Reading Reaction -- 8.21.09

[Ryan Browne]

What do you think of Walt Whitman, or his persona, in "Song of
Myself"? Are you engaged? enraged? Do you find him pompous? Do you
think his poetic posture (his exuberance) is absurd? Please cite
specific examples from the text. 250 words.

[Tracey]

I found Whitman's persona extremely ambiguous. It is clear from the
text that this is the song of a man, but he identifies deeply with
everything he writes about. He talks about grass in the first section,
visits the subject again in the sixth section, the thirty-third
section, and returns to it in the fifty-second section. I am
relatively sure that is important, but I have no idea how. I had a lot
of trouble becoming engaged in Whitman's poem because I could not
follow what he was talking about from one sentence to the next. "I,
now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease
not till death." Cease what? Cease living? I believe Whitman wrote the
poem with no exact structure to emphasize the lack of structure in
life, but it was almost impossible to follow. Whitman's character is
markedly proud, but I did not find him to be oozing self-
righteousness. "I resist any thing better than my own diversity,
Breathe the air but leave plenty after me, And am not stuck up, and am
in my place." He is content to be himself; he finds himself beautiful.
"... go bathe and admire myself. Welcome is every organ and attribute
of me, and of any man hearty and clean, Not an inch nor a particle of
an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest." I
found these lines interesting. He does not compare himself to another
man to show his superiority, he just thinks his body is faultless.
However, I think Whitman would have thought his body perfect if he had
a hump on his back because a body is a body. From reading these
sections of this poem, I am inclined to think he is striving to reach
a state of nirvana, slow down the world and become one with nature,
but I think Buddha did that first.

[Michael]

Michael Patrick
Reading Response #1
Walt Whitman- Song of Myself


Walt Whitman’s persona revealed in Song of Myself is nothing short of
timeless. He truly is the father of American poetry. The man that Walt
Whitman claims to be is nothing short of what many Americans still
envy and strive toward. The man who doesn’t care what anyone else
thinks about him—what could be more American? The timelessness of his
persona makes the message within some much more tangible. Whitman
writes, “Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall
be less familiar/than the rest” in reference to his own body (32).

Whitman’s pompousness can also be attributed to his theme of uncaring
for societies minute rules and regulations. He pushes this theme a
great deal especially within, another theme, sexuality. He describes a
woman who is coveting a group of half-naked men from afar. She hides
behind a window in order to keep her anonymity and dreams of having
sexual relations with them (41). It’s graphic descriptions like this,
especially for the time period, pushed the envelope and added an air
of pompousness to his writing.

Whitman proudly claims his aloof disposition in his conclusion of
Song of Myself saying, “I too am not a bit tamed, I too am
untranslatable” (74). He does a good job of using the theme of not
caring throughout his writing and one can only hope it is true. The
idea of non-discretion is very much alive in our generation with
famous musicians saying things such as “You can love me or hate me/I
swear it won’t make me or break me.” Whether or not he intended for
this idea to be timeless, it is. It is embrace, it is loved, and so is
Whitman himself.

[Matt]

Matt Kirkpatrick
Reading Response 1

Walt Whitman’s persona I think comes off as curious and very intrigued
by the complexity of our surroundings. The poem also has a very
random trend all throughout. One line might be about a simple blade
of grass, while another line may be about a woman coveting another
man.

Whitman does have a slightly pompous persona in “Song of Myself.” He
opens the poem with “I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I
assume you shall assume.” I think he means this to in a way that we
all should celebrate ourselves. He wishes to have us all take his
outlook on life, which is very uplifting as he encourages curiosity
for the world around us. Whitman thirsts to know more about the
nature around him. Where did we come from? Why are we here? All the
mysteries of the universe.

“Song of Myself” is not a poem that can be simply interpreted after
just one read. After each time you read it you catch something new
that raises another question in your head. In the sixth section of
the poem Whitman raises the question, ”A child said What is grass?
Fetching it to me with full hands.” A blade of grass which seems so
simple and insignificant and yet how could one possibly explain it to
a young child. Something that seems on the surface to be so simple is
in reality very complex. There is no true answer we can give the
young child, because we no as much about the grass as the child does.

