Page:Edward Prime-Stevenson - The Intersexes.djvu/395

 An American poet, who has assumed an international significance and cult—well-deserved—Walt Whitman, can be regarded through a large proportion of his most characteristic verse, as one of the prophets and priests of homosexuality. Its atmosphere pervades Whitman's poems; being indeed an almost inevitable concurrent of the neo-hellenic, platonic democracy of Whitman's philosophic muse. One series of Whitman's earlier poetic utterances, at once psychologic and lyric, the famous "Calamus" group in "Leaves of Grass", out of dispute stands as among the most openly homosexual matters of the sort, by idealizing (but sensually idealizing) man-to-man love, psychic and physical, that modern literature knows; in virility far beyond the verse of Platen; while Whitman much exceeds Platen in giving physical expressiveness to what he sings. Of Whitman's own personal homosexualism there can be n'o question, if anyone be acquainted with the intimate story of the "good gray poet's long life." Episodes in his reminiscences called "Hospital Sketches" (many others were never put into print) are personally significant enough. Whitman's choice of intimates, too was significant. The tie with the young Irish tram-driver, Peter Doyle,was only one of the Whitmanian divagations of the kind. To women, Whitman was sexually quite indifferent; philosophically contemptuous of them. In physical type the magnificent manly beauty of Whitman, and its endurance, even late in his life, are in key with his philarrhenic nature.

To cite more than a few of Whitman's expressions of uranianism, from his poetry only, is impossible here, and perhaps not necessary. For the sake of illustrating to readers who do not know him at all in such guise, are here appended passing instances from "Leaves of Grass"—including of course, some in the "Calamus" section;