“Although Whitman may seem to celebrate and sympathize the selfless connectedness of humanity and nature, his poetry implicitly reveals an egotistical poet, enamored with himself. ” To what extent is this opinion a valid evaluation of Whitman poetry?as revealed in his collection, Leaves of Grass? Use several poems to support your answer. It is a tendency for poets to express individual thought to manifest a particular view, usually commenting on humanity. In doing so, poets cause us to reflect on our nature which then contributes in establishing a link between us and the poem.
In his collection of poems titled Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman exposes us to his view towards humans and nature through the recurring idea of connectedness in several of his poems. Thematically, Whitman seems to equate all humans to each other and suggests that humans and nature derive from the equivalent creative force and thus are all interconnected. The thesis, “although Whitman may seem to celebrate and sympathize the selfless connectedness of humanity and nature, his poetry implicitly reveals an egotistical poet, enamored with himself”, is a valid evaluation of
Whitman poetry only to a reasonably small extent. This is because by “egotistical poet, enamored with himself”, the thesis assumes that the poetry’s sole focus in more on the poet rather than his overall purpose and Whitman intent is not to reveal his egotistical self but to extend to a broad audience as he demonstrates with evidence of poetic techniques like repetition, namely anaphora and pronoun use, and cataloging.
At first, Whitman poetry seems as though it reveals his egotistical self, but the thesis is not entirely a valid evaluation of all his poems because Whitman actually writes so that his audience is inclusive, so that he is enamored not only with himself but with all humans and nature. In his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry’, Whitman employs repetition to express the idea that all humans are connected in their common experience of life.
The pervasive idea of connectedness in our universe that Whitman expresses depicts him slightly as a egoist but also emphasizes the universality and rather how he is enamored with the intimacy and commonality of all humans and nature and not Just himself. Another poem that contradicts the above mentioned thesis is “Song of Myself”, which again Whitman comments on embracing connectedness and not solely on his infatuation with himself. This poem includes cataloging as well as repetition of specific pronouns which all create a collective effect that suggests Whitman fascination that extends to his audience and not Just himself.
Finally, the poem “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night” comments on the unification of living things created by the same force, which also reveals Whitman appeal to himself and all others in the universe. Therefore, examining the techniques that Whitman includes in his poems, we can understand how the thesis is not applicable or a valid evaluation of Whitman poetry in general. In his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry’, Whitman expresses his praise tort selfless connectedness of humanity and nature, yet does so in such a way that his poetry does not implicitly reveal an egotistical poet.
In this poem, Whitman illustrates a man crossing a river from Manhattan on the Brooklyn Ferry. The poem elaborates on the idea of intimacy and commonality of all humans primarily through the inclusion of petition that reappears all throughout the poem. The narrator of the poem first opens the poem by addressing the fellow passengers on the ferry, who seem rather distant to the narrator, as illustrated in “Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes, / how curious you are to me” (1, l. 3) .
Whitman then shifts the focus from addressing the crowd on the ferry, but more expansively, to everyone who has ever rode a ferry. Hence the shift of pronoun use, which Whitman reiterates with the repetition, suggests a connection between the narrator and the reader, ultimately envying the sense of connectedness through a common experience as illustrated “On the ferry-boats the hundreds and hundreds that cross, / returning home, are more curious to me than you suppose” (l. 4). Whitman oftentimes includes anaphora as a way to emphasize certain ideas, which contribute in conveying a thought more effectively.
In section two, Whitman repeats “others”, stressing his address of ideas to all other humans besides himself. For example, the anaphora of “Just as any of you”, “Just as you are”, “Just as you stand”, and “Just as you look” in the third section (II. 2-26) all focus on “you”, which in this case, refers to the reader. In this particular poem, Whitman seems to be more enamored with the people around him rather than himself. This Justifies how the thesis is not a valid evaluation of Whitman poetry, especially because he focuses on humans in general, rather than exclusively focusing on himself.
In the final section of the poem, we see Whitman once again repeating the pronoun “we”, as he writes “we receive you”, “we use you, we plant you permanently within us”, “we fathom you not?we love you?” (II. 126-130) Although Whitman often incorporates the repetition of “me”, which appears to refer to himself, seemingly denoting an egotistical part of him, the technique of cataloging suggests otherwise. By cataloging, Whitman is able to convince his readers that he is not only commenting on how he is enamored with himself, but also with all that surrounds him in the universe.
