"Poetic Likeness: Modern American Poets" charts a new language, a distinct American voice

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Walt Whitman by G. Frank E. Pearsall. Albumen silver print, 1872. Image: 13.8 x 10.2cm. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Feinberg NPG.76.95 WASHINGTON, DC.- When Walt Whitman published the first edition of Leaves of Grass (1855), it was a shocking departure from the current literary tradition. This first example of free verse was considered irreverent and dismissed by much of the literary establishment. However, astonishing as a new form may have been, Whitman’s inclusion of topics that described ordinary life was scandalous. For Whitman, writing poems was an expression of democracy, and including the everyday experience was a key element to this credo. His work, and the work of many poets who followed, developed a distinct American voice.  Using portraiture, biography and verse, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery maps this language evolution in the exhibition “Poetic Likeness: Modern American Poets,” open Oct. 12 through April 28, 2013. Following Whitman half a century later, Ezra Pound charged fellow poets to “make it ... More