Abstract
In a dynamic interplay with the discourses of socialism, anarchism, humanism, and freethought in early twentieth century America, Walt Whitman’s texts helped to shape those forces while the texts themselves were re-shaped in the discourse. Chapter 1 discusses the process by which the British socialists appropriated Whitman’s poetry as their own. Chapter 2 traces the influence of Whitman’s literary executor, Horace Traubel, who shaped Whitman’s legacy as an American socialist. Chapter 3 explores how leaders of the radical left adapted Whitman’s memes to their own purposes, discussing Robert Ingersoll’s freethinker memes, Clarence Darrow’s humanist memes, Emma Goldman’s anarchist memes, and Eugene V. Debs’ Christian socialist memes. Chapter 4 offers an extensive analysis of Whitman’s memes in the rhetoric and propaganda of the Industrial Workers of the World (the Wobblies). Using cultural criticism and reader response theory, the thesis argues for a new reading of Whitman’s poetry that reflects its appeal to the radical left.