chatting with the poet

The monograph presents a chronological account of both Whitman’s life and his artistry linking the biographical facts to particular places in his poems.

The authors are particularly interested in the lesser known and perhaps neglected parts of Whitman’s life, as well as in the manuscripts which have not been thoroughly explored so far, but which reveal a great deal about the development of the poet’s expression. Of a great importance is a fact that Whitman constantly revised and reordered the poems within Leaves of Grass. Owing to this, as the authors point out, we are presented with different collections of poems which merely carry the same name. This should by all means be taken into account while studying Whitman.

The third chapter, which deals with the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass, stresses the crucial importance of the “Children of Adam” and “Calamus” clusters, which appeared in such a shape for the first time in this edition. The authors draw attention to Whitman’s interest in exploring and naming the male-male affection, i.e. in finding the proper terminology for the taboo issues. While pointing to the poet’s open celebration of the body and of both male and female sexuality, the authors also find a connection between the human body as a physical entity and Whitman’s poetry.

In addition to this, the monograph also shows the relation between the ideas presented in the 1860 edition and the pervading atmosphere in the American society of the time. Whitman’s ideas of unity and wholeness are harshly challenged in the years before and during the Civil War.

This all-encompassing approach makes the monograph invaluable for the students exploring the “Children of Adam” and “Calamus” sections. Since the authors examine both the historical events and those that occurred in Whitman’s life, it is possible to view the poems from different perspectives. However, as the authors suggest, one should never forget Whitman’s careful revisions of his poems and bear in mind all the changes and the circumstances in which they were made.

As I watched this truly amazing documentary presenting Whitman’s life and poetry in a new and memorable way, I became aware of an interesting but somewhat frightening fact. A man who has come to be considered the father of the American poetry, a person who strove to point to the universal experience of the whole mankind, had a rather difficult personal life and for the greater part of it was alone in his struggle. The documentary, written and directed by Mark Zwonitzer,  shows Whitman not as a 19th century poet but as a man of flesh and blood, brave and self-willed but also quite vulnerable. Whitman is brought to life through inspired and inspiring presentation by a number of Whitman scholars, biographers, poets, as well as through electrifying readings of his poetry, all of this showing how relevant to our everyday life his poems still are. This connection to the 21st century life and circumstances is further emphasized by the disturbing images of wounded soldiers with amputated limbs, reminding us that the horrors are our reality too.  On the other hand, we are also presented with the images of people in the streets, people on the ferry, sharing and being united in the experience of the great poet.

In a rather dynamic manner the documentary shows Whitman within his historical context. Living in the age of national divisions and cynicism, he believed that a book of poetry can unite his fellow Americans, all of them, regardless of the race, gender or social status. Whitman found beauty where others saw dirt and ugliness. In a city which was overcrowded and had really big sanitation problems, he focused on the people, what they did and what they felt. A special attention in the documentary is given to Leaves of Grass, which is presented as some kind of a melting pot blending different religions, sciences and pseudoscience, nationalities and races. However, what gives the documentary a special flavor is a wonderful choice of music and the beautiful orchestration by Joel Goodman.

Apart from the useful facts about Whitman’s life and work, the documentary provides the students exploring his poetry with an opportunity to listen to eminent critics and scholars enthusiastically talking about the poet. This is far better than reading the books and critiques, since some of them impart personal experiences related to reading Whitman. Whitman’s poetry is not to be studied isolated. It has to be considered in relation to the outside world, just as it is supposed to be read aloud and, with the help of photos, videos, and actors reciting verses, the documentary offers both.

The word “procession” first caught my attention as I was reading the “Children of Adam” cluster. In the song No.3 that will later become “I Sing the Body Electric” Whitman states that

All is a procession,

The universe is a procession, with measured and

beautiful motion.

This struck me as quite a somber word for a poem so vivid and full of life, since I associated it mainly with funeral processions. However, the poet obviously had something else on his mind…

As can be seen in the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a procession is “ a group of individuals moving along in an orderly often ceremonial way” but also “continuous forward movement :PROGRESSION”.  Wikipedia defines the term as “an organized body of people advancing in a formal or ceremonial manner” and shows different functions of processions, as diverse as entertainment and political solidarity. Having in mind Whitman’s progressive ideas this choice of words fits perfectly into a poem celebrating the humankind, since it shows that “each has his or her place in the procession”, that everyone takes his or her part in the continuous advancement of the world.

The Calamus poem No. 18, however, puts the word into a slightly different context. The poem which is to be named “The City of Orgies” gives a vivid picture of the city, where “the processions in the streets” are presented between the images of “the ships at the wharves” and “the bright windows with goods in them”. Nevertheless, this colorful description of a city swarming with life is not what makes the poet joyous. Although mentioned in the last line, “lovers, continual lovers” occupy the central place in the poem and the procession of people now seems as just another spectacle that can be observed from a window. Since the Calamus poems tend to be more intimate than those from the Children of Adam cluster, I feel that by distancing himself from the procession, the poet distances himself from the crowd and turns to the individuals.

(Interestingly, the lines with “the procession” seem to be missing from the Barrett Collection manuscript of the poem)

Has anyone supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it.

I pass death with the dying, and birth with the new-washed babe … and am not contained between my hat and boots,
And peruse manifold objects, no two alike and every one good,
The earth good, and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good.

I am not an earth nor an adjunct of the earth,
I am the mate and companion of people, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself,
They do not know how immortal, but I know.

Yes! Whitman knows what it is like to die because he is dead! This voice of a poet speaking from the other world to the future generations is what I love in Whitman. It appears throughout his poetry, connecting the people who read it and telling them of the universality of human experience. A shocking statement saying that it is lucky to be dead is followed by soothing images of birth, earth and stars. Whitman doesn’t wish to upset us, but to unite us, to be our immortal “mate and companion”.