![](/olcweb/styles/shared/spacer.gif) | ![The American Tradition in Literature, Volume 2 Book Cover](/sites/dl/free/0072491566/title/sm_perkins_vol2_10e03ss_nm.jpg) The American Tradition in Literature, Volume 2, 10/e George Perkins,
Eastern Michigan University Barbara Perkins,
University of Toledo-Toledo
OrientationAbandoning the conventions of regularity in form and style so popular in American poetry of the mid-nineteenth century, Whitman adopted the cadences of music, crafting the organic and fluid features of open lines, expansive catalogs, the lyrical flow of imaginary flights, and ecstatic explosions of themes--all features of his "free verse," a style complementary to Whitman's purpose of capturing the spiritual energy of the ever evolving and unfolding American democracy. |
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