Rinse, Lather, Repeat, Rinse...

Looking at the various versions of Leaves of Grass is quite interesting, entirely entertaining, and at times overwhelming.

At first glance of the 1860 edition compared to the 1855 version, the most obvious change is the immediate addition of a new poem: "Proto-Leaf." While the first edition of LoG wasn't very successful Whitman kept editing and revising - adding and subtracting. The addition of this cleverly titled first poem seems to hint at a reintroduction of Whitman to the masses. His way of saying here I am, and here is my first leaf, my proto-leaf. Thus with this poem Walt Whitman starts his new revision with a new/first leaf of grass. After this first poem, LoG jumps into the first poem of the 1860 version simply titled: Walt Whitman. Once again this revision hints at Whitman saying something along the lines of, "Here I am, here me roar (or rather, watch me loafe.)" Rather than having an unnamed poem in a collection of nameless poem, Whitman starts with several bangs, opening peoples eyes to the power and enticement of his poetry. It worked as this version was wildly more popular than the first. But Whitman was not satisfied with his work still and continued to edit.

Fast forward to 1867. Whitman has a new version published and there are many revisions yet again to his work of endlessness. We, being resourceful scholars of 2012, have been so graced to have the internet and access to Walt Whitman's own copy of the 1860 version of LoG complete with pencil annotations, revisions, and notes. It's truly amazing to be able to see Whitman's own process of deconstruction and reconstruction in his poetry. In the 1860 Blue Book it can be seen that Whitman work mark out several passages and rewrite them as shorter more coherent lines, or sometimes add to them as well. Also, it is seem that he would change the spellings of words, thus simplifying them. This can be seen in this changing of words such as dropped to dropt, or his omitting several e letters from words changing words such as entered to enter'd. I have two ideas as to why Whitman would have done this. One, because he was a man who well understood language and changed the spelling of his words so that the spelling matches the way the word is said. My second idea is to simply make the piece sound and look more poetic. Though this is my less favorable of the two ideas. Still it is interesting to be able to ponder over these questions. We may have Whitman's own copy, but we still don't know his exact thoughts and reasons for changing certain things.

Whitman revised his masterpiece until he died. Like any great artist Whitman was probably never happy with his own work and continued to try to make it better. Had he continued living, there would probably be several more editions of this great work as Whitman would have continued to analyze, destroy, and recreate LoG. Making a new poetic masterpiece each and every single time.

Another Midnight Stroll

For this week's Specimen Days post I decided to read Nights on the Mississippi. I really enjoy these late night strolls that Whitman seems to take quite frequently. I enjoy reading about his wanderings of the night because I too like to soak in the nature of the night.

The thing that struck me about this particular piece was Whitman's admittance of loving the view of the bridge. As a man enamored with nature I would've pegged him to loathe something such as a giant man made structure like a bridge. He's proven me wrong again!

Other than my confusion over the bridge I found this piece to be quite peaceful and enjoyable. Whitman never ceases to amaze me with his clear and concise descriptions of nature. He's quite good at painting the picture in my mind of exactly what he's speaking of.

"Wait a minute... This sounds like Rock and/or Roll..."

In my readings about The Oneida Community I resisted the urge to drink any Kool-Aid and continued along with my research of this tantalizing cult. Rather that mimic what my wonderful and brilliant fellow students have already explained about The Oneida Community, I will take this opportunity to jump straight into my thoughts about it. I was baffled by their ideas of Jesus' return having already happened and their Garden of Eden that was to be created. They were just about 120 years to early for In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida to be their theme song. Creating Heaven on Earth or something even better? You'd need to be something out of this world to think that you could achieve that. All of my reading left me with bad tastes in my mouth as I read about Complex Marriages and the attempts to breed "perfect" children. I was wickedly reminded of Warren Jeffs, Jim Jones, and all of the other Religious commune, cult, "for-the-good-of-man" leaders out there. And I posed the same question that I always ask... Why would anyone in their right mind follow along with this?

