Poetic Perceptions of Childhood: Insights from Select Works of Walt Whitman and Muhammad Iqbal

Abstract

The paper incorporates Children’s Literature as a theoretical framework to study the innocent, imaginative, and inquisitive worlds of children. To achieve this goal, the researcher focuses on poems about childhood from two of the most celebrated writers of their respective nations, Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938). The paper is a study of textual and comparative analysis of the images of childhood as depicted in their works. Comparing the two writers of varied times and cultural backgrounds, the present study delves into an analysis of childhood as portrayed in their poetic works, Leaves of Grass (1855-1892) and The Call of the Marching Bell (1924), respectively. It strives to establish a relationship that despite their disparities, the innocence and curious nature of children remain the same. It also attempts to reveal the age-old values passed down through these timeless works. Literature connects readers surpassing linguistic and geographical barriers. By delving deep into Children's Literature as a field of study, readers share the collective experience of imagination and astonishment. It provides young readers with a vast vocabulary and unlocks the door to boundless imagination. Through this paper, it is emphasized that the innocence of children often leaves adult readers awestruck as they pose insightful questions that solve life's mysteries that elude us as grown-ups. The values, morals, and habits that children cherish and inherit long grown out of practice are to be talked about as how they impact the thinking of adults. The insights of this paper may contribute to the fields of Comparative Literature, Children’s Literature, and Cultural Studies in the global context.