“To celebrate the need of comrades…”
Nov 12th, 2009 by Elma Lena Porobic
After having discussed the phrenological term “adhesiveness” this Saturday during our class, used to refer to the attachment between men, the word “comrade” caught my attention while I was reading “In Paths Untrodden” from the “Calamus” cluster. “Adhesiveness” and “comrade” evoke at first “sticky or gluey” and “a companion or a member of the Communist Party”, respectively, however both bearing a hidden connotation. Notably, taking into consideration that “Calamus” takes its name from an herb with pointy, narrow leaves which shape is suggestive of an erect phallus, that the poems in the “Calamus” cluster are held together by the sentiment of “male bonding” or “manly attachment”, that the title of this poem is very suggestive (“paths untrodden”), we start seeing the word “comrade” in a different light. Isn’t it beautiful to reveal layer by layer all what words comprise? I looked up the word “comrade” and this is what I found:
1. Middle French camarade group of soldiers sleeping in one room, roommate, companion;
2. One that shares the same sleeping quarters as another;
2.a. One that shares the same fortunes or experiences as another: intimate friend;
2.b. Companion
2.c. Comrade-in-arms (his fallen comrades)
3. Communist
I was intrigued by an image denoting something military, obedient to rules and commands, a strict pro-regime system, but also denoting love, intimacy, devotion, affection and sharing, all along paths untrodden, forbidden, disdained and unaccepted.
WORKS CITED:
“comrade” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1993.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass: First and “Death-Bed” Editions. New York: Barnes& Noble Books, 2004.
Hi Elma,
This excellent post really made me think in a fresh way about Whitman’s word– it’s funny that as a native English speaker I gloss too easily over the word “comrade”/”camarado” and just think of the definition you list as 2a above, an intimate friend with shared experience. But really the resonance of the military and of obedience that you write about is a rich tension in the word. It implies something about the possible difficulties this pair or group will face as they forge their new society, and the intensity of loyalty and shared commitment that will be required of them, despite Whitman’s optimism. Though of course Whitman would not have known about communism, I am curious about how that meaning affects readers there– probably much more powerfully than for me and my students here in Virginia, I think.
Dear Mara,
At times, being a non-native speaker makes reading poetry more difficult and time-consuming, however, I agree with you that it is also an advantage for it forces us to pay more attention to words trying to grasp the right meaning. Even though, the word “comrade” seems more or less very clear and self-explicable, it has caught my attention exactly because of this military resonance, and all the tension formulated when contrasting that aspect with the more obvious connotation- a companion or intimate friend, as I wrote in my post. Certainly, my being aware of this not so obvious military connotation of the word has to do with the history and influences of communism on the development of culture and society of this region. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.