“The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem”. –Walt Whitman

If you read “Preface to Leaves of Grass, 1855”, you would notice that Whitman sees Democracy as something very important because the richness of the country is in the common people, not in the people with important charges. Their customs and manners are what define the United States. They accept their past and what they have produced and created. There are many states that are proud of themselves but they also respect other states and they work together for a common goal. The largeness of their spirits complements the largeness of the country. Thus, the complexity of the United States is like a great poem. Having a big territory, wealthy cities and commerce is just as important as having poets. Tangible actions have the same importance as all poetical creations.

The diversity of the country is personified in the poets and they must be able to cover all topics and all the events from past and present, but they have to be transcendent and not just describe things. They have to do it in way where they do not increase or decrease the beauty of what they observe, but instead act more like a channel. Poets must also learn from the past to create a future and see beyond that.

Poets are important to the country because they encourage democracy and they judge things with equality and without prejudice. “They [Poets] are the voice and exposition of liberty.” (Whitman, 2003; 342) They see what is great in simple and complex things and in any kind of person, poets and writers in general commit themselves to people’s welfare. They represent the full potential of people; they are not better than anyone and anybody can be as good as them if they want to.

A poet must care about the earth and natural things and not about material stuff. They must be good to all the people and treat them equally. Also, they have to be curious and be ready to question anything they know.

In “Leave of Grass”, democracy is shown as a way of life that people should live as only one nation, irrespective of different borders, ethnicity, etc. We are all humans, and we have to live in comradeship. Walt Whitman “wants us to know that no matter what our life situation, no one is inherently better or worse than anyone else.” (Starmack, 2014)

Furthermore, the role of the poet is represented as the voice who invites us to live in fellowship. This voice tells us we are not only equal, but also unique, in the sense that we can experience happiness, pain, sadness, hope, but in brotherhood. These feelings are felt in community and not individually.

According to Whitman in “Song of Myself”, we are equals, we have the same rights as other people and our origin is the same origin as every human being, for instance, the next stanza from the “Section 1” shows this idea:

1

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,

 For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

In the first verse of the poem there is a notion of individuality, in the sense of uniqueness, but it also has a notion of comradeship and democracy. The atoms are actually genes that make us what we are, it means that we are part of this universe as human beings and we should behave as one.

In the following text, which is Section 17, there is another notion of equality and democracy:

 

17

These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands,
they are not original with me,
If they are not yours as much as mine they are nothing, or
next to nothing,
If they are not the riddle and the untying of the riddle they are
nothing,
If they are not just as close as they are distant they are
nothing.

This is the grass that grows wherever the land is and the
water is, This the common air that bathes the globe.

Walt Whitman wants the thoughts of all men and women be his own thoughts because he wants to be the poet of the common people, “we all have thought these things, but only the poet expresses them.” (University of Iowa, 2012), thus he will be able to represent those thoughts to others if he can interpret them first.

To conclude with, “Walt Whitman's “Song of Myself” is one of the most important poems in the American canon, important for both its use of language and its vision of equality.” (Starmack, 2014)

 

As a final question: What do you think about Whitman's idea of democracy and equality? How is it reflected in "Leaves of Grass" collection?

How are the notions of democracy reflected in other poems of “Song of Myself”?

 

 
References
Starmack, S. (2014). Song of Myself by Walt Whitman: Summary, Themes & Analysis. Retrieved August 20, 2014, from Educational Portal: http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/song-of-myself-by-walt-whitman-summary-themes-analysis.html#lesson

University of Iowa. (2012). Walt Whitman— Song of Myself. Retrieved August 20, 2014, from University of Iowa: http://iwp.uiowa.edu/whitmanweb/en/section-17

Whitman, W. (2003). The Portable Walt Whitman. New York: Penguin Books.

Why Romanticism is not romantic?

There is a huge misconception when talking about Romanticism and, to be honest I was part of big group of people that when thinking about Romanticism immediately used to related this concept to “Love” or “Feelings between people”. The truth is that there is a higher complexity in the word Romanticism, reaching a definition that includes a unique perspective like the following: “To be Romantic is to react to previous generations, to react against artificiality, to react against a Neo-Classical model. To be Romantic is to get in contact with Nature.”

The Romantic Age is the result of several reactions against History, Religion, Economy, Politics, Social issues, etc; it changes the established way of see things in life. The “Enlightenment” is one social consequence that appeared because of the Industrial Revolution and affected economy as well as people’s lives: injustice, poverty, emigration, lack of prosperity, those were some of the factors that made people think and want a new life but also made people create new ideas that influenced the change.

Within the change, we can appreciate the new role of Nature: the idea of return to the roots and be connected with nature is present in the Romantic Literature; on the contrary, industry and to be civilized is a synonym of artificiality. In this way, nature represents simplicity, originality, transcendentalism, authenticity and goodness.

One of my favorite romantic poems is “Volverán las oscuras golondrinas” written by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer.

RIMA LIII

Volverán las oscuras golondrinas 

en tu balcón sus nidos a colgar, 

y otra vez con el ala a sus cristales 

jugando llamarán. 

Pero aquellas que el vuelo refrenaban 

tu hermosura y mi dicha a contemplar, 

aquellas que aprendieron nuestros nombres... 

¡esas... no volverán!. 

