Favorite lines from "Song of Myself"

“This minute that comes to me over the past decillions,

There is no better than it or now.”

-(Song of Myself, section 22, line 38-39)

It is difficult to choose two favorite lines from “Song of Myself” but these two lines speak to me because it is something that I strive to recognize in life as well. The runner up was, “I exist as I am, that is enough” (Song of Myself, section 20, line 36) which also echoes the idea of presentness. Living in the present moment is too achieve freedom. After all, this is all we have, the past is gone, the future is uncertain. This is a very Buddhist belief and it strikes me that Whitman entwines these beliefs with a very biblical and Jesus-like tone throughout “Song of Myself.” One might think that the two are opposing.

He begins with, “And what I assume you shall assume,” (Song of Myself, section 1, line 2). The structure, repetition and instructional quality make this line seem like it came straight out of the Bible. The same could be said for section 21, beginning, “I am the poet of the Body.” The rhythm, word choice and repetition in this section really mirrors biblical quotations from Jesus. There are a lot of vocative verbs beginning lines in the poem. For example, “Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the/ origin of all poems, (Song of Myself, section 2, line 33-34). Also, the whole 1^st stanza of section 19 seems to espouse Christian like goodwill or Jesus-like humbleness and humility toward those who are typically shunned or looked at in a negative light.

The the poet as a spiritual teacher straddling the lines of Christianity and Buddhism could be looked at as enlightened or as hypocrisy. It certainly strikes an interesting balance. Whitman asks “Why should I pray” (Song of Myself, section 20, line 12). That would be blasphemy at the time. Here he is again stirring things up, because he questions something that most people would say should just be accepted. I believe he is more spiritual by grappling with these ideas.

The intertwining of Judeo-Christian and Buddhist ideals in this poem is fascinating to me and I'd like to explore it further. Ruminating on this subject only raises further questions for me:

-Is the tone intentional or a by-product of being raised in a Judeo-Christian society?

-Does the Jesus-like sentiment point to a grandiose sense of himself? Or is it unifying because it is a manner of speaking that people would be very familiar with at the time; that might actually be comforting?

Specimen Days selection

SPIRITUAL CHARACTERS AMONG THE SOLDIERS

I don't know if this is what Whitman is talking about when he describes a certain characteristic, a calmness in some of the soldiers he observes, but I often see this or have experienced this among those people who are the least fortunate in life. In some ways they don't seem aware of this or maybe they measure happiness with a different ruler, but they carry themselves with a quiet pride, a contentedness and a peace that I can only be a bit envious of. I wonder where that kind of calm strength is gained from. Where can I learn that? Walt wonders about “whatever circumstances” lend to the nature of these “different” soldiers he is speaking about. It was the men from the western territories, who probably faced more hardships than those living in the civilization of the east, who probably lacked an education or had very little at least, that were the ones who exhibited this nature. This is similar to the people that I have seen exhibit these precious qualities in this century. Maybe not the same details, but very similar circumstances are shared between these groups of people.

These “different” soldiers are the ones who are also “apt to go off and meditate and muse in solitude.” Something that Whitman advocates and which he does in “Song of Myself.” He contemplates himself and his connection to the world around him. Need I mention “loafing”? He brings up the idea of awareness, how others perceive these men and the idea of self-awareness, even asking, “as to that, who is aware of his own nature?” It is difficult to assess oneself, to see oneself as others see you and to figure out what you believe to be your nature, let alone before considering others' perception of yourself. Nowadays everyone thinks they know exactly who they are, just look at facebook, blogs and dating sites. Mostly people are “awesome-sauce,” while struggling for a legitimate, comparable adjective that could sum up just how cute and clever they are. Perhaps shunning modesty in Whitmanian fashion they list and proclaim their wonderful qualities in a public display of ego masturbation, yet the idea of getting to nature and quietly observing, practicing introspection is completely avoided all too often in the modern day.

I thought it was refreshing that Whitman takes the idea of not knowing oneself as commonplace and normal. I think it is the opposite of our views now, where we seem to feel that we have a grasp on ourselves or even if we don't it is scary to admit, and we'd rather go on pretending we know ourselves inside and out. It is refreshing to see proclaimed as fact, in a rhetorical question, “ who is aware of his own nature?” It is nice to see the idea of musing and meditating advocated.

The idea of self is certainly explored in Leaves of Grass. After all, one whole large, significant portion is titled, “Song of Myself” The idea of self spans to that of the reader and beyond that to everyone in this poem. And it doesn't stop there. Whitman proclaims that we all share the same atoms. He even exalts the dead because (for one reason) they are part of the cycle, they feed the earth, and the earth and nature are equated as part of us and as god, just as we are part of all of it and thus part of god as well. Pretty Zen Walt!

The Wilmot Proviso and it's relation to Whitman

“Wilmot Proviso, 1846, amendment to a bill put before the U.S. House of Representatives during the Mexican War; it provided an appropriation of $2 million to enable President Polk to negotiate a territorial settlement with Mexico. David Wilmot introduced an amendment to the bill stipulating that none of the territory acquired in the Mexican War should be open to slavery.”

-http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0852373.html

The Wilmot Proviso was a hot button topic, one that also had a hand in leading to the Civil War. It should be noted that David Wilmot was trying to protect the interests of the white worker seeking a wage who obviously couldn't compete with free labor, rather than trying to stop the proliferation of slavery based on moral grounds.

I find it interesting that Whitman was critical of abolitionists and merely an anti-extentionist (as Fanny brings up in citing the David Reynold's article "Politics and Poetry: Whitman's Leaves of Grass and the Social Crisis of the 1850s") when that seems to contradict his view toward slavery in “Song of Myself.” Didn't he say that we are all the same? Whitman is way ahead of his time in regarding women as equal to men: “I say it is as great to be a woman as it is a man” (Song of Myself, section 21, line 7) and his passage about the “runaway slave” would have been incendiary in the time especially in the South, but not much less in the north, I imagine, as well. He is actively taking part in a criminal activity by harboring a slave and he professes this, encourages this as it is the moral thing to do. 65 “In all people I see myself, none more and not one a barley-corn less,” (Song of Myself, section 20, line 17-18). That is pretty straightforward so one has to question his poetic proclamations next to his practical, public views. In this poem he is definitely advocating that everyone should be equal.

So where's the divide? What happened? Wilmot proviso was 1846, Leaves of Grass in 1855, I can only assume that tensions increased at this time since the Civil War began in 1861. Is it simply a timeline thing? Does Whitman shift his opinions as the years leading to the Civil War pass? Whitman effuses such across-the-board equality, not only equality but almost buddhist like connection in “Song of Myself”; that we are all part of one another and share the same atoms. This idea is so important he begins the poem with it saying, “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you,” (Song of Myself, section 1, line 3) Why does he profess this in the poem when he didn't back up this view in the political landscape? Especially when he had some amount of influence in his position as a journalist.