SOURCE: "Whitman and American Indians," in Walt Whitman's Native Representations, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pp. 55-98.
In the following essay, Folsom contends that, throughout Whitman's life and work, the poet maintained an ambivalent attitude toward Native Americans. Folsom notes that American "aborigines," as Whitman referred to Native Americans, were often described in his poetry with a mixture of disdain and admiration.