Volverán las tupidas madreselvas 

de tu jardín las tapias a escalar, 

y otra vez a la tarde aún más hermosas 

sus flores se abrirán. 

Pero aquellas, cuajadas de rocío 

cuyas gotas mirábamos temblar 

y caer como lágrimas del día... 

¡esas... no volverán! 

Volverán del amor en tus oídos 

las palabras ardientes a sonar; 

tu corazón de su profundo sueño 

tal vez despertará. 

Pero mudo y absorto y de rodillas 

como se adora a Dios ante su altar, 

como yo te he querido...; desengáñate, 

¡así... no te querrán!

Although it is a poem of the Late Romanticism, we can identify all the main Romantic features and also it reflects the characteristics of the Romantic Poet: Solitary, Passion, Imagination, Wild Nature, and Rebellion. Here, we can think of Romanticism as the wrong idea of love but even though the writer shows the desolation caused in his heart by a love that has abandon him, it can also be identified the idealization of the lover and the feelings they had, until the point that the perfect love has made nature part of the relation. Furthermore divinity and religion are present to emphasize that he knows the reality: he can’t bring back the days of happiness and true love; this it can be noticed through the entire poem. It is important to mention that nature also transcends as the time passes, which is why the honeysuckles grow again and the swallows return. 

Romantic poets wanted to break the superficiality and exaggeration of the modern concepts of romance and love, they look for simplicity and they use simple but meaningful words showing the beauty of life and nature.

Romanticism as the myth of Prometheus is the change in life’s vision: Prometheus are all the great men and women that thought about a humankind in contact with nature, simplicity, spirituality, etc. that wanted to make a change, that wanted to illuminate other people’s mind giving them the fire that will help to transmit the knowledge and make people unique individuals: fire will give them the same power Gods used to have, it can be interpreted as the power and capacity that businessmen and landowners had.

Romanticism is not romantic, but can romantic love be an expression of Romanticism? What do you think?

References:

Baase, S. (n.d.). Prometheus myth: A Gift of Fire. Retrieved August 24, 2014, from https://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/giftfire/prometheus.html

Brians, P. (2004). Romanticism. Retrieved August 24, 2014, from http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html

Graves, R. (1960). The greek myths. Retrieved August 24, 2014, from http://www.24grammata.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Robert-Graves-The-Greek-Myths-24grammata.com_.pdf

Jehle, F. (2000). Volveran las oscuras golondrinas, por Gustavo Adolfo Becquer. Retrieved August 23, 2014, from http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/poesia/volveran.htm

Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself – Allen Crawford

Walt Whitman’s collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, is certainly a masterpiece which has gained prestige and a worldwide reputation as a divine American book. That was the reason why Allen Crawford, an artist and illustrator, chose part of Whitman’s collection for illuminating it, specifically “Song of Myself”.

Why “Song of Myself”?

When Crawford was interviewed about his work and asked why he chose “Song of Myself” his answer was: 

“I saw what Matt Kish had done with Melville and immediately thought that the next natural step in this kind of project would be to include the text itself in the imagery. I wanted to do a poem, because of the brevity of form and evocative language. Whitman’s Song of Myself was an ideal fit, not just because it was iconic. The poem was long, it was broad in its scope, and its naturalistic tone posed an interpretive challenge.” (Crawford, 2014)

 

“The 1855 edition of Song of Myself is rough and wild in form, with successive editions becoming ever more structured. I wanted to take the 1855 edition and go in the opposite direction, make it even wilder, so that it ran in a torrent in multiple directions, like a bustling crowd or mountain stream.” (Crawford, 2014)

 

Allen Crawford has transformed the original Whitman’s 1855 poem into a 256-page work of art. The text itself and the imagery are mixed in a way that “tune with the spirit of the poem—exuberant, rough, and wild.” (Crawford, 2014) The illustrator lyrical play of text size and orientation layers gives Whitman’s poem not only a type of perfect visual harmony but also creates an uncommon dimension that enriches the original poem.

 

To conclude, “Song of Myself” is the great American epic poem and has often been read as the poem that best captures the tensions and conflicting qualities that define what we might call the “American democratic self.” (University of Iowa, 2012) Furthermore, the unique characteristics of this poem have influenced several artists’ works.

Finally, Crawford’s words about his work:

“With this book, I’ve tried to make the vigor of “Song of Myself” tangible. I’ve attempted to liberate the words from their blocks of verse, and allow the lines to flow freely about the page, like a stream or a bustling city crowd. The text and imagery in this book are intended to be in keeping with Whitman’s unfurnished sensibility” (Crawford, 2014)

For you to think...

Do you think that this work will positively influence Whitman's collection?

What is your opinion regarding Crawford work of art? Does it present a new perspective on Whitman's work?

List of References:

Crawford, A. (2014). Whitman Illuminated. Retrieved August 12, 2014, from Allen Crawford: http://www.allencrawford.net/why-song-of-myself/

Crawford, A. (2014). Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself. New York: Tin House Books.

Popova, M. (2014). Whitman Illuminated: “Song of Myself,” in Breathtaking Illustrations by Artist Allen Crawford. Retrieved from Brain Pickings: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/05/13/whitman-illuminated-song-of-myself-allen-crawford/

University of Iowa. (2012). Walt Whitman “Song of Myself”. Retrieved from The University of Iowa: http://iwp.uiowa.edu/whitmanweb/en/section-1#