The Oneida Community is one of the utopian communities that sprang up during the nineteenth century. It’s founder, John Humphrey Noyes created the community after a brand of Christianity known as the Perfectionist. In this religion monogamy was considered a sin and Noyes, under his supervision, commanded that everyone must continually switch partners. Undoubtedly, this was controversial as the community often taught children the joys of sex at a young age, partnering young adults in their preteens with older partners that would be considered a senior by any standard. All the men and women were married to each other and children were raised by the entire community.
The concept behind the Oneida Community is radical, even by today’s standards, perfect for our perfectly radical Whitman. The community boasts religious transcendence through love and sex, all themes that interest Whitman to a large extent. In “Song of Myself” there are countless moments where sex, reproductive organs, and reproduction are alluded to. As noted in class, Whitman seems a bit obsessed with the idea of procreation and he also never fails to express his love or potential love to everyone on the planet.
Whitman would have been familiar with its existence since the Oneida Community was based in New York. The controversy of the establishment itself made it a wide known subject to many that were living during the time.
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