oet) but never the power of attack. What is past is past. If he does not expose superior models and prove himself by every step he takes he is not what is wanted.” (Whitman 8)The introduction from which the passage was taken is one of great length, with elaborative and expressive sections, in which Whitman further explains the muse behind his book, the “child” he conjured up at the time, as he was without any family of his own. James A. Wright comments on the introduction and his poetic brilliance:“Whitman’s poetry has delicacy of music, of diction, and of form…I mean it to suggest powers of restraint, clarity, and wholeness, all of which taken together embody that deep spiritual inwardness…which I take to be the most beautiful power of Whitman’s poetry…He knows that the past exists, and he knows that, as a poet and a man, he has a right to live. His duty is precisely this: to have the courage to live and to create his own poetry.” (Wright 88)The uncertainty that Wright speaks of is an oft-selected aspect of Whitman’s work. While it has been attributed to Whitman’s childhood and general disposition towards life, John Kinnaird selects a different facet of Whitman’s life, homosexuality.“Whitman’s uncertainty…was always sexual. The biographical evidence, (Leaves of Grass), in itself inconclusive, does seem to confirm what anyone may intuit from the poems: that Whitman was predominantly homosexual in his elementary responses, but never…in overt conduct and perhaps never in private relations.”While Whitman’s homosexuality has been recognized by various other critics, Kinnaird is unique in his explanation of its effect, the “uncertainty” to which he is referring. The homosexual undertone in Leaves has further been discussed by critics, as they have searched for the “explanation” for its writing. Whitman wro...