Today, this question has gravitationally pulled me in the direction of Walt Whitman. As I swam through my thoughts and re-examined various lines of Song of Myself I came to my own conclusion that Whitman would have been disgusted with The Oneida Community. WHile I couldn' find any definite answers for myself on the internet I stand by my own views that Walt Whitman would have set himself apart from this community. While he may have agreed with some of its views such as free love and being free of sins in a perfect type of world, he would have been against various other views in the community. One  view being the one that grosses me out the most: the introduction of sex to immature males and females by overly matured males and females. I Don't believe this would have been cool with Whitman as he would have seen the obvious wrongness in this. This was something very impure and most certainly would have repulsed someone as self-proclaimingly pure as Whitman. While the idea of being married in a large group as a joined one would have been captivating to a man of the world like Walt, the fact that the marriages were only between man and woman would have thrown Walt off. This does not signify unity and oneness, but rather adds to the divide between male and female. I think this would have been a major turn-off to Whitman.

And so as I close another blog post and close my various opened tabs on my browser I say to you that while Whitman wrote of purity of mind and soul and being one with nature and one with each other, the ways of The Oneida Community are not what he meant. Had Whitman been alive throughout the decades from his time and ours he might be telling us to "Turn on, tune in, and drop out" and sang about A-Gadda-Da-Vida rather than his triumphant Song of Himself. Perhaps Whitman's idea of Paradise contrasts The Oneida Community's and his writing of Song of Myself is his way to display this. 

Iron Butterfly even seemed to have a cult following with their hit as can be seen by the sweating and manic citizens of Springfield. Their cult: I-Ron Butterfly!

Youtubing Whitman

Please excuse my slight tardiness with this assignment. I was have trouble with my camera, but finally got it recorded and posted.Enjoy!

 

"One of the finest nurses I met was a red-faced illiterate old Irish woman"

Female Nurses for Soldiers

Originally I thought that this piece would be from the inside perspective of the soldiers lusting after there nurses... I should have known better with Whitman.

In this piece Whitman talks about young nurses who volunteer to help with the wounded soldiers. He comments on how they are not the best for that job and goes on to talk about how an elderly (probably less attractive) nurse is much better at tending to injured men.

What caught me most was Whitman's line: "the magnetic touch of hands." This caught me as such a magnificent line as I could clearly envision such an image. The middle-aged or experienced woman with steady hands, tending to wounds and constantly attached to the body of the injured soldier knowing exactly how to help them.

I also liked how Whitman likened old nurses to mothers stating that mothers are also good and tending to wounds and making people feel better.

This is my title for the poem comparison on 02/09/2012... Yeah, that's the best I could come up with

Elizabeth Oakes Smith and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

These two poets definitely reminded me of Whitman. Whether it was due to actual similarities in the poems or just because I've just had a lot of Whitman on the mind, I might never know. Regardless, I couldn't help but draw my lines of comparison between these two poets and Whitman.

First of all was the matter of content. While both Whitman and Smith talk about nature they each do it in a unique way. Smith speaks as an observer and doesn't seem to quite understand nature, while Walt Whitman speaks as if he is part of nature and he is trying to absorb all the knowledge that nature has to offer him. Smith does not do this as her last lines state "I would not soar like thee, in loneliness to pine." Smith does not understand the flight of the eagle and seemingly does not wish too. Whitman would probably be dying to soar like an eagle in a tree.

Next was Longfellow's poem. He does not speak of nature, rather he speaks of both work and church. These directly contrast Whitman as his poetic muse, his soul, was never free indoors and never while working. Whitman was a loafer, while Longfellow's character is a worker. This much is seen with descriptions such as his hardened hands.

As far as form goes, these two poets had a particular rhythm and rhyme while also keeping their poems short and sweet. While Whitman does have his own rhythms and the occasional rhyme, it did not correspond with either of these poets. Thus is the beauty of Whitman's blank verse.

