Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Muriel Rukeyser
I did not feel that Rukeyser and Whitman used the word "you" in the same manner. While Whitman stresses the sameness in you and the voice of the poem, Rukeyser is talking to you as a separate person from the voice of the poem. The exploration of death in this poem is a much more direct and specific image than the one that Whitman presents to us. I think in many ways this poem does not fully come to terms with death. At the end of the poem Rukeyser writes, "...fanatic cruel legend at our back and / speeding ahead the red and open west, / and this our region, / desire, field, beginning. Name and road, / communication to these many men, / as epilogue, seeds of unending love." I thought this meant that until the deaths of these men are communicated to the world as reality and fact instead of legend there cannot be peace in their deaths. To me and epilogue signifies and unfinished story and attempt to tie up the lose ends and maybe this poem is a way of giving those men an ending in their story but I'm not sure if its nearly as fulfilled as Whitman's resolution.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
9/11 Poetry & Whitman
One of the poems I felt was able to touch on collective loss similarly to Whitman was the poem "Photograph" by Wilslawa Szymborska. This poem focused on the way in which loss becomes trapped like a photograph in our memory saying, "The photograph halted them in life, / and now keeps them / above the earth toward the earth." Like Whitman, there is this emphasis on the link between the sky and the ground. This line is making an obvious reference to the the towers falling towards earth put also seems to allude to the lost lives existing now above the earth (in the heavens) looking down on the ground of earth.
The poem ends with, "I can do only two things for them- / describe this flight / and not add a last line." This presents a similar struggle that Whitman has with coping with loss. Whitman writes, "O how shall i warble myself for the dead one there I loved? / And how shall I deck my song for the large sweet soul that has gone? / And what shall my perfume be for the grave of him, I love?" It is a search for the appropriate gesture and language to remember a loss-the collective loss of thousands of people or the individual loss of one person. What is the right way to artistically represent a loss for the masses through a media like poetry? Especially because Whitman's idea of poetry was that it was only poetry if it was going to be read by a mass audience so how does one discuss such a serious topic in this matter? I think his poem is a narrative investigation of this question.
The conclusion both of these poets seems to come to is that the poem must not end in that the poem itself is the memory of the loss. So that by not adding the last line, that memory will be immortalized. Whitman says that, "I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring" so that the act of mourning is like the seasons-no matter how far off they seem they always return and always exist.
Both these poems speak to dealing with loss, however, Whitman is much more thorough in his poem. He seems really concerned with the natural way to express loss because although these feelings come on there own, "naturally", they never feel natural-loss always has a very uneasy and confusing twist to it. So Whitman is in search of "What shall my perfume be for the grave of him, I love?... These and with these and the breath of my chant, I'll perfume the grave of him I love."
The poem ends with, "I can do only two things for them- / describe this flight / and not add a last line." This presents a similar struggle that Whitman has with coping with loss. Whitman writes, "O how shall i warble myself for the dead one there I loved? / And how shall I deck my song for the large sweet soul that has gone? / And what shall my perfume be for the grave of him, I love?" It is a search for the appropriate gesture and language to remember a loss-the collective loss of thousands of people or the individual loss of one person. What is the right way to artistically represent a loss for the masses through a media like poetry? Especially because Whitman's idea of poetry was that it was only poetry if it was going to be read by a mass audience so how does one discuss such a serious topic in this matter? I think his poem is a narrative investigation of this question.
The conclusion both of these poets seems to come to is that the poem must not end in that the poem itself is the memory of the loss. So that by not adding the last line, that memory will be immortalized. Whitman says that, "I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring" so that the act of mourning is like the seasons-no matter how far off they seem they always return and always exist.
Both these poems speak to dealing with loss, however, Whitman is much more thorough in his poem. He seems really concerned with the natural way to express loss because although these feelings come on there own, "naturally", they never feel natural-loss always has a very uneasy and confusing twist to it. So Whitman is in search of "What shall my perfume be for the grave of him, I love?... These and with these and the breath of my chant, I'll perfume the grave of him I love."
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Whitman project
I found the assignment directed at Whitman and his peers to be very
interesting. I would like to further develop this topic but looking more
specifically at one of his peers we have not discussed in class. I
think a comparison between Herman Melville and Walt Whitman,
specifically that of Moby Dick, would allow for an exploration of
the ways in which both these authors are able to extensively catalog
details, experiences, and occurrences to engage the reader in an
investigation of American life; more specifically, maybe an
investigation of American democracy which was a prevalent theme in Leaves of Grass as well as in Moby Dick.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Tweet of the Week: Martin Tupper
Martin Farquhar Tupper was a writer and poet born in London in 1810. He is most famous for being the author of Proverbial Philosophy, a series of long didactic moralisings. Between 1856 and 1860, eight reviews, 7 of them from England, of Leaves of Grass mention Tupper in connection with Whitman.
