Specimen Days IV: Crows and Crows

This is a very simple passage. A scene of Walt resting by a creek after a walk and watching crows fly overhead. It's so simple, so straightforward, that I feel there are many ways you can look at it.

For one, there is the growing darkness in the sky, which we could very easily connect to the growing tensions of the war that Whitman was witnessing. There's also the idea of movement, the crows flying together and part, side to side, etc. They are a symbol of change, which was something else Whitman could relate to. Then, finally, there is the notion of passing. This section ends with the crows flying into the woods, out of sight with only their caws for Whitman to hear. It's kind of optimistic if you think about it, a "this to shall pass" moment to give Whitman hope.

Tweet-a-Week V: Frances Wright

Whitman, while awesome in his sense of free thinking and nonconformity, was not the first of his kind. Neither was Frances Wright, but she did come first. A Scottish activist who proclaimed many of the ideas that Whitman would later absorb and spew back into the world in his own creative way, Wright was one of many major influences on Whitman's life and work. Whitman even saw her speak a few times, and read some of her work. As a young person trying to find his way in the world, I can see how a strong, loud, confident figure like Wright would be an inspiration. She was someone who understood some of the ideals that Whitman felt passionate for, and she helped first put to words those emotions that Whitman would come to express on his own in Leaves of Grass. They are birds of a feather, so it makes sense that they would stick together.

You Were Just Always Talking 'Bout Changing...

Writing has a way of evolving, in many ways. Along with the very broad sense of literature changing over the years, a writer is constantly re-evaluating, reinventing, re-visualizing their own work. This process doesn't stop just because you have been lucky enough to be published. If anything, I would think that would make it worse. People can actually read your stuff now! The desire to make it absolutely perfect probably increases tenfold.

Whitman was not exempt from this. In each new addition of Leaves of Grass, Whitman makes subtle edits, always striving to make it that much better. Even something as (seemingly) simple as changing the title of a piece can have a major effect. For example, the one that stood out the most to me was how Song of Myself became Poem of Walt Whitman, An American in the 1856 version. That title is so much more specific. "Myself" could be anyone, it could be whoever you the reader want, whether that be Walt, yourself, your neighbor; you are given much more freedom of interpretation. But now, it's Walt Whitman. But he doesn't stop there, oh no. He's Walt Whitman, An American. Knowing the times that Whitman lived through, that is a very powerful statement. Think about it. He's not a Northerner or a Southerner, which was probably a big deal at that time. He's an American, part of a whole, part of something big and great and idealistic.


I think that as the years went on, Whitman not only learned about his poem, his writing style; he learned about himself. Which, considering the fact that he was writing "A Song of Himself", is a major factor. The more he learns about himself, the clear the vision for what he wants to express. And that's the beauty of revision. Constant growth.

Tweet-a-Week IV: Bowery B'hoys

((Oh no. Illness setting in. Quick post QUICK POST.))

So Bowey B'hoys were apparently a New York gang in the mid 19th century. Nativist, anti-Catholic, anti-Irish, flashy and violent, they made quite a still during their time.

From what I can tell, Whitman could have at the very least related to these boys in the sense that they were going against the norm, fighting the expectations of those higher up than them. the boys were also primarily single males, so there's a kind of sexual freedom there that Whitman seemed fond of. They also had a heavy influence on language, coming up with their own distinct slang, and anyone interested in creative writing or literature can appreciate those who have power over language.

All-in-all, they were a very outspoken group, that could relate to our poet simply by making a statement.

((...Oh my head...))

I'd Rather Be Blue

Whitman made lots of notes on his own work, and hey, who doesn't? Really, no one is ever satisfied with what you make. There's always something you think you can do to make it better. Ah, the curse of art.

Anywho, I found the annotations on page 51 of The Blue Book to be quite interesting. Admittedly this page is not as note heavy as was probably ideal, but there were two things I found interesting.

First, was Whitman's decision to change the "e" in "earth" from a capitol to a lower-case. A capitol "Earth", seems more... I don't know, formal? Respectful? It's a proper noun, a name, it's giving a bit more life to it, I feel. Almost as if you are talking about a person. Which , if you look at the line, almost makes more sense.