Purity of Mind, Body, and Soul

"I loafe and invite my soul"

"Clear and sweet is my soul . . . . and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul"

"I believe in you my soul . . . . the other I am must not abase itself to you,
And you must not be abased to the other"

"The souls moving along . . . . are they invisible while the least atom of the stones is visible?"

"This is the the tasteless water of souls . . . . this is the true sustenance"

"I am the poet of the body,
And I am the poet of the soul"
"We also ascend dazzling and tremendous as the sun,
We found our own my soul in the calm and cool of the daybreak"
"Logic and sermons never convince,
The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul"
"Swift wind! Space! My Soul! Now I know it is true what I guessed at"

"I fly the flight of the fluid and swallowing soul,
My course runs below the soundings of plummets"

"To a drudge of the cotton fields or emptier of privies I lean . . . . on his right cheek I put the family kiss,
And in my soul I swear I never will deny him"
"All forces have been steadily employed to complete and delight me,
Now I stand on this spot with my soul"
"I have said that the soul is not more than the body,
And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,
And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's-self is"


I loafe and invite my soulBeing the fourth line of the poem, this early call of attention to the soul is important as Whitman is invoking his soul as a kind of muse. Whitman has worked hard and is ready to loafe around, and so he invites his soul to relax as well. While he is relaxing every physical and mental part of his being, he is also calling to his soul to make itself known and help him in his poetic journey of his song.
 
Clear and sweet is my soul . . . . and clear and sweet is all that is not my soulWhitman also draws attention to the idea of purity (which goes hand-in-hand with the soul in Whitman's eyes ) in this poem. Here he states that his soul is clear and that all other souls in the world are clear as well. Nothing can be more raw or pure as the soul and Whitman calls to this in most of this poetry as loafing, nature, and being free are all qualities of purity. To Whitman, being free and out in nature is the closest way to not only find his soul, but to let it too be free with him.
 
I am the poet of the body/And I am the poet of the soulWhitman obviously sees himself as a voice of the unvoiced. By being a poet of the soul, he seems to be stating that he is the voice of purity and of true human nature. He is the voice of understanding on both a physical and metaphysical state of being. He is the voice of mentality, sensuality, physicality, and spirituality. With this passage Whitman suggests that he is a voice of the soul and to the soul. He can speak and write past someone's ears and dive straight into the core of humans, into their soul and make them feel as he does. Whitman, in a sense, states that he transcends any bodily functions as a poet and is of a purer nature, calling straight into the souls of his readers/listeners.
 
I have said that the soul is not more than the body/And I have said that the body is not more than the soul/And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's-self is
Here is the cornerstone of Whitman's poetic soul. While his idea of the soul is pure and transcends all bodily form, the soul is not more or better than the body and vice versa. One is nothing without the other. The two need each other and draw from each other. While Whitman calls to his soul and in a way befriends his own soul, his soul is no better than his body. He needs his soul to be the poet that he is and his soul needs his body to act as a device from which to sing through.
 
Throughout this poem, Whitman uses the ides of the soul as a motif to continuously link himself and the reader back to nature, back the the self and purity, and back to his writing. With his constant references to the soul, whether it be his own or in general, Whitman keeps both himself and the reader focused on the purity of the nature and the poet and does not let readers forget that without soul, our mind and body might be useless. One is not greater than the other, but rather they all need each other to equally coexist.
 
Whitman seems to drone on and on about the soul (particularly his own) at times and even personifies the soul to be a living breathing thing at times. While at times it may seem annoying, it shouldn't be taken so lightly. The soul to Whitman is as impirtant as the words that he writes. Without his soul the words would not exist. Whitman seems to transcend all normal thought when it comes to the soul and has a deeper understanding of what it means to have a soul and what it means to join mind, body, and soul. Whitman's soul is his muse and he calls to it when he needs purity, calmness, and poetic beauty. The soul to Whitman is pure, and his poetry is evidence of this.