Whitman in Popular Culture
1962 Old Crow Whiskey
Blades O' Grass Cigar Box
Twilight Zone Episode Entitled: I Sing the Body Electric
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Critical Reception
The three critical responses I choose to look at all seem to have read Leaves of Grass as this sort of absurd and unexplainable piece of writing that goes against all classic characteristics of what poetry is. However, despite this opposition to what the critic would normally find to be aesthetically pleasing, there is a sense of beauty that exists, and is even perpetuated, by the critics inability to pinpoint what exactly it is. These three critics seem to focus completely on the images created through Whitman's expansive cataloging. For instance, one of the anonymous critics wrote, "Many of the lines are such perfect pictures in themselves, that an artist might draw them without reference to any other material, and produce pictorial compositions" (The Merchant's Magazine and Commercial Review 34). The most important thing seems to be the beauty that lies in the imagery the poem creates. This is due in large to the fact that these critics are working on the assumption that a poems beauty is created through the classic ideas of poetry structure in addition to the images created and they seem to be portraying Leaves of Grass as a success in spite of instead of because of the unusual structure.
Another critic says that "They are destitute of rhyme, measure of feet, and the like, every condition under which poetry is generally understood to exist being absent; but in their strength of expression, their fervor, hearty wholesomeness, their originality, mannerism, and freshness, one finds them a singular harmony and flow, as if by reading, they gradually formed themselves into a melody, and adopted characteristics peculiar and appropriate to themselves alone"(The London Weekly Dispatch). This critic explains exactly what it is without even realizing it. Instead of Leave's of Grass being beautiful despite is lack of normal poetic structure, this critic shows that this is actually the exact reason it is beautiful.
Whitman's contemporary critics that I read placed much of the volumes importance within the framework of knowing who Walt Whitman is and only touch on the thematic significance of the book. One anonymous critic writes, "He will soon make his way into the confidence of his readers, and his poems in time will become pregnant text-book, out of which quotation as sterling as the minted gold will be taken and applied to every form and phase of the inner or the outer life; and we express our pleasure in making the acquaintance of Walt Whitman, hoping to know more of him in time to come." So on one hand, some of these critics are aware of the destined greatness of Whitman but no one is able to specify reasons for this. The underlying themes of the book and the meaning beyond Whitman as the narrator weren't discussed very much.
Another critic says that "They are destitute of rhyme, measure of feet, and the like, every condition under which poetry is generally understood to exist being absent; but in their strength of expression, their fervor, hearty wholesomeness, their originality, mannerism, and freshness, one finds them a singular harmony and flow, as if by reading, they gradually formed themselves into a melody, and adopted characteristics peculiar and appropriate to themselves alone"(The London Weekly Dispatch). This critic explains exactly what it is without even realizing it. Instead of Leave's of Grass being beautiful despite is lack of normal poetic structure, this critic shows that this is actually the exact reason it is beautiful.
Whitman's contemporary critics that I read placed much of the volumes importance within the framework of knowing who Walt Whitman is and only touch on the thematic significance of the book. One anonymous critic writes, "He will soon make his way into the confidence of his readers, and his poems in time will become pregnant text-book, out of which quotation as sterling as the minted gold will be taken and applied to every form and phase of the inner or the outer life; and we express our pleasure in making the acquaintance of Walt Whitman, hoping to know more of him in time to come." So on one hand, some of these critics are aware of the destined greatness of Whitman but no one is able to specify reasons for this. The underlying themes of the book and the meaning beyond Whitman as the narrator weren't discussed very much.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Tweet of the Week: Frances Wright
Frances Wright was a Scottish American Immigrant born in 1795. She moved to the US in 1818 at the age of 23 and spent 2 years traveling the country. She was a writer, lecturer, feminist, abolitionist, and social reformer. She co-founded The Free Inquirer newspaper, wrote for various other journals, and founded the Nashoba Commune in Tennessee in 1825. Walt Whitman great admired her.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
a song for occupations
I liked this poem a lot and one of the parts that stood out to me was when Whitman says in like 89-92 "If you were not breathing and walking here where would they all be? The most renowned poems would be ashes...orations and plays would be vacuums." Whitman is showing his equality and sameness to every reader by pointing out that he would not exist in the identity of a poet if we didn't exist. Therefore, we are just as important, if not more, than Whitman himself which seems to be a central theme in the poem.
