Comments on: WITH HUSKY-HAUGHTY LIPS, O SEA!

By: Felicidad Bumby

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By: adamb

adamb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:50:22 +0000

Since the soul of the sea is a kindred soul to Whitman’s own, the problem of tasteless personification is resolved. When these words are applied to Whitman’s own soul, the personification is transformed into a kind of self-analysis. In looking at the sea, Whitman is also looking in the mirror:

By: adamb

adamb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:48:29 +0000

The poem’s literary devices are used to invoke the sights, sounds, and moods of the sea. The most obvious is personification. The sea has lips and dimples, it races, it smiles, it cries, it scowls, it feels lonely, it has a heart, it pants, hisses, mutters, laughs, and confesses. It is also applied to the sky (which is deaf). The heavy personification borders on the absurd, but works as a testament to Whitman’s ranting imagination

By: adamb

adamb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:47:21 +0000

Parallelism is used to heighten the tension. The sea starts out smiling, then becomes increasingly distraught with each line. The most effective use is found in the lines beginning with “thy”.

By: adamb

adamb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:45:55 +0000

“night” is also mentioned in line 19

By: adamb

adamb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:44:54 +0000

When these words are applied to Whitman’s own soul, the personification is transformed into a kind of self-analysis. In looking at the sea, Whitman is also looking in the mirror:

By: adamb

adamb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:44:12 +0000

By 1883, Whitman was a celebrated poet. In his actions and poetry, it’s easy to conclude that Whitman believed that he was greater than the rest. But all was not well in his personal life. Biographer David S. Reynolds mentions that in the 1880s, in addition to his semi-paralysis, there were “signs of severe psychological tension within the superficially stable poet.” (Reynolds 544).

By: adamb

adamb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:39:55 +0000

This brings the poem full circle back to Whitman. Whitman is more than a sympathetic ear or companion—his soul is kin to the sea’s. This is the most revealing line of the poem, the strongest link between the soul of the sea to the soul of Whitman. To what extent is Whitman a “kindred soul”? I propose the connection is deep—that soul of the sea is a near reflection of Whitman’s own soul.

By: adamb

adamb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:37:58 +0000

Whitman never reveals what the sea confessed, this “tale cosmic elemental passion”. This mystery is part of the poem’s beauty.

By: adamb

adamb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:36:31 +0000

The sea’s voice is appealing in vain to the sky in line 18. But it has finally found a confidant—Whitman. The use of the dash in the parentheses is powerful here because it jars the reader’s anticipation. In parentheses, where the reader expects a trough between waves, the poem shifts focus and rhythm. Whitman is back, though not as “I” but as the “phantom in the night”.