Walt Whitman and César Vallejo: Confluences in the face of the American Utopia’s finale

Abstract

The present study will focus on varied correspondences while comparing and contrasting the fluidity of Whitman’s verse in his Leaves of Grass (1855) —leading up to his Civil War section Drum-Taps (1865)— with the posthumous poems of César Vallejo; focusing on his collection España, aparta de mi éste cáliz (1939), as seen through the chronological filter of the late symbolist movement propelled by Mallarmé, whose motifs were succinctly appropriated by the Peruvian to deploy his poetics of “cross-outs”, as suggested by vallejista Julio Ortega. A background of political reportage presented by both Vallejo and Whitman will emphasize their connection through militance in their respective Civil War years, as this stage will be taken conclusively into account to point out the unwavering admiration the Andean poet held for his North American counterpart.