With reference to many ideas like a list, Whitman is able to appeal to all sorts of aspects to effectively convey the theme of unison between all living things created by the same creative force. Cataloging allows Whitman to illustrate a mental picture for the reader, at the same time broadening the scope and breadth of ideas that he presents. Through this technique, Whitman is able to convey how every idea he catalogues is connected with each other. Whitman closes the poem with muff furnish your parts toward eternity, / Great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul. All throughout the poem, Whitman seems to be appealing more to his reader than himself, thus the thesis is invalid as his poems reveal him more as a poet enamored with all people. In another poem, “Song of Myself”, Whitman once again employs repetition and tailoring to convey the selfless connectedness of humanity and nature which does not necessarily imply an expression of him as an egotistic poet. In “Song of Myself”, Whitman seems to be expressing his enthronement tot humans and their seamless unification with nature.
Whitman considers all things are divine that are created by the creative force of the universe which is “always the procreate urge of the world” (l. 45). Whitman attempts to convey how we cannot deny that we are all the same and he conveys this idea especially through repetition of “it shall be you! ” in section went-four of the poem. Whitman lists several ideas, ending each idea with the phrase “it shall be you! ” which clearly stresses his attempt to establish a connection between all humans and the nature of the universe.
Whitman uses repetition to emphasize whatever he feels about himself, he feels the same for others. In section twenty-four, Whitman at first explains that he is “Divine I am inside and out” (l. 524) and writes that “if [he] worships one thing more than another it shall be the spread of my own body, or any part of it” (l. 527). Here, Whitman appears to be revealing an egotistical view, however, he is not only enamored with himself as he contributes to write that he also is enamored with the “spread of.. Bodies or any part of it” other than his own, following each catalogue with “it shall be you! . Therefore The poem expresses how everything in the universe that is natural is beautiful to Whitman and that all humans are comprised of the same components, causing us to be equal. In the thirty-first section, Whitman comments on his amazement in all creation and equates all creation to one another. Whitman catalogues the infinite wonders found n small creations, “leaves of grass”, “pismire” “narrowest hinge in my hand”, which all contribute in suggesting how he is not only amazed himself, but wishes to convince others about the wonders that exist in the seemingly insignificant creations.
Hence this demonstrates how the thesis is not valid for this poem as Whitman is relating himself to all of his readers. Whitman equates the body, the soul and even superior deities as the same in section forty-eight, writing “l have said that the soul is not more than the body / and the body is not more than the soul”. (II. 269-1270). Here, Whitman suggests that all humans and everything that comprises nature are indistinguishable from the universe as evidence of nature’s accretion exists everywhere in form of “letters from God drop in the street” (1 1286).
Whitman oftentimes uses “l” throughout his poems, which does not necessarily denote that he is commenting on himself, but instead, uses the pronoun as a way to relate to the rest of humanity and convey that we are all equal to him. Therefore Whitman use of repetition and catalogues Justify how the initial thesis is not an entirely valid valuation of his poems as we can see how Whitman does not express himself as the supreme divine being, but rather expresses that we are all Just as divine as one another.
As for the poem “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night”, Whitman again incorporates repetition to convey the recurring idea of connectedness amongst all living beings and nature on the universe. In this sentimental poem, Whitman seems to be recounting the loss of a comrade of the speaker on the battlefield and is mournful of a loss of a soldier from the war. However, I believe that Whitman overall repose is perhaps the despair at the time of the death, there is actually not much grief as he believes that we are all connected even after death because of his belief in the existence of hereafter.
This poem is slightly different from the previously discussed poems as the poem lacks the intensive cataloging an t t Whitman includes in the other poems. However, Whitman still uses repetition of pronouns of “I” and “you” as a way to establish connection and allows Whitman to ultimately sympathize selfless connectedness. “My son” is recurrent all throughout the poem and thus reaps Whitman relates “my son” to a universal brotherhood, depicting how he not only sympathizes with connectedness but his fascination for others around him. L faithfully loved you and cared for you living, I think we shall surely meet again” (l. 27) conveys the idea of life after death and how we are all connected regardless of our presence on Earth. Therefore, Whitman repetition of pronouns contribute in justifying how the thesis is invalid in that the poetic techniques prove the poem to express more than an egotistical poet simply enamored with himself, but more with everything else in the universe that we are connected to. The focus on the poet is mainly shifted towards the reader and humanity in general.
Hence the thesis cannot be considered a valid evaluation of Whitman poetry as the poetic techniques suggest otherwise. The thesis that “although Whitman may seem to celebrate and sympathize the selfless connectedness of humanity and nature, his poetry implicitly reveals an egotistical poet, enamored with himself” is valid to almost no extent because the techniques that Whitman employs in all three poems suggest that Whitman does not only express his infatuation with himself , but also with all that comprises the universe.
Therefore the thesis cannot be considered a valid general evaluation of Whitman poetry when three poems discussed suggest that Whitman comments Just as much on other humans and nature as himself. I believe that Whitman intention strays from expressing his egotistical self but more of how we reflect on how much we are connected with Whitman and everything else in that exists in the universe. Reference Whitman, W. , & Murphy, F. (2005). The Complete Poems. City: Penguin Classics
