The Interpretation Of Leaves Of Grass With Shusterman's Pragmatist Aesthetics

Leaves of Grass published in the nineteenth century is the masterpiece of Whitman.So far,many critics have done many researches on this poems.The focus of their researches lies on the poetic images,democratic and liberal thoughts,the theory of body,Whitman's innovative writing style and natural topics etc.Although there are actually many pragmatic elements inside the poem,Jim Garrison and Raphael Allison wrote the journals which analyze Leaves of Grass with Dewey's Pragmatic theory.Based on the academic result of Jim Garrison's and Allison's journals,this thesis aims to further explore the subtle connections between Leaves of Grass and Shusterman's Pragmatist Aesthetics,systematically explaining how Whitman uses aesthetic experience to break through the boundary of traditional art,enrich the theory of body and strive for the legitimacy of popular art.Shusterman's Pragmatist Aesthetics is the latest fruit of contemporary aesthetic study.It is developed on the basis of pragmatist theory founded by Dewey.Shusterman combines pragmatist theory with analytical aesthetics closely and skillfully.Leaves of Grass was published in the nineteenth century but the themes of the poetry are consistent with the ideas of Shusterman's Pragmatist Aesthetics.Specifically,it can be seen from the following three aspects that Whitman's creative thoughts and practices in Leaves of Grass correspond with Shusterman's Pragmatist Aesthetics.Firstly,Whitman insists in exploring aesthetic experience.Whitman repeatedly emphasizes the meaning of aesthetic experience.He believes that in the future,the practice of composition should take aesthetic experience as the guiding thoughts and pragmatist interpretation theory as the concrete method.Whitman searches for the factors forbidding the grasps of aesthetic experience and then explores the meanings of aesthetic experience.He finds that the pragmatist interpretation is most beneficial for the fulfillment of aesthetic experience.Secondly,Whitman treasures Somaesthetics and devotes himself to probing into the function of the body.Whitman introduces the perceptive function of the body through body gestures and body taste,and then Whitman takes the body as a bridge linking people to Nature and practice.And he also states how the body shapes people's introspective ability and virtue in order to better people's lives.Thirdly,Whitman defends for popular art through his compositional practice.Actually,Leaves of Grass is influenced by popular art elements in the writing sources,themes and writing techniques.When it comes to the writing sources,Whitman chooses civilian topics,political topics and local culture topics which are frequently stressed by popular art;in the writing themes,Whitman expresses people's hopes towards better life,their fights for legitimate compositional rights and their pursuits of multiculturalism.In the end,Whitman also borrows unique writing techniques from popular art.Whitman adds some verbal expressions in the composition of poems;he introduces the consciousness of “temporality” in facing the kaleidoscopic world;he takes the Cultural Other's attitudes in dealing with the conflicts between local culture and exotic culture.Anyway,these techniques both promote the literary composition and prove the value of popular art.The thesis is composed of five chapters.The first chapter introduces Whitman,Leaves of Grass along with studies at home and abroad;the second chapter elucidates Whitman's pursuit of aesthetic experience;the third chapter analyzes Whitman's comprehension about the body theory;the fourth chapter exhibits Whitman's practice of popular art;the fifth chapter concludes the whole thesis.All in all,Whitman's Leaves of Grass contains philosophical senses of Shusterman's Pragmatist Aesthetics.Whitman pursues for the aesthetic experience;appeals for the attention of Somaesthetics and puts popular art in the practice of poetic composition.