Walt Whitman and Humanity
Walt Whitman was a transcendentalist poet, who was the first American to use free write. He puts to use imagery and creates numerous ideas and thoughts. He wrote various poems including: "Song of Myself" and "When Lilacs in the Dooryard Bloom'd". When reading these particular poems, Whitman seems to be concerned not simply with himself, but with all of humanity. These poems supply us with convincing evidence of this notion. The five main points are that; Whitman uses I in the collective form, celebration of being an American, national figures death, patterns of life, death, and rebirth, and the peoples' connection with nature. "I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume, you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you"(1.1-3). Whitman begins "Song of Myself", with these confident lines. In these few words he explains that when he celebrates and sings, we should also be celebrating and singing. That we are all connected together and what he knows we also know. When he continues on in the poem he is not singularly referring to himself but everybody, that all have these thoughts and ideas. This is why he uses grass in the question that the child ask
Another reason it appeared that Whitman was concerned with all of humanity was how he thought that life was cyclical. That it was a pattern of life, death, and rebirth. Most everything follows this cycle; from the plants to humans we all are ever continuing. Everybody moves onward and upward, never failing to keep going. This is so that we would not be anxious about death, since it is not a frightful thing. Sometime it could even be better to leave then to be the one left behind. "They themselves were fully at rest, they suffer'd not, The living remain'd and suffer'd, the mother suffer'd, the wife and the child and the musing comrade suffer'd, And the armies that remain'd suffer'd" (15. 181-185). With dying, a person is not losing they are just moving on to fill another position. With Whitman philosophy that life was cyclical, it showed how there is never really an end just a continuing path, always twisting and turning. Coinciding with the above examples, Whitman also uses nature to unite humanity. He draws the people together with this common ground since we all can relate with it and how we are affected by it. All humanity can come together on the common thought of an all-seeing power that is defined by nature. This power can see all but to truly experience something, one must fully be in yet be able to loo
Some common words found in the essay are:
Springfield Illinois, Dooryard Bloom'd, Bloom'd Whitman, Southerner Californians, Walt Whitman, whitman concerned, concerned humanity, walt whitman, Lilacs Dooryard, whitman concerned humanity, lilacs dooryard bloom'd, dooryard bloom'd, life death rebirth, collective form, life cyclical, death rebirth, celebration american, remain'd suffer'd, life death,
Approximate Word count = 900
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