"Far-swooping, elbowed Earth! Rich, apple-blossomed
        Earth!
Smile, for YOUR LOVER comes!" (Blue Book version)

Whitman is speaking of/ to the earth as a personified figure. So really, it would make sense to capitalize the "e". So I find it curious that he decided to change that, to take away that little bit of extra personification. (Although apparently he agreed, because the 1860 version capitalizes the "e" again. Curiouser and curiouser).

Next, in Whitman's notes, he completely crosses out the following line:

"Thruster holding me tight, and that I hold tight!
We hurt each other as the bridegroom and the bride
         hurt each other."

And yet, this line still appears in the 1855 and the 1860 version almost completely unchanged. HOWEVER, the line is removed in the 1867 version. While not my favorite line in the poem, I wonder what it is about it that bothered Whitman. Or even more, what saved it for those first two versions. Cutting out an entire stanza is a tough choice for a writer. And to go back and forth like that means that there had to have been something about it that both bothered Whitman and spoke to him, because he only ever included it, or removed it. He never changed it.

I dunno. I find it interesting...

How the Years Turn

The differences between the 1855 and the 1860 version of Leaves of Grass was surprising. Amazing what can happen in five years, yeah?

The main difference I noticed was also the most obvious: The difference in the physical structure of the poem. For whatever reason, five years later having a poem almost completely left-justified wasn't cool any more, so the poem appears more staggered. The lines themselves are different, too, with the lines beginning and ending on different words than the 1855 version. It makes the lines appear shorter, the column narrower. This might be a personal thing, but I like it better that way. First of all, I find it more visually pleasing to see a bit of movement in the words themselves. Secondly, I think there's a psychological thing with the narrower column. I think it almost makes the poem appear less daunting, as opposed to a much more full page of words. It also makes it easier for your eyes to jump from line to line, so it reads a bit smoother.

I can't help but wonder what the motivation was for that decision. Either way, quite interesting....

Specimen Days III: Locusts and Katydids

I very much enjoyed this particular excerpt. In it, Whitman describes the sounds (music) made by locusts and katydids. I mostly liked it because he paints such a beautiful picture of locusts and the sounds they make. Locusts are generally associated with very negative things, plagues, insects, and are usually viewed as another type of vermin. I love the way Whitman is able to look past the general stigma of these creature, and look at them with fresh eyes, and in doing so, forces me to do the same. What can I say? I'm a sucker for "ugly" things with pretty words.

Tweet-a-Week III: Oneida Community

Based in Oneida, New York, the Oneida Community was a religious sect focused on the practices of John Humphrey Noyes. Noyes believed in "Perfectionism", meaning once you're a Christian, you're saved from all your sins forever. The Community was most well known for it's polygamous nature. Declaring "complex marriage", it was actually a rule that every man was considered married to every woman, and vise versa.

Whitman, and Leaves of Grass, does have many sexual themes associated with it. As such, many parallels could be drawn between Whitman and the Oneida Community due to the similar nature of their "free love". There is also a parallel between the lack of boundaries between people. The "every man married to every woman, and every woman married to every man" thing, kind of reminds me of Whitman's constant "I am you and you are me" declarations made in Song of Myself. I can see how Whitman would find inspiration from this unorthodox group of people.

Speaking of Whitman...

Whitman's Peers

Writers, while each having their own distinct voice and style, can still learn a lot from each other. It's why creative writing classes bother teaching other writers at all. As such, many connections can be made between authors. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Village Blacksmith, has a similar feel of independence to Whitman, however there are also notable differences. Longfellow does not convey the same connection to nature as Whitman does, nor the value of loafing, instead displaying a hard and studious worker. Also, the structure of the poem differs, with Longfellow having a steady ababcdcd pattern, while Whitman uses freeverse.

Anne C. Lynch's An Imitaion also follows a rigid structure (this time aabb ccdd) that differs from Whitman, but she does find more of an adventure in nature, describing her journey up a mountain. John Greenleaf Whitter's The Hunters of Men follows the same structure as Lynch, but focuses more on people than setting. His poem reminds me of Whitman because it depicts conflict between people, and how they are hunting their fellow man. This could relate to Whitman's feelings during the build up and eventual start of the Civil War.

Specimen Days II: To the Spring and Brook

This was a very beautifully simple excerpt. Whitman describes the sounds of a small brook. When writing, it is easy to forget certain senses. It is easy to describe surroundings, imagery being one of those staples you are taught for any form of creative writing. It is easy to forget that sound can also be conveyed, even through written word. Whitman describes the music of nature in a way that makes you really hear it. He also ties it in with lovely metaphor, commenting on how he, like the brook, will "express what I have gather'd in my days and progress". And that is exactly what "A Song of Myself" is. It is the collection of Whitman's experiences conveyed through poetry. I can see why Whitman connected with nature so much.

Tweet-a-Week II: Barnum's American Museum

Unlike what typically comes to mind when thinking of a museum, Barnum's was a bit more on the eccentric side. Located on Broadway in New York, the museum housed various human oddities such as a 25-inch tall dwarf, a fiji mermaid, siamese twins, etc.

I can see the appeal, especially to any kind of poet. One of the goals of creative writing is to force the audience to look at things in a new or unusual way; to change their way of thinking, if only temporarily. This museum seems like a good physical example of that, by showing something we are obviously very familiar with (humans) and displaying the ways in which they vary from the norm.

Much inspiration could be drawn from a place like that. Wish I could see it...

See How the Children Laugh as They Dance Between the Graves

I like kids. What can I say? They're cute, I've worked with them frequently, and yeah, I'm a young healthy female so I've got the whole "biological clock" thing kicking. Sue me.

Whatever the reason, reading through "Song of Myself", Whitman references children, or youth, quite frequently. Seriously. Quite. Frequently. This is gonna be a long blog...

Anywho, I find this motif, especially the way Whitman uses it, to be very flexible. Imagine CHILDREN being the center of one of those fancy cluster diagrams.

First, a child is one of the best examples of tabula rasa. Innocence, a blank slate, etc. There is even a Bible verse saying to be like children in order to enter Heaven (Matthew 18:3). Whitman was living in a time of turmoil, with war slowly approaching on the horizon. 

"There was never any more inception than there is now, 
Nor any more youth or age than there is now, 
And will never be any more perfection than there is now, 
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now." (pg.2)

"Births have brought us richness and variety, 

And other births will bring us richness and variety." (pg.37)

More so, the country was at a crossroad. There was a  pretty equal chance of America continuing to exist as a slave country, or becoming a truly free country. There was a new generation that would be raised in one of these worlds. Fragile minds to be molded one way or another. That's some scary opportunity there. 

Because if we've been told anything whenever we're caught cussing within twenty feet of a playground, it's that children are impressionable. So really, that generation that could be raised on love and equality of man, could also very easily be taught about inferiority between races.

"The child is baptized, the convert is making his first professions," (pg.10)

The children are our future. Sends a shiver down your spine, yeah? 

Expanding on innocence, kids are fragile. Thus, in "Song of Myself", Whitman also gives a sense of children needing to be protected. Now you, as the reader, may relate in either position: as the protector, or the one needing protection.

"Not a youngster is taken for larceny but I go up too, and am tried 

and sentenced." (pg.31)

Moving on, we get to a point we discussed in class: Nature. More specific, how children relate to nature. As Hanley stated, children are much more in tune with their senses. It's not until we are older that we begin relying on silly things like logic and reason. Kids go by touch, instinct. And they question things that deserve questioning but adults often overlook.

"A child said What is the grass? fetching it to me with full hands; 

How could I answer the child? I do not know what it is any more than he." (pg.4)

"Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation." (pg.4)

"The youngster and the red-faced girl turn aside up the bushy hill, 

I peeringly view them from the top." (pg.5)

"The youth lies awake in the cedar-roof'd garret and harks to the 

musical rain," (pg.10)

I think kids respect nature more than adults, because they haven't had their sense of awe and wonder beaten out of them yet...

Next, we get to tie in with another one of Whitman's fun motifs. SEX. Because come on, if you're gonna talk about sex that much, you're eventually gonna be faced with one of the natural results of sex. Children. 

"The young sister holds out the skein while the elder sister winds it 

off in a ball, and stops now and then for the knots, 
The one-year wife is recovering and happy having a week ago borne 
her first child, 
The clean-hair'd Yankee girl works with her sewing-machine or in the 
factory or mill," (pg.10)

Kids are also a natural symbol of life. The beginning of that circle everyone goes on about...

"I pass death with the dying and birth with the new-wash'd babe, and 

am not contain'd between my hat and boots, 
And peruse manifold objects, no two alike and every one good, 
The earth good and the stars good, and their adjuncts all good." (pg.5)

"What do you think has become of the young and old men? 

And what do you think has become of the women and children?" (pg.5)

"I know I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt 

stick at night." (pg.14)

"It cannot fail the young man who died and was buried, 

Nor the young woman who died and was put by his side, 
Nor the little child that peep'd in at the door, and then drew back 
and was never seen again, 
Nor the old man who has lived without purpose, and feels it with 
bitterness worse than gall," (pg.37)

...So Whitman pairs it seamlessly with the other end of the circle: Death. Young and old. Which, in my opinion, actually gives the poem an interesting sense of immortality. Not of the individual, but of the whole. One dies as another is born. A never ending, smooth cycle of life going on.

But now let's move beyond the birth itself, and look at the implications. For when a child is born, so is a mother.

"Tenderly will I use you curling grass, 

It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men, 
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them, 
It may be you are from old people, or from offspring taken soon out 
of their mothers' laps, 
And here you are the mothers' laps." (pg.4)

"I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men and women, 

And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring taken 
soon out of their laps." (pg.4)

"Every kind for itself and its own, for me mine male and female, 

For me those that have been boys and that love women, 
For me the man that is proud and feels how it stings to be slighted, 
For me the sweet-heart and the old maid, for me mothers and the 
mothers of mothers, 
For me lips that have smiled, eyes that have shed tears, 
For me children and the begetters of children." (pg.5)

"Where the she-whale swims with her calf and never forsakes it," (pg.24)

"Carrying the crescent child that carries its own full mother in its belly," (pg.26)

"The mother of old, condemn'd for a witch, burnt with dry wood, her 

children gazing on," (pg.27)

"By the mechanic's wife with her babe at her nipple interceding for 

every person born," (pg.34)

"Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me, 

My embryo has never been torpid, nothing could overlay it." (pg.38)

Mothers are protection, they are a guiding force. They are the nurturing that may determine a child's fate. Think Virgin Mary here. Whitman weaves in a sense of love, dedication, and heritage simply by mentioning that these children are not alone. They have mothers.

Finally, through kids, Whitman displays a theme of growth. 

"I am of old and young, of the foolish as much as the wise, 

Regardless of others, ever regardful of others, 
Maternal as well as paternal, a child as well as a man," (pg.11)

"Come my children, 

Come my boys and girls, my women, household and intimates, 
Now the performer launches his nerve, he has pass'd his prelude on 
the reeds within." (pg.34)

"No shutter'd room or school can commune with me, 

But roughs and little children better than they." (pg.41)

"O span of youth! ever-push'd elasticity! 

O manhood, balanced, florid and full." (pg.38)

Let me tell you something, kids are not. stagnant. In ANY WAY. Trust me, they don't even know the meaning of the word (and I'm not even taking a crack at the educational system). Children are constantly in movement, physically (running, playing, experiencing the world), and mentally (learning, questioning, wondering). They are always growing, in some way. Part of the appeal of Whitman's poetry is the idea of the poem changing you (remember in class? It was like that crazy math thing were you go in the box and... whatever, you know what I mean). So Children can be a good way to express this, the idea that through whatever you experience in this poem, you may grow up a little, or perhaps regain some of the childishness that you had lost. But either way, same as a child, you will grow.

So there you have it. One of the reasons I love this motif, and why I chose it in the first place, is because of the way it weave within several other motifs as well. It is a backbone, giving substance and meaning throughout the entire poem in a way that is easy to relate to and envision. 

Peace out, chitlens.