The Written Orator of "Song of Myself": A Recent Trend in Whitman Criticism

Identifies "a recent trend in Whitman criticism" that emphasizes the poet\u27s orality, but which "goes beyond biographical and stylistic analyses" to explore Whitman\u27s "oratical presence" by way of extra-literary discourses including "nuclear physics, analytic philosophy, and cultural anthropology" (though the primary emphasis here is derived from linguistics); engages critics including John T. Irwin, Calvin Bedient, and especially C. Carroll Hollis, arguing against their oratorical emphases by stressing the inherent limits and internal contradictions that undermine such readings of Whitman\u27s poetry