# Walt Whitman — The Varieties of Religious Experience character guide

> Walt Whitman in The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Walt Whitman, Whitman, W. Whitman

**First appearance:** 0006-lectures-iv-and-v-the-religion-of-healthy-mindedness

## Snapshot

The poet whose ecstatic 'Song of Myself' gives James his prime specimen of healthy-mindedness — a soul so at home in the body it never once needs converting.

## Who they are

Whitman enters James's lectures not as a literary figure but as clinical evidence: a man whose 'titanic-optimistic' temperament treats evil as a rumor and death as a change of clothes. Against the sick souls who fill the surrounding chapters, he stands as the great counter-example, the once-born saint whose religion is simply an overflowing yes to existence. James leans on him to prove that saintliness need not be born from agony, and that a gospel of acceptance can be as rigorous as any Calvinist's.

## Relationships

### [William James](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/william_james)

_psychological_

James references Whitman's poetry and personal philosophy as a case study of healthy-mindedness and mystical optimism.

### [R. M. Bucke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/r_m_bucke)

_friendship_

Bucke, a psychiatrist, was a devoted friend and biographer of Whitman, and James uses Bucke's accounts of Whitman's cosmic consciousness.

### [William James](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/william_james)

_psychological_

James references Whitman's poetry and personal philosophy as a case study of healthy-mindedness and mystical optimism.

### [R. M. Bucke](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/r_m_bucke)

_friendship_

Bucke, a psychiatrist, was a devoted friend and biographer of Whitman, and James uses Bucke's accounts of Whitman's cosmic consciousness.

## In the story

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/chapters/ii)

Cited as an example of naturalistic pantheistic mysticism.

### [Lecture XX: Conclusions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/chapters/lecture-xx-conclusions)

Mentioned as another contrasting religious type, alongside Wesley, to support James's argument for the value of religious pluralism and the unique contributions of different personalities.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/chapters/endnotes)

Quoted for lines expressing readiness for great things and the sense of the possible.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/walt_whitman
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters