Literary Gladiators: Episode 20- The Works of Walt Whitman

We have reached our 20th episode of Literary Gladiators. In this case, we are doing another overview of a particular writer who in this case happens to be Walt Whitman. Whitman was one of American literature's pioneers in giving the United States a face in what it means to be an American voice. Whitman also represented the New Jersey that reflects the more rural, country-like image instead of the urban, chemical plant, Bennie visited picture that has been painted time and time again. In this episode, Jim, Brianna, Charlie, and I discuss Whitman's contributions to literature and we each name our favorite Whitman poems. Works that are mentioned include "A Song of Myself," "Native Moments," "A Song of Rolling Earth," "O Captain! My Captain," "Drum-Taps," and "Patrolling Barnegat."

I should mention that I am include a link to another blog post of mine to which I discuss Tinky Winky's sexual orientation in a post I submitted in March 2013, because it was mentioned as a topic point during the episode. I felt that since this was an episode about Whitman and that the Teletubbies was only an example that would have created an unnecessary tangent, I did not use that in my argument to which Whitman could have been classified as being a pedophile had he written today. The question at hand would be this: if Whitman were living in the 20th or 21st century, would he be dating men that were fifteen years of age? Edgar Allan Poe married his teenaged cousin, Lewis Carroll was attracted to girls that were ten years of age, and though he was never a writer, but instead a subject, John Proctor was a sixty-year-old man having an affair with an eleven-year-old prostitute when his wife of about forty years of age was pregnant. The question at hand, though, is whether or not this idea was reflected in their writings, which could taint their image. Anyway, you can check out my post about Tinky Winky on this blog under March 2013 or as a link among the rest of the commentary that is found on YouTube.

Moving right along... there are nine more episodes that I hope to have up completely by the end of March. From there, I plan to begin getting ready for season three. I plan to release updates on what to expect for this particular season and POSSIBLY hold a giveaway, but we shall see how things look come April. It also looks like a fourth season will be taking place, so by mid-2016, we should have close to 90 episodes. This does not include a special that was filmed during the third season sessions and a very special episode we plan to release at the time of the Summer Olympics being held in Rio de Janeiro. These are not confirmed, but are plans we are working to move forward with. A third season, though, can be guaranteed.

Here is the 20th episode of Literary Gladiators. Hope you enjoy!

Episode 20- The Works of Walt Whitman