture in Latin America through an epic work. Soon into the project Whitman realized that the traditional epic was not a suitable form for …