Comments on: Whitman’s Procreative Men and Women

By: garyrichards

garyrichards — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:54:18 +0000

Thanks, both Sams, for responding. I always fret that these images may be too tangential to be productive to discussion, but perhaps they’re useful after all. S-words Sam, you elegantly phrase how this image and others may provide a reminder of the very embodiment in which Whitman is so invested.

Tallersam Sam, I suspect geography was certainly a factor in differentiating procreative patterns, but some upper-middle-class Northern families would have kept up the high patterns of reproduction as a means of establishing that they had the economic power to support all those persons. But class and religion may have had as much to do with variations as region. Recall, say, Willa Cather’s Catholic Midwest and its families’ large numbers or Anzia Yezierska’s turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrant families of New York City and their large numbers. These repressentations are fictional yet rooted in historical accuracy.

By: s-words

s-words — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:21:31 +0000

Interesting how that historical context adds greater heft and clarity to Whitman’s infinitely open, and consequently rather abstract, embrace of “mothers and the mothers of mothers, …children and the begetters of children” (33). His phrasing always seemed to encompass many generations through one generation’s relative relationship to the rest, but this image reminds us of how much flesh and bone he meant to spread his arms across.

By: tallersam

tallersam — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:07:58 +0000

Seeing as how my grandparents just finished a whirlwind weekend visit, this ancestry thing is fresh on my mind. My mere 8 first cousins makes me feel pretty insignificant compared to Rachel White (imagine the family birthdays parties!).
More on-topic, it would be interesting to see how the birth rate varied, depending on the part of the country. The North-South difference intrigues me; since the north was more industrialized, I would guess that the birthrate there would be lower? I wonder what the ancestries of those with northern roots would look like.
My personal American roots only extend back as far as the early twentieth century, as all my great-greats arrived around then (either from Germany or Canada).