Walt Whitman's Pedagogy Through Song Of Myself

(The Evaluation of Walt Whitman’s Pedagogy Through “Song #6, #46, and #47”) When first learning about Walt Whitman, there are many different ideas that come with his name. Some consist of his iconoclastic reputation or maybe his women’s activist side. Also, looking at his poetry many ask questions, Kenneth M. Price asked, “Did Whitman undergo some sort of spiritual illumination that opened the floodgates of a radical new kind of poetry, or was this poetry the result of an original and carefully calculated strategy to blend journalism, oratory, popular music, and other cultural forces into an innovative American voice?” But a very large aspect of Whitman’s name is simply his pedagogy. Pedagogy, of or referring to the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept. Overall, Walt Whitman’s pedagogy can be easily understood in just a few of his famous texts. To begin, Walt Whitman’s “Song #6”, from his text Song of Myself, is a prime example of his pedagogy. As we know, Whitman’s way of teaching was quite different than that of the traditional ways. He looked at teaching in a much different way and believed that the teacher was …show more content…
Looking at the first text, “Song #6”, there is the obvious notion of him not knowing any more than the student, enticing them to teach themselves. Also, in “Song #46” there is that imagery of the student at the shore and then having the confidence to dive on into the sea. Lastly, the “Song #47” which is very big on teaching the student to grow, to grow even bigger than the teacher and to essentially destroy him. Mathew K. Gold said, “Perhaps the greatest of all pedagogical fallacies is the notion that a person learns only the particular thing he is studying at the time.” To end, Walt Whitman definitely had a solid pedagogy, and we are privileged with the honor to learn it from him through his