In lines 1630-167 Whitman says,
I do not affirm what you see beyond is futile...I do not
advise you to stop,
I do not say leadings you thought great are not great,
But I say that none lead to greater or sadder or happier
that those lead to.
I found these lines to be very beautiful and I think what he is saying is that it doesn't matter what it is that leads you in life or gives you purpose or what you look forward to that gets you through each day, but instead it is the action of purpose that is important.
The main differences I noticed in this poem throughout the various editions were a shift from using ellipsis to using dashes to connect ideas and sentences. In addition, the dashes that already existed in the 1855 edition became, for the most part, commas. This is similar to Whitman's changes in "Leaves of Grass." I think it further proves the ideas discussed in class regarding the increased anxiety that came along with a larger audience. Instead of the readers being people Whitman knew personally, there was suddenly a mass audience that he had less and less control over. So these grammatical changes, in addition to changing the look and style of the poem, also seem to suggest that he is attempting to take more control over how his text is going to be interpreted.
The most interesting change I noticed between the 1855 and the 1856 edition was in the lines:
The wife, and she is not one jot less than the husband!
The daughter, and she is just as good as the son!
The mother, and she is every bit as much the father! (36-39)
In the 1855 edition the commas were dashes and the exclamation points were commas. The use of the exclamation points really stood out to me, although I'm not entirely sure why.
In lines 1630-167 Whitman says,
I do not affirm what you see beyond is futile...I do not
advise you to stop,
I do not say leadings you thought great are not great,
But I say that none lead to greater or sadder or happier
that those lead to.
I found these lines to be very beautiful and I think what he is saying is that it doesn't matter what it is that leads you in life or gives you purpose or what you look forward to that gets you through each day, but instead it is the action of purpose that is important.
The main differences I noticed in this poem throughout the various editions were a shift from using ellipsis to using dashes to connect ideas and sentences. In addition, the dashes that already existed in the 1855 edition became, for the most part, commas. This is similar to Whitman's changes in "Leaves of Grass." I think it further proves the ideas discussed in class regarding the increased anxiety that came along with a larger audience. Instead of the readers being people Whitman knew personally, there was suddenly a mass audience that he had less and less control over. So these grammatical changes, in addition to changing the look and style of the poem, also seem to suggest that he is attempting to take more control over how his text is going to be interpreted.
The most interesting change I noticed between the 1855 and the 1856 edition was in the lines:
The wife, and she is not one jot less than the husband!
The daughter, and she is just as good as the son!
The mother, and she is every bit as much the father! (36-39)
In the 1855 edition the commas were dashes and the exclamation points were commas. The use of the exclamation points really stood out to me, although I'm not entirely sure why.
Monday, February 20, 2012
tweet of the week
bowery b'hoy: the comedy of a culture in rapid transition
The Bowery b'hoy and his g'hal were iconic symbols of working class spirits in the two decades preceding the Civil War in New York City. During the 1830s the "Bowery was best known for its entertainment possibilities, which included cheap dancehalls, dime museums, billiard salons, rowdy theaters, performing animals, and boxing." This icon was based upon the culture and dress of the real working class people of New York and eventually became a character type "depicted in print and onstage, a symbolic figure that represented the rise of commercial culture and the decline in the status of skilled trades that were altering social relations."The American Museum, under Barnum's ownership in the 1840s and 1850s, put on exhibitions that attracted the working class Bowery crowd. However, due to his desire to bring in more respectable patrons, he replaced much of these exhibitions with moral stage dramas.
"B'hoy and g'hal are meant to evoke an Irish pronunciation of boy and gal and were commonly used slang words used by the Bowery crowd. The Bowery Boys gang were prominent in New York City's Five Points district. They were a nativist, anti-Catholic, and anti-Irish gang that are even written about in Herbert Asbury's Gangs of New York.
