就美国白人诗人对美国黑人文学的重大影响而言,惠特曼或许是无与伦比的。然而,这一影响的性质、历史及广度几乎尚未得到公认,更谈不上翔实的论证。个别黑人作家的研究——值得注意的是阿诺德·兰帕萨德(Arnold RamPersad)的近著兰斯顿·休士(Langston Hughes)传记和唐纳德·B·吉布森(Donald B.Gibson)的论文《杰出的黑人诗人和杰出的混血诗人》(The Good Black Poet and the Good Gray Poet) Whitman may be unparalleled in terms of the significant impact that American white poets have on African-American literature. However, the nature, history and breadth of this impact have hardly yet been recognized, let alone detailed and informative arguments. The study of individual black writers - notably Arnold RamPersad’s recent biography of Langston Hughes and the dissertation by Donald B. Gibson “Outstanding Black Poet and the Good Gray Poet ”