ww20 – Stirred, Not Shaken

Whitman and Van Gogh

brady — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:36:40 +0000

On the radio the other day I learned about this huge cache of Vincent Van Gogh’s letters that’s been made available (and searchable) on the Internet.

Immediately searching for Whitman, of course, I came to this passage from an 1888 letter Van Gogh wrote to this sister:

Have you read Whitman’s American poems yet? Theo should have them, and I really urge you to read them, first because they’re really beautiful, and also, English people are talking about them a lot at the moment. He sees in the future, and even in the present, a world of health, of generous, frank carnal love — of friendship — of work, with the great starry firmament, something, in short, that one could only call God and eternity, put back in place above this world. They make you smile at first, they’re so candid, and then they make you think, for the same reason. The prayer of Christopher Columbus is very beautiful.

For an article exploring connections between the two artists, see “WHITMAN AND VAN GOGH: STARRY NIGHTS AND OTHER SIMILARITIES.”

In Advance of Our DC Trip . . .

brady — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:35:50 +0000

Kim Roberts, who’ll be our guide on Saturday (http://www.kimroberts.org, http://www.beltwaypoetry.com) has sent these for us: a map of our tour and an image of the haversack Whitman took on his rounds to the hospitals.

Map by Emery Pajer.

We will be seeing work places 8 through 11 on our walking tour, and boarding house location 7.

“Song of Myself” Openings

brady — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:07:41 +0000

The first page of the poem, from all the major US editions of Leaves of Grass.\"Song\" slideshow

The Trippy 1855 Preface

brady — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:37:10 +0000

At first I was annoyed that I had to get a new copy of Whitman’s poetry and prose, but it’s been kind of cool to read through the preface without having to see my old notes. I know it gets long-winded sometimes (“No one ever wished it longer,” as Dr. Johnson said of Paradise Lost), but some lines really jump out:

The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature (5). [“The Americans of all nations”??? What gall!]

What is marvellous? what is unlikely? what is impossible or baseless or vague? after you have once just opened the space of a peachpit . . . (10).

The sea is not surer of the shore or the shore of the sea than [the poet] is of the fruition of his love and of all perfection and beauty (12).

The attitude of great poets is to cheer up slaves and horrify despots. The turn of their necks, the sound of their feet, the motions of their wrists, are full of hazard to the one and hope to the other (17).

As the attributes of the poets of the kosmos concentre in the real body and soul and in the pleasure of things they possess the superiority of genuineness over all fiction and romance (18). [Wait–did you just say “the pleasure of things”??? What’s THAT all about?]

Radio Whitman

brady — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:54:37 +0000

The interview Mara and I did for the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities radio show With Good Reason has been broadcast and is now available at http://www.withgoodreasonradio.org/ . It’s a fairly general overview, largely about Whitman’s life during the Civil War, and clocks in at a friendly 16 minutes. On its heels is an interesting piece by Jerome McGann on E.A. Poe.

“Walt Whitman’s Niece”

brady — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:51:19 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

From Billy Bragg and Wilco’s Mermaid Avenue, an album of Woody Guthrie lyrics they set to music. I’ve been listening to the song for years but never realized until last week in Camden that Whitman’s last surviving direct descendant was, in fact, some kind of niece.

PBS Documentary: Whitman and the Civil War

brady — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:45:31 +0000

“The Civil War” (8:20)

“Drum-Taps” (8:40)

Two episodes from a pretty cool series (online and free–the whole thing is at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/whitman/program/) featuring our own Karen Karbiener as well as other scholars and writers including Ed Folsom, Ken Price, Alan Garganus, and Yusef Komunyakaa.