on whitman

Life and Art in Walt Whitman’s Poems

      Every artist is driven with a desire. The desire to live, to hope, to love or merely to express oneself are usually what artists employ to create a masterpiece. These are the same desires that the American poet, Walt Whitman (1876) projects in his works. Particularly, his poems, “Song to Myself,” “When I heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” “The Wound Dresser,” and “Reconciliation” project the author’s deepest desires and reflections about life. By writing these poems, Whitman presents two purposes. First, using common themes and motifs, he moves us to reflect on life’s essence, to think rationally about the world especially about war. Second, using free verse, he shows us the very essence of poetry, the role it plays in self-expression and art.

      Whitman’s four poems have common themes and motifs expressed using his observations of the events that happen around him. Although the situation in each poem varies from one to another, all of them contain the artist’s reflections about life. In “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” Whitman makes clear his tendency to present juxtapositions in life. Particularly, the poem, which talks about one’s encounter with a learned man, shows the contrast between the desire for knowledge and for lack of learning. The persona, who listens to the lecture of the astronomer, “became tired and sick” (5) and left the lecture to wander off and reflect on the things around him. This attitude strongly reflects Whitman’s view that it is our own interpretations of life that matter more than facts and data offered by science. The same theme can be seen in “Song of Myself.” In this poem, Whitman says,

If I worship one thing more than another it shall be the spread of 
my own body, or any part of it, 
Translucent mould of me it shall be you! 
Shaded ledges and rests it shall be you! 
Firm masculine colter it shall be you! 
Whatever goes to the tilth of me it shall be you! (523-27)

These lines clearly show his reliance on himself, which somehow reflects self-centeredness or egoism. This theme of self-importance further elucidates the idea of man as knowledgeable more than any science. Placing great dependence on the way he thinks, Whitman suggests that human beings possess the greatest knowledge of all. For him, man is life himself. Hence, he says in the poem, “Song of Myself,” “I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the vegetation.” (98). The use of simile in this line reflects the equality between the child and the grass, or of living things. This idea further suggests the theme of egalitarianism.

      With man’s possession of the greatest learning, one should be capable of deciding rationally, thus defying the negative elements in the world, such as war and death. Notably, the four poems imply this theme but it is in the poem, “The Wound Dresser” that Whitman emphasizes this theme. In this poem, the persona is much like Whitman, who was a volunteer medical aid during the American Civil Wars. In this poem, he shows the reflections of a nurse as he dresses the soldiers who become victims of the wars. His observations of the things around him, of soldiers who “lie on the ground after the battle brought in, where their priceless blood reddens the grass, the ground” (27-28) imbue readers to reflect on the events, the killings, and the unreasonable violence during the said time. As he provides reflections in the lines, “I sit by restless all the darkn night, some are so young,/Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad.” (62-63), Whitman implies the theme of egalitarianism or equality. By illustrating the negative face of war, he encourages us to reflect why such things happen, and thus arrive at the resolution that such will not happen if people see themselves as equal.

      Relying on the same great wisdom that man possesses, Whitman encourages his readers to think for themselves, to decide critically about life, and not be imbued by what others tell them. He dissuades worldly views such as those offered by the astronomer, and embraces the learning that life itself offers. In the poem, “Reconciliation,” he further gives reflections about life—its essence and limitations. In this poem, the persona is a soul that comes in contact with his physical being after death. He expresses his disappointment in failing to live longer. Here, he utterly expresses his repugnance of war, saying that the world is so beautiful to be destroyed only by war, thus “war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost” (2). He exudes this theme by considering the dead body as his “enemy.” Particularly, there is irony in saying, “For my enemy is dead--a man divine as myself is dead/I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin--I draw near” (6-9). In the earlier lines he presents disappointment in leaving the beautiful world, yet here he despises his body, and feels relieved to be free from it. Considering this, we see another juxtaposition with the contrast between life and death, physical and spiritual being, freedom and persecution. As the lines imply, it is better to die and leave behind our physical being to put an end to the carnage that war causes. As the persona looks at his body, he sees it as a “white face in the coffin” (9-10). The term “white face” suggests the racist nature of the man, and the role he plays in society during his life. Leaving the body thus suggests freedom from discrimination or achieving egalitarianism. The themes and motifs that Whitman presents in his four poems strongly suggest his views about life. As he emphasizes the effects of war, the ability of man to think for himself, and the truth about death, he moves his readers to reflect on their lives, not just of war, but of all the decisions we make that lead us to disappointment.

      Another purpose that Whitman presents in his poetry is the ability to express his thoughts and feelings openly in art. Using free verse, he projects freedom of self-expression. Considering the themes he synthesizes in his poems, it is important to project the same freedom in terms of style. This is not possible through rhyming words or meter for such will only limit the flow of thoughts, the narrative content, and other elements of the poems. Noticeably, the poems “Song of Myself” and “The Wound Dresser” use several scenes that take place in close succession.

      The lines of the poems are written in the way the author perceives his thoughts, which illustrate the very essence of the free verse. In “Song of Myself,” he first talks about celebrating his life, his own being, then jumps to his reflections about life, death, war, happiness, etc. The freedom he employs in presenting themes thus shows the beauty of the free verse and its conformity to the way the mind processes thoughts.

      The use of free verse allows the author to shift easily his point of narration and tone. In “The Wound Dresser,” he presents the persona as an old man telling his war stories, saying, “An old man bending I come among new faces” (1). Then in the next part, he imagines seeing things as they happen in the past. Likewise, the author shows more freedom of expression as he addresses the poem to an imaginary audience. This audience termed as “you” can be anyone—young or old, smart or naïve, poet or not. Using free verse, he makes the lines easy to understand, thus implying his attempt to address no one in particular or everyone in general.

      Using common themes and motifs, Whitman illustrates the complexity of his thoughts and emotions. Likewise, using free verse, he presents an amalgam of ideas we can use in reflecting about life’s struggles and meaning. As a result, while we ponder on his views, we experience the beauty that he shows in each line. As we read every thought and line, we are driven to rationalize and see the beauty of poetry. 















Work Cited

Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. 1876. Accessed 23 February 2010 <http://books.google.com/books?id=bsw3Fi0IY3wC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false >.