"My voice goes after what my eyes cannot reach,
With the twirl of my tongue I encompass worlds and volumes of worlds.
Speech is the twin of my vision, it is unequal to measure itself,
it provokes me forever, it says sarcastically,
Walt you contain enough, why don't you let it out then?" (ln 564-568)
I had always heard of Walt Whitman but never read one of his pieces. If I did it was in a long forgotten middle school English class. One of the things that struck me the most was the sheer length of the poem, and just how incredibly prolific his writing is. Even after over 1300 lines the poem does not end definitively, but it seems that there is still more Whitman could say.
He also hints that he knows just how prolific it is:
"The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my
loitering
I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." (ln 1331-1334)
We talked in class about how Whitman shattered the rules of poetry. In my mind poetry is the use of words to express a certain feeling or idea, and do it more or less concisely, much like Poe's idea in The Philosophy of Composition. However Whitman seems to have a completely different idea, much in the way that Emerson views consistency as needless, Whitman uses poetry to express thoughts and ideas that are sometimes connected and sometimes not and maybe contradictory.
"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)" (ln 1324-1326)
Personally, I can appreciate Whitman's poetry, his toying with conventions, and at times his profound insights. Song of Myself is a joy to read, however it's lack of consistency and focus makes it hard for me to be moved by it. It comes from too many angles, and expresses so many different ideas and emotions that it is overwhelming.
The last stanza reads:
"Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you."
I look forward to reading more Whitman, perhaps missing it at first, I will find him in another place?
I really like your honesty here Hunter, and how you have done such a close reading to help justify and explain how you feel. Having also felt lost at times in Whitman, though possibly more moved by it than you, the context you put some of his stanzas in through writing this post actually helped me gain more meaning from them. I especially like how you've contextualized the hawk stanza and the final stanza. It's really cool to read something through someone else's eyes, and I'm coming to realize that's my favorite aspect of this blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you Erin!
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