Jennifer E. for Sept 29

I sing the Body Electric

 

I sing the body electric, 

The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them, 

They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them, 

And corrupt them, and charge them full with the charge

     of the soul. 

Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies 

    conceal themselves?

And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?

And if the body does no do full as much as the soul?

And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?

 

I chose this section because I love how Whitman links all men and woman as children of Adam. This way Whitman says that no one should convict another. “Those who defile the living are as bad as those who defile the dead?” People who are considered criminals, felons, and most sinful are put in the same category as those who outcasts people and thinks they are better than them.  Whitman even puts himself on a pedestal and say he will “discorrupt them” and make them in other words feel immoral.  This way he will show that no one is better than the other and all men is created equal.

 

 

O my body! I dare desert the likes of you in other men

and women, nor the likes of the parts of you,

I believe the likes of you are to stand or fall with the likes of

      the soul , (and that they are soul,)

I believe the likes of you shall stand or fall with my poems,

and that they are my poems,

Man’s, woman’s, child’s, youth’s, wife’s, husband’s,

mother’s, father’s, young man’s, young woman’s poems,

Head, neck, hair, ears, drop and tympan of the ears,

Eyes, eye-fringes iris of the eye, eyebrows, and the waking

or sleeping of the lids.

 

Then in this part of “Children of Adam”, Whitman uses a lot of imagery describing human beings by describing the beauty of the human physique to compare their equality. This is a more darker and upfront Whitman because he is combining things such as wife and lips and husband and wife. Later, although I did not post it, Whitman goes more indepth by discussing  jaw hinges and to even the throats of people. At the same time, to the readers of the time period this poem can seem very disturbing and inappropriate because not only does he discuss human equality as a whole, he brings in sexuality and physical characteristics to discusss equality. I can not get over how dark this is due to the fact that Whitman has not gone to such a level as to speak about the “unspeakable”. However, Whitman’s message is coming across because he is showing that we all have the same physical features overall , whether it be an eyebrow or fingers, or even lips.

September 29 2009 09:50 pm | Uncategorized

One Response to “Jennifer E. for Sept 29”

  1. nadiae Says:
    October 1st, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    Hey so i’d have to agree with your take on what he has to say aobut each and everyones body part! I like how you you also say the imagery he writes into detail apsrt!

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