Scholar to Participate in Whitman Conferences

HOLLAND - Dr. William Pannapacker of the Hope College English faculty will make presentations next month during two international conferences scheduled in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass."

The conferences are among multiple scholarly gatherings marking the July 1855 publication of the groundbreaking volume of poetry.

"Whitman is almost certainly the most influential poet the United States has produced," said Pannapacker, who is an assistant professor of English and Towsley Research Scholar at Hope. "His impact over the 150 years has been global."

"First of all, he was a pioneer of free verse, which he regarded as a less formal, more conversational, and hence democratic form of poetry than the complex patterns of rhythm and meter that he associated with the aristocratic courts of Europe," he said. "Second, he was determined to open up poetry - and literary writing in general - to everything that was real, not just what was acceptable to the rich and respectable."

The first of the two conferences, "'Leaves of Grass': The 150th Anniversary Conference," is being held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on Thursday-Saturday, March 31-April 2. Pannapacker will present "'Leaves of Grass' and the Cities of Whitman's Memory" during the conference's final day.

The second event, "Whitman and Place," is being sponsored by Rutgers University and will be held on Thursday-Saturday, April 21-23, in Camden, N.J. Pannapacker will present "Walt Whitman's Philadelphia."

Pannapacker's presentations will reflect his ongoing work for a forthcoming book, which will focus on the cities in which Whitman lived, particularly Philadelphia.

"Alone among his contemporaries, Whitman wrote about the city in positive terms," he said. "Americans tend to fear cities as places of crime and revolutionary violence, but Whitman celebrated them. He saw the average street kid as being just as American as a Midwestern farmer."

The topic has a unique personal relevance for Pannapacker. He was born in Camden, where Whitman spent his final years, and as a young child crossed the Walt Whitman Bridge with his family and lived in Philadelphia until attending graduate school.

"I get back to these cities for visits once every year or so, but I still miss them, even if I am happy where I am now," he said. "I guess my research is motivated by nostalgia coupled with the convenience of being able to work while visiting my family and friends 'back home.'"

Pannapacker is author of the 2004 book "Revised Lives: Walt Whitman and Nineteenth-Century Authorship," which examines self-reinvention in U.S. culture, with emphasis on Whitman's poetry. He has also written several articles, book chapters, book reviews and encyclopedia entries, including numerous entries in "Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia." Among the courses that he teaches at the college are "Banned Books" - a category that has included "Leaves of Grass" - and "Walt Whitman's America."

In December, during the annual convention of the Modern Language Association, held in Philadelphia, Pannapacker delivered the talk "Walt Whitman in Philadelphia, 1892-1919." In November he will present "Walt Whitman and the Quaker City" during the American Studies Association conference in Washington, D.C.

Pannapacker has been a member of the Hope faculty since 2000. He holds a doctorate in the history of American civilization from Harvard University, and master's degrees in English from both Harvard and the University of Miami. He completed his undergraduate degree in English at St. Joseph's University.

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