Sunday, April 10, 2016

Whitman's Journal

It was a little difficult to decipher every word in Whitman's notebook, but here are the most interesting things I found that I could read:

  • Why now I shall know whether there is anything in you, Libertad  / I shall see how much you can stow
  • Perhaps shall see the crash- is all then lost? (decreasing good of society will be recurring)
  • Does the Queen of England represent a thousand years? And the Queen of Spain a thousand years? And you
  • Welcome the storm- welcome the trial- let the waves (private storm as well as societal storm)
  • Why now I shall see what the old ship is made of. (Lincoln= ship captain, metaphor- ship of state)
  • I welcome this menace- I welcome thee with joy.
  • Images I noticed: a harp, portraits of Whitman (he loved to be drawn), stabbed skeleton
The blue ones are my personal favorites. I am a big proponent of working hard and finding the positives in every situation, so these Whitman quotes in particular touched me. They all have a similar message that life is tough, but we should welcome its challenges with a positive attitude and perseverance. Another recurring thing I found was ships or words pertaining to ships. I think this ties back to what we have learned about Whitman thus far; he praises nature and celebrates life and all of its difficulties.

Before going to the second link, I couldn't figure out that it is "Libertad," which is the Spanish word for liberty. It is interesting that it's still debated what purpose using the Spanish version of the word serves. After reading all the notes, I observed that his prose can be applied to both his personal life and the state of the States (ha) during the Civil War era. While the "storm" can mean the issues leading to the war, it can also mean his personal trials. I think this is cool because you can interpret his poems both ways but still get the same general themes such as celebrating life and nature.


Lastly, please enjoy this awesome meme!
Walt Whitman
http://weknowmemes.com/generator/meme/Walt-Whitman/164663/

1 comment:

  1. Good points made, but I do wish you had spent a bit more time processing some of the more specific elements!

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