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American
Literature: Romanticism Student Midterm Samples 2013 2. Short Essay
2a.
Highlight and analyze a passage from our course
readings—your best textual experience
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Joseph Bernard
Ascending to the
Heavens
Walt
Whitman’s “There was a child went forth” is not only a pleasant read in terms of
flowing diction and vivid imagery, but it is also a study in fundamental aspects
of two Romantic elements: the internalization of nature’s characteristics and
the upward( as well as outward) march of Transcendental thought. By situating
the aforementioned elements together, Whitman paints a Romantic picture of where
life’s purpose is to be pointed. Through an analysis of the internalization of
nature as well as the “widening spiral” and “upward form” of Transcendentalism,
one can see that Whitman ultimately desires for mankind to find purpose in an
upward call.
The
internationalization of nature that Whitman utilizes in this poem signals his
overarching desire for mankind to find a purpose in a heavenly call. In the
first few lines of the poem, Whitman describes a child who begins to internalize
his surroundings, said surroundings becoming “part of him”; not surprisingly,
Whitman starts the child’s internalizing process with a catalog of naturalistic
elements that ends this way: “and the beautiful curious liquid,/And the
water-plants with their graceful flat heads, all became a part of him.” (9-10).
It is important to note “all became a part of him”, seeing as no element of
nature is left out. From the “early lilacs” to the “commonest weeds by the
road”, every part of the naturalistic environment is imbibed into the child. As
the child grows up, the aforementioned internalization process leads him to ask
a piercing question: “The doubts of day-time and the doubts of night-time, the
curious whether and how,/ Whether that which appears so is so, or is it all
flashes and specks?”(29-30) “Whether and how” indicates the common line of
questioning that most humans have, which is that of where does nature come from?
Who created it? How did it get here? These questions prime the mind to then ask
an even more “soul-searching” question: What is man’s purpose? What is man’s
call? By internalizing one’s naturalistic surroundings can one begin to ponder
about the upward purpose of man.
Two
transcendental forms occur within this poem, the first one that of the “widening
spiral”, said spiral pointing to the upward call that mankind must aspire to. A
“widening spiral” is simply a visual way to represent a subject’s growing
inclusiveness of his environment, taking in any available piece of knowledge to
add to his expanding mind. This “spiral” is exhibited right after the previously
mentioned catalog of nature, the child’s field of awareness growing in scope:
“And the old drunkard…and the schoolmistress…and all the changes of city and
country…they became a part of him.” (14-21) Now the child has a working
knowledge of not just nature, but people and the awareness of how different the
cityscape and the country landscape are. With the child’s “spiral” widening, the
only question he can ask is this: “Men and women crowding fast in the streets,
if they are not flashes and specks what are they?” (31). The child now realizes
the temporality of life and compares mankind to “flashes and specks”, things
that do not last, that exist for a brief time and then fade away as fast as they
came into being. Examining the last portion of the line brings forth the aspect
of longing for a heavenly call, seeing as the child asks “what are they?” What
are we? What’s our purpose? These questions could not exist without the
“widening spiral” of the child’s scope of awareness.
One
could say that the internalization of nature and the widening spiral leads
naturally to the other form of Transcendentalism examined in this essay, which
is that of the “upward form”. Key to the Transcendental ideology is that of
“looking up” to some sort of divine purpose or heavenly call that gives meaning
to life. It is apparent that the child, after examining his surroundings,
wonders very poignantly about the purpose of the context he has been placed in.
The resolution to his questions can be found at the end of the poem, which
states: “The strata of color’d clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint away/solitary
by itself, the spread of purity it lies motionless in…/These became a part of
the child.” (38-41). By looking up at the “purity” of the sky, the child
ascertains that there is hope in a calling above the fracas of everyday life, a
pure way of life that becomes a part of him. Whitman desires this “pure” way of
life for all of mankind.
“There
was a child that went forth” is a poem that deserves admiration for its vivid
imagery and aesthetically pleasing qualities, but it also sends a resounding
message about the heavenly calling that mankind must heed. Both the
internalization of nature and the widening spiral of awareness aid in
comprehending the fleeting nature of life and bring up questions about man’s
origins and purpose. By honing in on the upward focus that produces “purity”,
one can find purpose in the upward calling of the heavens.
