building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici

conscience, to which the mass media often refer to, is not a recent matter. On the
contrary, many of the theories devised during the nineteenth century appear as
forms of more consistent awareness, which cannot be compared to the expressions
of some people, who today use the word landscape to sell their “product”, whether
it is a book, a project, or a political bill.
For this reason, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855) are among the most
subversive, most profound writings of the period under examination and they form
an important moment in the revision of the stimuli of contemporary society even
today. Whitman’s poems recall the need for freedom, they break with the social
conformism of the time, and they appear as an emotional counterpoint in a
changing world. Abstract contemplation of life no longer has any importance, only
the contrasts and stimuli from life’s unceasing flow. Whitman has something
ingenuous about him and at the same time profound, corporeal, which make him
the interpreter of the great transformations in the American landscape, town and
territory. His poems speak of a confused state dictated by the exaltation of various
factors, which are part of a questioning, spiritual logic. A simple blade of grass
sparks reflection just as much as the death of a hero, such as Lincoln. Pulsations of
the subconscious, elements of nature, faith in democracy, exaltation of the
individual, reflections en masse and machines, all go towards reasoning why there is
such a contrast between town and frontier, wild nature and the garden. In the light
of these aspects, the death of Downing on a steamboat suddenly sounds more
tragic and prophetic when thinking about the conflicting topics Whitman faced.
Essentially, even death constitutes a fundamental element in modern landscaping
for Americans. From the cemeteries to the battlefields of the Civil War, the
landscape became a symbol of identification of the nation. The fields were no
longer intended only for agricultural practices, and after years of diffusion of
horticulture, the territory was no longer interpreted as a symbol of Eden. The
aesthetic writings and project considerations of the first landscape architects
replaced the primitive demands for subsistence farming.
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