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October 12th, 2009 by oatakan
Whitman’s Love
As a person, I always consider myself very pessimist character in life and struggle to be positive thinker. And I always admire the people who can always think positive and full of joy even though some unpleasant experiences they face. Since the beginning of the class, I am aware of one particular thing that Whitman is so full of love to life and people. Reading through some of his lines I sense that he can perceive the life and people around him with love and happiness. In other words, Whitman is a person who is able to see the beauty in everything he looks at. As an example of “Song of Occupation” part of “Leaves of Grass”, Whitman lines up all the occupations and details of these people and somehow connects his lines within a harmony.
In contrast, as last class’ discussion Charles Dickens express his feelings hateful for New Yorkers and calls them pigs during the same time Whitman calls New Yorkers brothers and sisters. In my opinion, we should not connect these that Whitman, himself was a New Yorker and for sure he would be nice to his own people and Dickens was English and he was visiting New York and acted racist. Shortly, it is not the location where you come from. It is that what makes you hateful or loving is how the individual thinks. Briefly, I would say Whitman could be happy and loving in any part of the World. This was just in him that we were all the same. “Every atom belongs to you it belongs to me” . as he he said .In addition to this, Whitman enhance the way that he describes no one is better than other in lines of
“Souls of men and women! it is not you I call unseen, unheard,
untouchable and untouching,
It is not you I go argue pro and con about, and to settle whether
you are alive or no,
I own publicly who you are, if nobody else owns.
Grown, half-grown and babe, of this country and every country,
in-doors and out-doors, one just as much as the other, I see,
And all else behind or through them.
The wife, and she is not one jot less than the husband,
The daughter, and she is just as good as the son,
The mother, and she is every bit as much as the father”
P93
These lines remind me my favorite poetry Mevlana Rumi who lived on 13th century. In his poems he mostly mentioned of loving universe, people and God. His most known poem started as “Come whoever you are come…” that he was calling people to love each other, not discriminating one of the livings. Flowingly, I found some other lines of Whitman that we can witness how much passion he had for people and life and saw everyone friendly and lived life joyful. Even though he wasn’t wealthy and a person with family issues like his brother Eddie’s situation, he never gave up being positive.
“…Will you seek afar off? you surely come back at last,
In things best known to you finding the best, or as good as the best,
In folks nearest to you finding the sweetest, strongest, lovingest,
Happiness, knowledge, not in another place but this place, not for
another hour but this hour,
Man in the first you see or touch, always in friend, brother,
nighest neighbor–woman in mother, sister, wife,…” p101
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