On Aug 19, 3:01 pm, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Brittani Boice]

I found Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself” both peculiar and intriguing.
Once I began reading this poem, I wanted to read more. One of the
most interesting aspects of the poem for me was how Whitman jumps from
one thought to another; his thoughts seem to be very random at first.
In the first verse he talks about being in perfect health and about
his soul but in the second verse he jumps to describing the small
details of things people usually pay no attention to. He talks about
the smell of houses and mentions leaves and the wind, almost like they
are just passing thoughts but he still mentions them in his poem. It
is somewhat difficult to follow his train of thought but I think that
it was makes the poem so interesting. However, once I read through
the whole poem, I noticed that there was some cohesiveness to the poem
that I hadn’t picked up on as much until the last verse. I think that
with this poem Whitman is trying to show appreciation to even the
smallest details of life and speaks of himself like everything in the
world is a part of him. For example, in the beginning of the poem he
says “My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this
air” describes himself being created from the earth and at the end of
the poem he says “I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the
runaway sun, I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jabs.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, if you
want me again look for me under your boot-soles” relates back to this
same idea only instead he describes himself as being dispersed into
the earth. I wouldn’t describe Whitman to be overly pompous but it is
clear that he is fond of himself but I think he self-admiration is the
same as the admiration he has for everything in life.

On Aug 19, 3:01 pm, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Michael Bodkin]

I found “Song of Myself” to be a little confusing. The way it is
written seems to have to structure at all. His thoughts are random,
kind of like he is writing every elusive thought he has. He may be
talking about grass and dirt and then quickly change to talking about
a love affair. I think Walt Whitman has a very pompous attitude in
this poem. In one part he says “I hear and behold God in every
object, yet understand God not in the least, nor do I understand who
there can be more wonderful than myself”. He is openly stating that
he is the greatest human being in the world and no one, not even God,
is better. It is interesting to see how he comprehends the things he
describes in this poem. Every detail of his life he gives profound
thought to, even things as simple as a blade of grass, which is
probably the one consistent topic he talks about in this poem.
Overall, I would say this poem is very open to interpretation; you
could read it a thousand times and always find new meaning.

On Aug 19, 3:01 pm, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:

[jason1]

Walt Whitman was an American poet. He wrote at the time of
transcendentalism and realism. Both of these styles were displayed in
his piece, “Song of Myself.” The poem exhibits a sort of pompous
attitude. He feels he knows everything and is very rebel like.
Throughout the piece, he goes against the social norm of the time. One
example of this is when a display of sexuality comes up. Many say
that he was homosexual or bisexual. This is in ‘Song of Myself” when
a group of men are bathing and a woman is left out watching at a
distance and hidden from sight (section 11). This was very edgy to
say, especially for this time period. Some of this poem enraged me.
He seemed very stuck up on himself. He says, “…In me the caresser of
life…” (section 13). To me this clearly portrays his cocky attitude
towards his surroundings and life. This is later contradicted by Walt
actually stating, “…And am not stuck up, and am in my place” (section
16). He might not think that he is greater than anyone else, but in
reality, he is. To prove this point further, we can back up to the
very first line of the poem. He says, “I celebrate myself, and sing
myself…” How much more pompous can you get? Among all of his self
centered thoughts, I believe he had a remarkable outlook on everything
around him. He gives great descriptions all throughout sections 15
and 16. This could be one positive attribute.

On Aug 19, 3:01 pm, Ryan Browne <ryan.j.bro...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Katie]

While reading “ Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman, I automatically
jump to the conclusion of a conceded persona. The poem quickly uses
the word “I” to express Walts’ pompousness. “ I celebrate myself and
sing myself” (section 1). After reading these few couple of sections
over again, I quickly realize Walt is not so much bragging about
himself but living his life to the fullest. When stated “ But I do not
talk of the beginning of the end” (section 3) shows the father of
modern poetry is only as curious as we are about what life we are
living. He shows he does not want to think about his life ending. He
chooses to prove points in his modern life by asking questions and
proving the joys of life. “The smallest sprout shows there is really
no death,” (section 6) demonstrates Walt believes, our lives are an on
going process and there is no way of knowing what life we will be
living. In section 16 and 32 Whitman goes through the many different
occupations that are possible and gives himself different rolls in
playing each part. He gives a deep description of each occupation and
how he plays those roles for example, “ I am a yankee bound by my way
ready for trade” (section 16). Whitman ends the poem by proving there
are pieces of everyone, anywhere to be found. We are all different and
have all left our mark to something in some way. Walt Whitmans persona
was very interesting. This piece was difficult to understand but after
reading it a few times, I feel that he needed to purposely change his
persona to make the poem more effective.