The Bowery b'hoy and his g'hal were iconic symbols of working class spirits in the two decades preceding the Civil War in New York City. During the 1830s the "Bowery was best known for its entertainment possibilities, which included cheap dancehalls, dime museums, billiard salons, rowdy theaters, performing animals, and boxing." This icon was based upon the culture and dress of the real working class people of New York and eventually became a character type "depicted in print and onstage, a symbolic figure that represented the rise of commercial culture and the decline in the status of skilled trades that were altering social relations."The American Museum, under Barnum's ownership in the 1840s and 1850s, put on exhibitions that attracted the working class Bowery crowd. However, due to his desire to bring in more respectable patrons, he replaced much of these exhibitions with moral stage dramas.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Specimen Days: "Only a New Ferry Boat"
Jan. 12, '82. -- Such a show as the Delaware presented an hour before sundown yesterday evening, all along between Philadelphia and Camden, is worth weaving into an item. It was full tide, a fair breeze from the southwest, the water of a pale tawny color, and just enough motion to make things frolicsome and lively. Add to these an approaching sunset of unusual splendor, a broad tumble of clouds, with much golden haze and profusion of beaming shaft and dazzle. In the midst of all, in the clear drab of the afternoon light, there steam'd up the river the large, new boat, "the Wenonah," as pretty an object as you could wish to see, lightly and swiftly skimming along, all trim and white, cover'd with flags, transparent red and blue, streaming out in the breeze. Only a new ferry-boat, and yet in its fitness comparable with the prettiest product of Nature's cunning, and rivaling it. High up in the transparent ether gracefully balanced and circled four or five great sea hawks, while here below, amid the pomp and picturesqueness of sky and river, swam this creation of artificial beauty and motion and power, in its way no less perfect.
Whitman's ability to perfectly describe what seem like unimportant events is how he is able to so thoroughly engage the reader in his poetry. In "Song of Myself" it is his emaculate attention to the details in his descriptions of events that works as the vehicle for for submerging the reader in the experience.
Whitman's ability to perfectly describe what seem like unimportant events is how he is able to so thoroughly engage the reader in his poetry. In "Song of Myself" it is his emaculate attention to the details in his descriptions of events that works as the vehicle for for submerging the reader in the experience.
Myself in "Song of Myself"
Occurrences of myself in "Song of Myself"
I celebrate myself, and go bathe and admire myself, but they are not the Me myself, all just as immortal and fathomless as myself, adorning myself to bestow myself on the first that will take me, in all people i see myself, I dote on myself, I went myself first to the headland... my own hands carried me there, where the pear shaped balloon is floating aloft... floating in it myself and looking composedly down, I help myself to material and immaterial, I turn the bridegroom out of bed and stay with the bride myself, I myself become the wounded person, I discover myself on a verge of the usual mistake, and henceforth posses you to myself, myself waiting my time to be one of the supremes, putting myself here and now to the ambushed womb of the shadows!, I acknowledge the duplicates of myself under all the scrape-lipped and pipe-legged concealments, and would fetch you whoever you are flush with myself, it is time to explain myself, it is you talking just as much as myself, nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself, I contradict myself.
"Where the pear-shaped balloon is floating aloft... floating in it myself and looking composedly down Where the life-car is drawn on the slipnoose... where the heat hatches pale-green eggs in the dented sand, Where the she-wale swims with her calves and never forsakes them..."Whitman creates this persona of "myself" that is both the narrator and Whitman and yet exists outside both of them. In doing so, the reader is interacting with "myself"/persona that represents anyone and everyone. This persona brings in the reader through these detailed occurrences so that it goes beyond just relating to the poem; the reader and "myself" evolve into inspiring the reader.
"I help myself to material and immaterial, No guard can shut me off, no law can prevent me."
"I do not ask the wounded person how he feels... I myself become the wounded person, My hurt turns livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe."Because the persona of "myself" is neither Whitman or the narrator, or completely separate of them, as the relationship between the reader and "myself" develops, the reader becomes entranced by the poem and is able to interchangeably become "myself" without even realizing it. So while reading this line, the reader feels as if this is something he/she is doing.
Summary
I found the repetition of this motif to create a pattern within the poem as a sort of contraction and expansion of consciousness. The word "myself" represents more than just the narrators voice; it becomes its own persona that is connected to Whitman but also exists outside of him. The persona as represented through"myself" goes through a development that is mapped throughout the poem with the paralleling development of the reader. The reader's involvement with "myself" becomes integral in this evolution. Whitman created broad lists or catalogues in which "the persona dissolves into an astounding range of particulars, are the heights of consciousness" as Ken Egan describes in his essay, Periodic Structure in "Song of Myself." Whitman is breaking past simply allowing the reader to identify into the realm of inspiration. The persona of "myself" works by bringing the reader into catalogues of experiences so that both the persona and the reader are living out the experience as opposed to simply talking about it. These catalogues are "both vivid in detail and massive in geographic and social scale, ranging from city, to farm, to wilderness, and again, ranging through all occupations and races"(Egan). John Mason describes this as "the reader, through a process of skimming and condensation, forms a single image of each catalogue and finally a single image of that unnamable reward which awaits the poet and the reader."
