Walt Whitman. Philosophical basics of his work
Ekaterinburg, 2009
Introduction
When having to think about the philosophy of Americanness, who else could come to one's mind other than Walt Whitman. One of the most read, most enjoyable writers of American Literature so much debated and gossiped about, preceding his own folk's and the world's age by light-years ahead, throwing himself in the face of his contemporary readers, at last knocking down all the remains of the long-suffered puritan establishments and values that the country has carried as a burden for far too long. One simply cannot exclude Whitman without having to make a comment about his poetry - his art - he simply cannot be ignored, for he and his art does not allow that.
The aim of our work is to analyze features of Walt Whitman's style. We will study his literary techniques, such as alliteration, anaphora, «free» verse etc. In our work we will try to show philosophical basics of his works.
Our tasks are:
- To investigate the uniqueness of his style
- To analyze some of his works in order to characterize his poetic techniques
- To conduct a detailed analysis of philosophical basics of his works
We will also propose some of his poems because we wanted to show peculiarities of his style.
«Leaves of Grass»
If we want to talk about philosophical basics of Walt Whitman, we should analyze them all in common because they are all connected and you can find several of them in one poem at the same time.
First of all we will start our investigation with one of his greatest poems «Leaves of Grass».
The title «Leaves of Grass» is used by Whitman to symbolize the immortality of the soul, the mechanical universe, and that all things are in a state of flux Whitman says in the last chapter:
«I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love»
He loves the grass so much as part of nature, assimilates himself to nature, and considers the immortality of the soul in nature because of his belief and his own inspiration and individuality.
Whitman's idea of nature can be accepted concerning the world of death since nature is inextricably linked with mortal beings and in harmony with the mind. That greatest harmony is thought to be the immortality of the soul in nature. In other words, its harmonization is based on the medieval idea that «The will of God creates nature».
He thought that this is a dark mysterious world, and that human beings contribute to the world of death by their domination of nature. The world of human being is a lonely creature in a chaotic universe. Firm in this belief, Whitman in his philosophical approach to Nihilism described himself as the immortality of the soul in the great universe. He said in his first chapter:
«I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as God belongs to you.» (P. 1).
This is the liberation of the mind from the philosophy of a controlling God, which was current in the plantation period of J. Edwards (1703-1758). To expound this theme, Whitman wrote his poem, in which he propounded his ideas.
«The atmosphere is not a perfume,
It has no taste of the distillation, and it is odorless,
It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,
I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked,
I am mad for it to be in contact with me.» (P. 2).
Whitman's nature is good, not evil. The stream of this idea is accepted by J. Rousseau (1712-1778) «As a human nature is good in nature» which is an absolutely optimistic and ever frontier spirit.
Whitman pursues each personal develop - meant by showing how people relate. For example: looking forth on pavement and land, or outside of pavement and land, «Belonging to the winders of the circuit of circuits.» (P. 78).
From this point of view, he looks over the natural phenomenon of circuits, and God is defined by the relationship of human nature to the circuits.
Whitman thought that inspiration was equal to the dualism of the soul and the personality, and wrote:
«Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am,
Stand amused, complacent, compassionating, idea, unitary,
Looks down, is erect, or bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest.
Looking with side-curved head curious what will come next.
Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it.
Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and contenders.
I have no mocking or arguments, I witness and wait.» (P. 6).
Whitman considered the relation of phenomenon and the personality. His mind was not closed to the realities in which his personality asserted the method of the audience and passive state condition and tried to contact the refusing phenomenon.
«Leaves of grass» belongs to no particular accepted form of poetry. Whitman described its form as «a new and national declamatory expression.» Whitman was a poet bubbling with energy and burdened with sensations, and his poetic utterances reveal his innovations. His poetry seems to grow organically, like a tree. It has the tremendous vitality of an oak. Its growth follows no regular pattern: «Song of Myself», for example, seems at first almost recklessly written, without any attention to form. Whitman's poetry, like that of most prophetic writers, is unplanned, disorganized, sometimes abortive, but nevertheless distinctively his own.
Walt Whitman's Poetical Techniques
In his poems he used some special poetical techniques.
Alliteration
«Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking»: «'And thenceforward all summer in the sound of the sea.' This use of alliteration of the creates a sound of the sea… which is very effective. This is by no means the only use of alliteration in the poem. Other groupings such as 'sterile sands,' 'briers and blackberries, ' 'Listened long and long,' 'sweetest song and songs,' and 'singer solitary' occur throughout the poem» (Kimmel 9/16/96).
Anaphora
Anaphora: repetition of words or phrases at beginnings of lines.
«Crossing Brooklyn Ferry»: «'Others will enter… / Others will watch… / Others will see' and also 'Just as you feel… / Just as you are refresh'd… / Just as you stand… / Just as you look…'» (Barham 9/17/96).
«One of the first cases in which he uses anaphora extensively in Drum-Taps is in the section titled «Poet,» in which the first four lines begin with 'I hear, ' and lines 8-12 begin with 'I see, ' while the entire first 13 lines begin with 'I.' He is creating one large audio and visual image in those lines, with each line being a separate image, but all tied together by their common beginning. In this case, lines all beginning with the same word also help to set up a rhythm, as the reader is inclined to read all of the 'I's with the same amount of stress, like reading off items on a list. Through the use of anaphora in this way, Whitman can express one theme in several different lines, with several different ideas, while having a definite link between each thought. In the first section of 'Give Me the Splendid Sun, ' Whitman begins the first eleven lines with 'Give me.' Although in each line he is asking for a different thing, the entire thought expressed in the lines together is his desire for 'nature's primal sanities.' With the common beginning in these lines, he is expressing all of his values at once in eleven lines, with eleven different ideas» (Minis 9/17/96).
«Free» verse
Definition: verse that, while free of rhyme and a consistent rhythm, may employ other structural and sound elements, such as anaphora and chiasmus.
Whitman may have picked up on Emerson's line in «The Poet»: «For it is not meters, but a meter-making argument that makes a poem.»
But he also may have found models in «Proverbial Philosophy,» a free verse poem that Tupper published in 1838, and in a poem by George Lippard (Reynolds).
Catalogs
«In many of Whitman's poems, like Children of Adam, he lists many things at once. In Children of Adam, section 9, he lists over 80 parts of the body, both male and female. He does this listing technique again in Song of the Open Road, when he tells of all the things he passes and sees on his journey» (Baldwin 9/17/96)
They show a childish joy in naming things (Matthiessen 518).
Perhaps they also betray a desire to incorporate everything in a poem, as Melville tried to do in Moby-Dick.
Whitman may have borrowed the idea from contemporary travel literature, including books called Mississippi in Gobs and New York in Chunks (Reynolds).
«In 'Drum-Taps' the smaller passages which make up the whole poem seem to give all different perspectives of the war. The perspective of the mother, father, child, wound dresser, slave woman, and even a banner are all given. In turn, the reader is fed a catalog of various feelings about war. Also, in 'Drum-Taps' and particularly in the passage 'First O Songs for a Prelude, ' there is a catalog. Whitman lists and lists all different people with varying occupations and how they are getting ready for war. Thy lawyer, the mechanic, and salesman are all mentioned. It would be easy to see Whitman's use of the catalog as simply 'show[ing] childish joy in naming things' (Matthiessen 518). However, I see it as Whitman's way of presenting universality. Everyone is going through this same event, and everyone is feeling emotions about the war. The catalog shows common links among humans» (Plonk 9/19/96).
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