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There are 175 comments in this document
  1. MANNAHATTA (2)
  2. PAUMANOK (1)
  3. FROM MONTAUK POINT (1)
  4. TO THOSE WHO’VE FAIL’D (1)
  5. A CAROL CLOSING SIXTY-NINE (1)
  6. THE BRAVEST SOLDIERS (1)
  7. A FONT OF TYPE (1)
  8. AS I SIT WRITING HERE (2)
  9. MY CANARY BIRD (2)
  10. QUERIES TO MY SEVENTIETH YEAR (4)
  11. THE WALLABOUT MARTYRS (3)
  12. THE FIRST DANDELION (1)
  13. AMERICA (2)
  14. MEMORIES (1)
  15. TO-DAY AND THEE (2)
  16. AFTER THE DAZZLE OF DAY (2)
  17. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BORN FEB. 12, 1809 (1)
  18. OUT OF MAY’S SHOWS SELECTED (1)
  19. HALCYON DAYS (1)
  20. FANCIES AT NAVESINK (20)
  21. ELECTION DAY, NOVEMBER, 1884 (2)
  22. WITH HUSKY-HAUGHTY LIPS, O SEA! (17)
  23. DEATH OF GENERAL GRANT (4)
  24. RED JACKET (FROM ALOFT.) (1)
  25. WASHINGTON’S MONUMENT, FEBRUARY, 1885 (4)
  26. OF THAT BLITHE THROAT OF THINE (11)
  27. BROADWAY (1)
  28. TO GET THE FINAL LILT OF SONGS (6)
  29. OLD SALT KOSSABONE (1)
  30. THE DEAD TENOR (10)
  31. CONTINUITIES. [From a talk I had lately with a German spiritualist.] (1)
  32. YONNONDIO (7)
  33. LIFE (2)
  34. “GOING SOMEWHERE.” (2)
  35. SMALL THE THEME OF MY CHANT (0)
  36. TRUE CONQUERORS (2)
  37. THE UNITED STATES TO OLD WORLD CRITICS (2)
  38. THE CALMING THOUGHT OF ALL (3)
  39. THANKS IN OLD AGE (1)
  40. LIFE AND DEATH (1)
  41. THE VOICE OF THE RAIN (4)
  42. SOON SHALL THE WINTER’S FOIL BE HERE (6)
  43. WHILE NOT THE PAST FORGETTING (1)
  44. THE DYING VETERAN. [A Long Island incident — early part of the present century.] (1)
  45. STRONGER LESSONS (0)
  46. A PRAIRIE SUNSET (4)
  47. TWENTY YEARS (2)
  48. ORANGE BUDS BY MAIL FROM FLORIDA (2)
  49. TWILIGHT (5)
  50. YOU LINGERING SPARSE LEAVES OF ME (1)
  51. NOT MEAGRE, LATENT BOUGHS ALONE (1)
  52. THE DEAD EMPEROR (2)
  53. AS THE GREEK’S SIGNAL FLAME. [For Whittier’s eightieth birthday, December 17, 1887.] (0)
  54. THE DISMANTLED SHIP (0)
  55. NOW PRECEDENT SONGS, FAREWELL (0)
  56. AN EVENING LULL (0)
  57. OLD AGE’S LAMBENT PEAKS (0)
  58. AFTER THE SUPPER AND TALK (0)
  59. By That Long Scan of Waves (16)
Avatar of bmzreece bmzreece
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Whitman's mention of "nirwana" [nirvana] actually cements both earlier meanings of "opiate" as probable, for nirvana is both a place of joy and relaxation, and a place of "disinterested wisdom" [perhaps the ideal of apathy].
Avatar of bmzreece bmzreece
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The word "opiate" could indicate either, 1)a relaxing effect, or 2)a deadening, apathy-inducing effect. It seems, with its placement after "soft voluptuous" that "opiate" would here indicate a relaxing feeling. However, even assuming Whitman had wished to suggest apathy, this alternate "opiate" still indicates that his inevitable death does not bother him.
Avatar of bmzreece bmzreece
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Though discussing [his inevitable] Death, Whitman does not treat the event with sorrow. Rather, as indicated in the first line, this is almost a sensuous, beautiful event.
Avatar of bmzreece bmzreece
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In this case, "Twilight" stands for two natural events - 1)a just-completed sunset, and 2)the nearly-complete life of the poet: Just as the light disappears, so Whitman's life is vanishing. Whitman even uses the exact same word, "dispell'd" to describe both events.
Avatar of bmzreece bmzreece
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This short poem is a kind of variation of a haiku; a 3-line nature poem, in which the lines are [respectively] short-long-short, rather than the more strict 5-7-5 [the number of syllables in each respective line of a standard haiku].
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