Poetry of the Future
"To-day, something else is wanted. For us the greatest poet is he who in his works most stimulates the readers imagination and reflection, who excites him the most himself to poetize. The greatest poet is not he who has done the best; it is he who suggests the most; he, not all of whose meaning is at first obvious, and who leaves you much to desire, to explain, to study, much to complete in your turn." Whitman beautifully quotes Sainte-Beuve in his "Poetry of the Future"(1881) published in the North American Review. A very interesting, although slightly long, read that explains much of what Whitman felt poetry and the poet was.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
"CONVULSIVENESS"
As I have look'd over the proof-sheets of the preceding pages, I have once or twice fear'd that my diary would prove, at best, but a batch of convulsively written reminiscences. Well, be it so. They are but parts of the actual distraction, heat, smoke and excitement of those times. The war itself, with the temper of society preceding it, can indeed be best described by that very word convulsiveness.
I found this entry to be to be incredibly relevant to "Leaves of Grass." Whitman believed that the ultimate source of poetry came from within the individual artist and this flowing of words as poetry onto a piece of paper is perfectly described in the the word convulsiveness. The dictionary sites cataclysm, earthquake, paroxysm, storm, tempest, tumult, upheaval, and uproar as synonyms to convulsion and I think that is what Whitman experienced when writing poetry; a complete outpour of emotion. I also found the parallel between the society that precedes a war and a life that precedes an individual really striking.
I found this entry to be to be incredibly relevant to "Leaves of Grass." Whitman believed that the ultimate source of poetry came from within the individual artist and this flowing of words as poetry onto a piece of paper is perfectly described in the the word convulsiveness. The dictionary sites cataclysm, earthquake, paroxysm, storm, tempest, tumult, upheaval, and uproar as synonyms to convulsion and I think that is what Whitman experienced when writing poetry; a complete outpour of emotion. I also found the parallel between the society that precedes a war and a life that precedes an individual really striking.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Favorite lines from "Song of Myself"...
"I hear and behold God in every object, yet I understand God not in the least, Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself"(Lines 1272-1275).
After reading "Song of Myself" in its entirety, this section really stood out to me. Upon rereading it a few times it was these two lines that seemed to sum up the ideas that made the page so significant to me. What Whitman is saying within these lines is that his understanding of who God is and God's place in life is everything and nothing at the same time; God is so significant that he sees him in "each hour of the twenty-four", in the faces of all the people around him, and in every occurrence of each day. However, in seeing God in everything, no matter how significant, he becomes ordinary and thus insignificant to some degree. The point that Whitman is making is that in many ways, putting so much importance and meaning in the symbol of God, like many other things, takes away from the ideas that God represents. In other words, to focus on the iconic symbol of God is irrelevant and instead Whitman is asking the reader to delve deeper and find curiosity in the mankind that is represented through such a symbol. I also thought that this idea had a lot of relevance to the poem as a whole. Whitman reiterates throughout the poem the need to feel and touch, to "unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!", and to be "...the caresser of life wherever moving..." He is telling the reader to let go and allow oneself to breath in life so that you can find "A morning glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books." What I took from all of this was the contentment that can be achieved in finding beauty and significance in the ordinary experience of life instead of looking for it in things that are unattainable. Whitman's focus on being engaged in the sensual experience of life reminds me a lot of a book entitled Into the Light of Things which also happens to be written by George Leonard, a humanities professor at SFSU.
After reading "Song of Myself" in its entirety, this section really stood out to me. Upon rereading it a few times it was these two lines that seemed to sum up the ideas that made the page so significant to me. What Whitman is saying within these lines is that his understanding of who God is and God's place in life is everything and nothing at the same time; God is so significant that he sees him in "each hour of the twenty-four", in the faces of all the people around him, and in every occurrence of each day. However, in seeing God in everything, no matter how significant, he becomes ordinary and thus insignificant to some degree. The point that Whitman is making is that in many ways, putting so much importance and meaning in the symbol of God, like many other things, takes away from the ideas that God represents. In other words, to focus on the iconic symbol of God is irrelevant and instead Whitman is asking the reader to delve deeper and find curiosity in the mankind that is represented through such a symbol. I also thought that this idea had a lot of relevance to the poem as a whole. Whitman reiterates throughout the poem the need to feel and touch, to "unscrew the locks from the doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!", and to be "...the caresser of life wherever moving..." He is telling the reader to let go and allow oneself to breath in life so that you can find "A morning glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books." What I took from all of this was the contentment that can be achieved in finding beauty and significance in the ordinary experience of life instead of looking for it in things that are unattainable. Whitman's focus on being engaged in the sensual experience of life reminds me a lot of a book entitled Into the Light of Things which also happens to be written by George Leonard, a humanities professor at SFSU.
"We open our eyes and ears seeing life each day as excellent as it is. This realization no longer needs art." -John Cage
Thursday, January 26, 2012
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