Recent update
- Where I found Whitman!
- Conclusion
- Fort Greene, for Dec 01, oatakan
- America by Whitman and Jeans by Levi Strauss, oatakan for Nov 17th
- Old, Cold and Cool Place by oatakan, Nov 10
- Whitman talks to You! Oatakan for Nov 3rd
- Whitman’s Brooklyn
- Oatakan for October 20th (Sea of Long Island)
- Oct 13th, oatakan
- oatakan, oct 6th, Whitman’s Manhattan
Whitman talks to You! Oatakan for Nov 3rd
November 3rd, 2009 by oatakan
Last class, we were discussing the difference between the Whitman’s journal that he wrote for newspaper and Whitman’s poems. Difference we looked on many categories like audience, the style, the mood, etc. It is obvious that on journals Whitman just tells the story like reporting the news by adding touch of love to his country, which I was recently reading The Brooklyn Fire Part, and witnessed the sincerity to Brooklyn and works done in Brooklyn. On the other hand, Poems are completely full of feelings like passion, love, desires…In this case, subject person changes too; In poems I and you becomes We in journals. Personally, I enjoy reading his poems more than his journals. His journals are so detailed that especially his description of the locations and issues which tells us once again he is an excellent observer. The reason that I don’t get the same joy as much as I get in his poems is the style and mood that he expresses. Or obviously we can tell that one reports the news and another full of feelings and descriptive way of expressing them with enthusiasm. In his poems, I think greatest parts when he uses the word “you” which makes the person like one to one; poet and audience, makes the person feel he or she is the only one in the room that Whitman talking to.
For instance, Whitman’s lines on page 294 from “Leaves of Grass”
“When you read these I that was visible am become invisible,
Now it is you, compact, visible, realizing my poems, seeking me,
Fancying how happy you were if I could be with you and become your comrade;
Be it as if I were with you. (Be not too certain but I am now with you.)”
In many of his lines, Whitman uses the same style to grab reader’s attention and I think he has done it a very wise way. While I am reading some of his similar lines as I given above example it makes me feel like someone is reading my fortune. He could foreseen that his works would be read all over the world. Briefly, he knew that and wanted this way his messages would be delivered to people of future.
image source: http://www.nypl.org/publications/images/whitman2.jpg
image source: http://www.museum.cornell.edu/HFJ/permcoll/pdp/img_ph/eaked_l.jpg
Posted in Uncategorized | | 2 Comments
on November 3rd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
I agree with you that Whitman had a tendency to speak to the reader individually, as though he or she was the only one for whom the poetry or prose was written. It does seem to me also that Whitman may have purposely done this, because he knew that one day, his works would touch so many people in different ways and by using “you” he was trying to signify the differences for each of the readers perhaps.
on November 4th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I agree for the most part i enjoy his poems better. But His detailed journals and genuine life experiences are captivating.