Walt Whitman states on page
2913 (1314-1315) I contradict myself, do you feel that Whitman does indeed
contradict himself? And Why?LITR 4232:
American Renaissance
University
of Houston-Clear Lake, spring 2002
Student Presentation Summary
Tuesday,
9 April: Walt Whitman, introduction 2846-9.
“There Was a Child Went Forth” (handout), selections from Song
of Myself (2863-2914)
Reader:
Laura Haynes
Discussion notes recorder: Diane Tincher
Objective
3 Equality, Individuality, Gender To use
literature as a basis for discussing representative problems and subjects of
American culture (New Historicism), such as equality; race, gender, class;
the family; the individual and the community; nature; the writer's conflicted
presence in an anti-intellectual society.
These
two poems carry so much material they could go any many directions whether
political, religiously to unreligious. It could be considered very opinionated.
I chose the view of gender and how Whitman sets it apart or functioning
together. He talks about how everyone is an individual, and then develops lines
that are very prejudice and stereotypical. He wants the world to know what is
going on in this era. It is kind of like he introduces these tough subject under
the table. Writers were not able to do what Whitman could do with tough
subjects, but he was the founder of bending the rules
Selections Chosen:
Poem: “There was a Child went Forth”
“Song of Myself”
2866 (85)
2867 (98-100)
2877 (372-373)
2878 (401-402)
2879 (426)
2882 (501 & 510)
2883 (519)
2913 (1314-1315)
Questions:
Walt Whitman states on page
2913 (1314-1315) I contradict myself, do you feel that Whitman does indeed
contradict himself? And Why?
What do you feel is the
Main Theme to these two poems?
Do you think these poems
intertwine with each other?
Walt
Whitman (1819–1892
Untitled in the first edition,
called "Poem of The Child That Went Forth
Always Goes Forth, Forever and
Forever" in 1856,
Grouped in the "Leaves of
Grass" cluster in 1860 and 1867
Called by Whitman "the most
innocent thing I ever did" (found online)
The
emergent self" (27-28) INDIVIDUALITY/INFLUENCED BY ENVIRONMENT, BUT TAKES
PORTIONS AND OWN BELIEFS TO MAKE OWN IDENTITY
Each sensation becomes "part
of" the child (a phrase repeated six times)
"Became part of" the
child and the closing line's recaps the same idea, metaphorically-charged images
or sounds that the child absorbs interlinked patterns of space, colors, passing
time, and social scene
The poem illustrates al formula for
educating child by cultivating its powers of observing all surroundings.
Became "part of him"
signals his growing powers of cognition. Developing of cognitive
The poem's second half tests the
child's cognitive powers
Child’s parents "became part
of him."
His questionings are not resolved,
but his departure from home, through the bustling city, begins to question
upbringing, questions divinity:
Views
of sunset a sort of Gothic feeling 30-35
Separation
of Gender (OBJECTIVE 3- LINES 21- 24)
'Song
of Myself' [1855]
In the 1855 edition of Leaves of
Grass, "Song of Myself" came first in the series of twelve
untitled poems
Dominating the volume not only by
its sheer bulk
Brilliant
display of Whitman's themes. Individuality, Equality PARADOX
Whitman gave it its first title,
"Poem of Walt Whitman, an American,"
Shortened to "Walt
Whitman" in the third edition of 1860.
Discussion
notes:
The contradiction in Whitman's poetry is a way of
including everything-all walks of life, all the
aspects of life that Whitman is interested in.
He is also expressing his opinions, and he is pointing out
all the differences in the way Americans are, but he
is also saying that he is like all these different
people.
In some ways Whitman is insisting on equality
and that we need to accept each other’s differences.
In showing all that ways that he was contradicting
himself, he was trying to get people to understand who
he was as a very complex person. In some ways he was
"coming out" to the public.
If you
cannot accept people’s contradictions or differences then you are not
very accepting.
Somebody
said that Whitman was pointing out that you are what you are around and that
you learn what you live.
Whitman is personifying the self and is creating a poetic
character. He is also
saying that you need to love yourself first before you can love other people.
He wants people to accept themselves and accept others.
He was
showing people the world that he moved through.
Whitman writes about death like Dickinson and teaches us how
to accept it.
He says that we have got to experience all of life because it is finite and
death is part of life. On
page 2913 Whitman is saying that he when he dies he
wants to become part of the grass that he loves.
The poem
"Song of Myself" is all about cycles and the
circle of life.
Whitman is interested in the perennial problem of self and how
it connects to the
world.
Whitman
asks are we a nation of individuals but also equal to each other.
He is
dealing with the contradictions that are inherent in America's ideals.
In pages 2894-95 he is talking about the Alamo, which
is unique to America.
He
makes a reference to a hounded slave and then he says that he is the hounded
slave. He is talking about a great diversity of experiences.