Walt Whitman: The "All American" Guy

To speak honestly and openly, America takes a lot of sucker punches in our modern day world. Whether it's attacks on our supposed fatness or material greed, or our inferiority in comparison to the cultured and seasoned life styles of classic European societies, being American does not always have the most positive connotation nowadays.

That's why I found reading Walt Whitman's work to be particularly refreshing; Whitman strikes me as one of the most truly and obviously "American" of the authors we have read in this course so far, and Whitman certainly has this reputation in the world of 19th Century literature. Particular features and aspects of his writing effect the "American-ness", most prominently the sense of camaraderie, acceptance, and diversity of experience and hard work that Whitman writes about in his pieces.

"Song of Myself" is one such piece that stands out as very American. The community and shared experience that Whitman speaks of in the piece aligns well with the American mentality of equal opportunity and camaraderie; we notice this in the 5th section of the piece in the lines, "And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own, And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own, And that all men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my sisters and lovers" (Whitman 1333). The way in which Whitman points out an overlap between his own self and the other "selves" around him demonstrates a unity and common experience Whitman believes exists in his life as an American. This is only one of the countless portrayals of companionship and togetherness we remark in Whitman, another one of my personal favorite images being "The boatmen and clam-diggers arose early and stopt for me, I tuck'd my trowser-ends in my boots and went and had a good time, You should have been with us that day round the chowder-kettle" (1336). Nothing says community like a shared meal around the fire!

Whitman's mentioning of the boatmen and the clam-diggers connects to another interesting facet of American-ness in his pieces; Whitman has a fascination for the topic of "work" and "labor", which is of course very American! Part of the American philosophy is the commitment to hard work and individual effort that are supposed to bring us good fortune and wealth over time (capitalism, anyone?). We observe so many people in Whitman's "Song of Myself" that are doing exactly this- working hard to making a living. Section #15 itself is really a collage of images of Americans from all different ages and walks of life carrying out their daily duties, from the "The spinning girl retreat[ing] and advance[ing] to the hum of the big wheel" to "The jour printer with gray head and gaunt jaws work[ing] at his case" (1339).

Whitman is a pleasure to read, and given our contemporary international status and situation, reminds us Americans that we do have worth and things of which to be proud as a nation.

For "Breaking Bad" fans

Here's a link to an essay that tries to explain some of that show's linking of its meth-dealer protagonist to Walt Whitman. It turns out it's not entirely far-fetched--not that Whitman was into drugs, but he is into self-definition, self-aggrandizement, and originality.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/article/246218#article

Wicked Whitman Comes This Way

Morality always seems to be a question in writings, especially in earlier times. In most of the readings that we’ve had so far, there was a tension of what was right and what was wrong. The Scarlet Letter actively invited readers to compare the strict Puritan to their own ideals. Melville cleverly had “Benito Cereno” reflect the morals of the reader. But they all had lines that rarely moved. Even in The Scarlet Letter, readers are led to feel sympathetic to Hector because she repents and isn’t as bad as the community around her.

But Whitman is a very different writer. In the first lines of Song of Myself the speaker (who Whitman identifies as “himself” in the 24th poem of the long work) claims that he is everyone and everyone is him.  What is important about this statement and which Whitman himself expands upon later is that it includes the good and the wicked.

Now in Poe, we knew that if the narrator was morally questionable, he was wicked or insane (it’s hard to tell the difference between the two with Poe). In The Scarlet Letter, the sinners redeem themselves in some fashion. But for Whitman, we discover a speaker that is filled with both good and wicked and no clear cut answer for it. Sure, it seems like he is just saying such things in his work. In the 24th poem, he claims he is the voice of “prisoners and slaves” and “diseas’d and despairing and of thieves and dwarves” (lines 509-510). But (and spoiler alert for those who haven’t read the second half of Song of Myself) the speaker talks about throwing a newlywed groom out of the bed and having sex with the wife in poem 33. In a time where standings about sex and marriage are more stringent than our standards, this was probably worthy of some cringes in public.

