Tweet of The Week

The Wilmot Proviso and the policies it sought to make legal are are an extension of the oppressive conditions that permeated the southern region of the United States and ultimately led to Civil War. I believe that Northern politicians were well aware of the modus operandi that ole David Wilmot was operating in conjunction with when he crafted his legislation. How would Northerners know if the voting process was rigged or that blacks were not allowed to vote? Dave gave them the rope-a-dope. However, rather than continue to get slugged, Northerners balked at his ideas and southerners did too. I imagine skeptical Southerner thought "what of the negroes get to vote?" While Northerners wouldn't believe anything except currency.

I believe that this legislation connects with our reading by establishing a social milieu for Whitman. Whitman's consistent and persistent editing of the texts reflects the changing environment that he experienced. For me, Song of Myself represents a return to all things "Americana." Even the slave, who picks cotton, has a role to play and will be nursed to health and sent on his way by wonderful Walt Whitman.

Specimen Days

Nature and Democracy – Morality

I am not sure whether these entries follow a chronological order or not, but it seems that the title of this entry captures the entire essence of Whitman’s Song of Myself.  Much like Sandburg’s poem Chicago, Whitman catalogues the often-overlooked features of society as a whole. The workers, wives, and runaway slaves. My initial reading of the poem leads me to believe that Whitman seeks a balance between all things that inhabit earth. The first balance he mentions is that between the poet and the reader as he opens his poem by stating that “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (1). Similarly, Whitman begins this entry by exerting that “democracy most of all affiliates with the open air, is sunny and hardy and sane only with nature” (926). I believe that the openings the two texts reveal Whitman’s agenda. In Song of Myself, I believe Whitman is speaking to the individual man. Whereas, in the text from Specimen Days, I believe Whitman is addressing the collective identity of man: specifically, working-class men who are the backbone of his America.

Whitman goes on to demand rights for the working-class founders of his America by suggesting that they “must either be fibred, vitalized, by regular contact with out-door light and air and growths” (926). The duality of this passage mirrors the duality throughout Song of Myself.  Whitman could have been referring to workers-rights or becoming a vegan. Ultimately, Whitman reveals his goal as being “to bring people back from their persistent strayings and sickly abstractions” (926). I believe that Whitman sought to have readers of Song of Myself give glance to the simple but wonderful things that we overlook daily.  

Two Lines that Stuck in My Mind

W. Whitman Song of Myself

“Voices of the sexes and lusts….voices veiled, and I remove the veil / Voices indecent by me clarified and transfigured” (17).

Analysis of poetry and the finer details of the literary devices as a whole is probably my weakest area of study as a graduating English major. I chose to enroll in the Whitman class as an opportunity to gain insight on a poet who I believe makes poetry accessible while still defying accepted norms of poetry, such as the use of elevated language, to deliver a poem that has grown into what I believe captures the essence of Americana: namely, freedom.

When the speaker of the poem exerts that he embodies the “voices of the sexes and lusts….voices veiled, and I remove the veil” (17), I immediately connected it to my previous reading of W.E.B. Dubois’ opus Souls of Black Folk and the notion that being Black and being American are two opposing ideologies. Whitman attempts to deconstruct this notion by suggesting that he “see (s) and hear(s) the whole” (28). I believe that by making this assertion, amongst many similar others, Whitman is stating that he has fused the projected self-image and the actual image. Whereas the veil that Dubois hinted at served as obstacle that stood in the way of Blacks achieving the so-called “American dream,” Whitman claims to be able to lift that veil. Furthermore, in the utopian world of Song of Myself, Whitman claims to be able to take “voices indecent” and “by me (referring to himself) clarified and transfigured” (17). Wonderful Whitman translates the broken English of runaway slaves, nurses them back to health and can hear, see and relate to all things. Lets all assume the “Tebow” position!

Don’t get it twisted. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Whitman and his “high hopes.” In fact, if he were alive today, I’d bet dollars to donuts that President Obama would have him somewhere on his staff. Hope. Whitman provides a sense of hope in Song of Myself by suggesting that the poet is everyman. Obama used it as a platform to be elected as president of the United States. Ultimately, race is still a dividing factor in the United States despite how many people have read and supposedly been changed by Whitman’s poem. The same will be said following Obama’s presidency. However, we can all hope that things will change and we all will be able to sit back and observe, drink or draw leaves of grass.