Butterflies in the Bards' Beard: The Entanglement of Whitman's and Lorca's Poetics of Masculinity

Abstract

[Abstract] The object of study of this end-of-degree project is to compare Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855-1892) and Federico García Lorca’s Poeta en Nueva York (1929) through the perspective of masculinity studies. I intend to examine the connections between the two poets in relation to masculinity, as well as how these are reflected in the textual dimension. In doing so, I will demonstrate that Lorca's Poeta en Nueva York functions as a response to Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, allowing for a poetic dialogue between the two authors through which the former partly manages to come to terms with his homosexuality. Throughout this paper, I will also study the concepts of “hegemonic and alternative masculinities” as well as “homoeroticism” and how they are reflected on the aforementioned poetic works. Moreover, I will analyze the form and content of both Leaves of Grass and Poeta en Nueva York seeking to delve deeper into the poetic visions of Whitman and Lorca, exploring the ways in which their works intertwine and inform one another. By uncovering the similarities, differences, and hidden subtleties that characterize their poetics, I hope to gain a major understanding of the intricate and multifaceted nature of masculinity as conveyed through poetry. Regarding the methodology I followed for the elaboration of this dissertation, I first conducted a close reading of both works, selecting the most relevant and appropriate texts for my study. To examine Leaves of Grass, I focused on the poems in the “Children of Adam” and “Calamus” clusters, as well as the poem “Song of Myself.” From Poeta en Nueva York, I selected poems that complemented other works produced during Lorca's trip to New York, such as El público (1929). Through them, I will highlight the significant change that takes place in Lorca's writing, who, from his reading of Whitman and taking him as a referent, projects his homoerotic desire in entirely new directions. Next, I gathered information on masculinity, gender, and queer studies as well as literary criticism from academic sources, such as JSTOR or Dialnet and books from the UDC's Faculty of Philology library. Having consulted studies by scholars like Josep M. Armengol, Karen Sanchez-Eppler, and Ángel Sahuquillo, I applied the theoretical framework to the works of Whitman and Lorca, establishing a comparison between them. In terms of structure, this paper has two main parts: “Men of their Times: Modern Masculinities?” and “Beyond the Ode: Poetic Encounters among Leaves of Grass.” The first part examines the construction of hegemonic masculinity and how Whitman's and Lorca's writings relate to it. The second part focuses on the male body as a central theme in both authors' works and how they use their own individual selves to validate sexual identities that diverge from social norms. The paper compares the optimism in Whitman's poetry to the fatalism in Lorca’s and how they interact and complement each other. I draw on various texts to illustrate these points and reach the conclusion that, as Whitman and Lorca explore masculinity and sexuality in their poetry, their poetics become intertwined, resulting in a deep and enduring lyrical conversation.