Comments on: WITH HUSKY-HAUGHTY LIPS, O SEA! http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/ Just another Looking for Whitman weblog Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:30:15 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.30 By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-123 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:56:42 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-123 beauty in suffering

]]> By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-122 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:56:23 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-122 my reading: Whitman as an old man is looking wistfully back at his life and wondering why he never found true love. It would be consistent with Whitman’s egoism to think he was “above the rest.”

]]> By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-120 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:51:08 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-120 mysterious line. Is this Whitman or the sky?

]]> By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-119 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:49:17 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-119 Parallelism is for used to heighten the torment and make the poem musical. The most effective use of parallelism is found in the lines beginning with the unstressed pronoun “thy”. The stilted pronoun is always unstressed and followed by a stressed syllable, forming iambs that suggest sharp, leaping waves.

The repetition of “thy” in the parallel structures keep the poem grounded as the torment mounts, a poetic version of pedal point in music (basically, a sustained bass note while increasing dissonances are introduced in the harmony). The effect is dramatic escalation that builds until the final line.

]]> By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-118 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:47:44 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-118 Free verse gives rhythm to the sea. The asymmetry of syllables and stresses represent both the ebb and flow of “white-maned racers racing to the goal” along with the waves of Whitman’s own consciousness. The poem is bookended by its shortest and most revealing lines. Between these lines, the poem rocks back and forth in waves of varying power, reaching a climax just before its conclusion, where it retreats to a level even lower than where it started, signifying a calm in the storm

]]> By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-116 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:45:41 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-116 Whitman never reveals what the sea confesses. What is the “tale cosmic elemental passion?” Is it a confession of forbidden love? Appreciation of the poem doesn’t depend on knowing what erupted from the soul’s abysms—it’s between Whitman and the sea. This mystery is part of the poem’s beauty and enduring quality.

]]> By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-115 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:44:07 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-115 some scholars believe “the first and last confession of the globe” is a reference to Darwin’s theory of evolution. Whitman had been discussing Darwin with Burroughs during this trip.

]]> By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-114 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:42:20 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-114 sexual imagery

]]> By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-112 Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:39:27 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-112 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OGFeb2006_005.jpg

]]> By: adamb http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/2009/11/02/with-husky-haughty-lips-o-sea/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:04:29 +0000 http://camdenannotation.lookingforwhitman.org/?p=45#comment-14 The idea of the sea having dimples seems a bit asburd. This points to Whitman being integrated with the sea, as he wrote in Song of Myself: “You, Sea! I am integral with you.” The heavy personification is transformed into a kind of self-analysis. In looking at the sea, Whitman sees his own reflection, his dimples, his scowl, his tears, and “white mane”. A reading of the poem in which Whitman and the sea are the same, provides an entry point for psychoanalytic methods of analysis.

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