Yet Whitman doesn’t apologize. Instead he just continues his work in the same vein. There are some other moments in Song of Myself that probably left the same kind of impact, but this was the one that stuck out to me.

Society may or may not be radically changing at this point in time. But at the very least, some writers are trying to instigate something.

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"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?

Emerson and Whitman

Immediately after I started reading Whitman's Song of Myself, it reminded me of Emerson's works, most of the ones we'd read for class, in fact. Right away, in section 2 of Song of Myself Whitman writes,

"Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd the earth much?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of a poem?
Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of
      suns left,)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through
      the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the speakers in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self" (1331).

This quote felt as if it almost came out of some sort of combination between Nature and Self Reliance, and as I really enjoyed reading Emerson, this felt extremely interesting to me. I started to do some research on whether or not Whitman and Emerson were friends or were in any sort of communication, and soon came upon the letter that Whitman wrote Emerson that's on page 1409 of The Norton Anthology of American Literature. In this letter Whitman refers to Emerson as "Master," and speaks of a letter Emerson sent Whitman after the first publication of Leaves of Grass. This letter is on page 348. In Emerson's letter he says to Whitman, "I find incomparable things said incomparably well, as they must be. I find the courage of treatment, which so delights us, & which large perception only can inspire" (348).

I point out this relationship, because I think that, while I'm sure Whitman was inspired by Emerson, as they were done in the 1830's and 40's (years before the publication of Leaves of Grass) the fact that Whitman's writing is able to mirror Emerson's content/message, but as poetry, take on such a different form is really intriguing to me. I also think that it's really interesting that both Emerson and Whitman both essentially say not to completely trust their writing, and to seek out one's self. I haven't quite determined what their relationship means or how Emerson's inspiration effects more specific aspects of Whitman's writing beyond their message of exploring the world/nature and one's self; however, I do think that it's always interesting to learn about the interpersonal connections between writers and the way they look at each other's work, and it's especially interesting when it took place over a hundred years ago.

Constant Theme of Americanness

The authors we have read do not always necessarily agree with each others points, and in some instances, their intentions for writing may be to express their disapproval of each other. One thing I find interesting that is common to many of these writers is that they all try to do something new. Perhaps to assert and establish themselves, many break away from traditional European writing. Most recently, Whitman essentially creates his own style of poetry. Considering his writings were his source of income, it may have seemed risky to try something that may not be accepted. Whitman, along with Douglass and as far back as Cooper speak to what American Literature will come to be, not just through their writings, but how they write. I am curious though as to why European authors may not have taken such risks, it surely could've helped their names remain relevant through history. 

Snapshots

My favorite aspect to find in fiction, or to try to create when writing fiction, are snapshots of human lives that seem absolutely, tangibly real. I think that's why I was so fascinated by section 15 of "Song of Myself." Each description reminds me of a candid, unexpectedly revelatory photo, which is why section 15 reminds me so much of Whitman's author portrait.  There's a difference between a stuffy old-fashioned author's portrait and the jaunty photograph of Whitman included in Leaves of Grass -- it's surprising to see so much personality from someone a modern reader thinks of as a revered American literary legend. We sometimes forget to imagine people and figures from history as the normal, everyday people they were. Section 15 captures daily life in the nineteenth century and is altogether in the spirit of the "now" which Whitman champions.

For the most part, Whitman presents his characters without judgement, even the "opium-eater". Like a camera, he captures but does not comment. Everyone from a factory girl (294) to the President himself (308) gets the same amount of description. Interestingly, one of the times Whitman does editorialize is to pass judgement on the men harassing the prostitute: "The prostitute draggles her shawl, her bonnet bobs on her tipsy and/ pimpled neck,/ The crowd laugh at her blackguard oath, the men jeer and wink to each other,/ (Miserable! I do not laugh at your oaths nor jeer you;) (304-307). Another interesting aspect of this passage is that Whitman acknowledges himself as an observer.