Courtney for 8/15
When I first started reading “Children of Adam” I was thinking that this was pretty far out for the 1890s. An excessive amount of literature theory classes have taught me to consider context and time frame when reading a given work, but I still have in my mind this archaic idea of what life must have been like before blogs and Twitter. I had to remind myself that people have always had the same sorts of longings and desires. Sex couldn’t have been much different in past centuries, but since it was not publicized as much as it is now, it’s hard to imagine.
Towards the end of class last Tuesday, we began to touch on the idea of the body and the soul. Whitman discusses the interconnectivity of the two, how they work together, how they are different, and how they are the same. This is a tricky idea, one that has been investigated by religion, science, medicine, and literature. Yes, we are bodies made up of pumping blood and muscles and bone. But we are also so much more. Just where do our parts stop and or souls begin? When you think about it, sex is a pretty perfect allegory to explain how although we are just animals composed of basic parts, it is what is inside of us that allows us to feel the experience of life.
After reading the article by Reynolds, I was honestly a little disappointed. What had started as this super-lusty poem that I was picturing as being offensive and vulgar actually seemed pretty tame. I changed my mind though, when I understood the context a little better, it only made the poem more beautiful. It’s not about sex. It’s not about heterosexuality or homosexuality. It’s just about the union between two souls. Regardless of gender, orientation or the nature of the relationship. Whitman says that he “will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America…” In a time when the nation was recovering after being ripped apart, turning brothers against brothers and neighbors against neighbors, Whitman asks simply for everyone to just get along. I took Whitman out of my mental category including Thoreau and Emerson and moved him in to the category with John Lennon and Bob Dylan.
Overall I got this message of “oneness.” Everything is connected and we need to accept our connections in open, positive ways. Whitman believes in love, every kind of love between men and women, men and men or women and women. He believes in relationships, every kind of relationships be them friendly, romantic or sexual. Just as our bodies are more than just the sum of our body parts, are lives must too be enriched by the company and camaraderie of others.
Filed under Uncategorized | Tags: ww02 | Comment (1)Courtney for 9/8
When Whitman writes about nature, he notices every detail. He reveals the majesty in the simplest of things. Likewise, when he writes about the city, he seems to study every individual. His observations reveal to the reader something familiar, but in an illuminated way. The America that Whitman saw in the bustling crowds of New York City was in its earliest stages, when what it meant to be an American was not yet defined.
Whitman looked out over the horizon and saw limitless possibilities. In “Song of the Open Road,” he makes it clear that men and women are capable of nearly anything. He encourages people to be strong, healthy, and brave. The essence of America is the land. Throughout all the differences that separate people, their tie to the land is one thing that holds everyone together. I feel more “American” when I’m travelling around the country, meeting new people and experiencing new things. Whitman speaks to these experiences and the importance of roaming around and connecting with the country.
Whitman speaks of the contradictions within himself. He seems perhaps overly aware of all the different people battling within him. Likewise, the blossoming America that spread before Whitman was one that was filled with different people all struggling to assert their own identity into the vastness. It is this commonality that I notice most in these poems that seek to define a thread that bonds us.
It is also clear that Whitman believes that all men and women have the capacity for greatness. In order for a community to thrive, all people must work together in equality. In Song of the Broad-Axe, he describes what will make a city great. Ironically, what he describes is a place where the people challenge the government and learn early to depend on themselves. This juxtaposition is a vital part of what makes America unique.
“Leaves of Grass” is a vital part of the American Literature cannon. It is an American novel in that it explicitly investigates what it means to be American. At the time that it was penned, America was a jumble of people struggling to find a common identity. Whitman addressed this not as a weakness, but as a strength. He understood that the journey is a vital step. Just as he emphasized the journey as an important part of the process of self-realization, he also saw that with time, America would fourish.
Filed under Uncategorized | Tags: ww02 | Comments (2)Courtney for 9/1
As Walt Whitman stares at me nonchalantly from the first page of “Leaves of Grass,” I feel that he is taking subtle revenge on every picture-taker that has forced a smile out of his subjects. I am reminded of picture day at school and I think how much happier I would have been had I been allowed to present myself in a way that was representative of myself. Instead, I like most kids was dressed up in frills and sent grinning in the cafeteria.
With his picture, Whitman says a thousand words. He presents himself immediately as an outdoorsmen, someone who has no use for fashion or pretense. He clearly does not care about presenting himself in a manner that would make him look professional or more like the other authors in his day. He seems to be saying that while he did indeed write this book, he in no way considers himself to be an author any more than he considers himself an adventurer. The clothes that he chose were probably what he wore on any given day; in choosing them he made a conscience effort to identify himself with the working class.
His stance reveals a certain amount of disinterest. With his hand in his pocket and his weight shifted on one hip, he seems almost like he is being bothered by this whole photographic endeavor. However, regardless of any appearance of nonchalance, all of these elements were still carefully chosen by Whitman to make a statement.
Whitman was perfectly aware that his work shirt and crooked hat was not the usual wardrobe for someone hoping to be viewed as a serious author. But, the expression of cadence on his face reveals that this calculated effort to appear effortless was exactly the point.
“Leaves of Grass” was unlike the other books being released in its time and likewise, Whitman had to appear to be a different kind of author. Although he indeed was going against the mainstream with his choice of this particular portrait, I think that the effect was carefully thought out. His appearance and ambiguity immediately distinguished him as different. He immediately set his work apart, shifting the attention from him as an author an allowing the book to speak for itself.
Whitman found magnificence in the simple things around him, and through “Leaves of Grass,” he inspires the reader to simplify his or her viewpoints and quietly examine all the beauty in the world. Likewise the image that Whitman chose to represent himself is a simplified version of himself. He presents himself with no context, no flashy persona, and with no attempt to appear to be something that he is not. The smirking face that greets the reader when he or she first opens “Leaves of Grass” provides a hint to what can be expected in the following pages, a close examination of the world as it is, not as some professional-looking author views it.
Filed under Uncategorized | Tags: ww02 | Comment (0)Song of Courtney
Myself moving forward then and now and forever,
Gathering and showing more always with velocity,
Infinite and omnigenous, and the like of these among them,
Not too exclusive toward the reachers of my remembrancers,
Picking out here one that I love, and now go with him on
brotherly terms.
I am most comfortable on the move. Too long in one place leaves me with an unsettled feeling that starts in my toes and slowly creeps up until it consumes me. This is likely due in some part to my upbringing. The baby of an overly-close and overly-protective family, it has fallen upon me to screw up repeatedly for most of my adolescence. Now faced with the frightening realization of graduation, a friend offered me some great advice, “Don’t worry too much, you have all year to screw it up.”
So here I am, working on a degree filled with everything from business to philosophy, biology to eastern religion, political science and one called “American Rebellion.” Starting this year I could have basically gone with any major I wanted. I chose English because; if I have to be studying something it might as well be something I actually like. I have no idea what I’ll do if I graduate, but I’m overwhelmingly excited about this course. I know I’ll never again have an opportunity like this. Who knows what’s I’ll be doing next year, but this year I’m studying Whitman.
Filed under Uncategorized | Tags: frontispiece, ww02 | Comment (0)