reader: Kimberly Jones
respondent: Jill Petersen
recorder: April Patrick
Tuesday, 12 June 2001

Walt Whitman’s "Passage to India" focuses on the physical and spiritual connectedness that must occur between Eastern and Western ideologies in order to achieve a sense of oneness or unity among people.

The first stanzas of the poem discuss the physical achievements occurring in the world during the 19^th century that created physical accessibility between and within Europe, Asia, and America that had not existed before. In stanza 1, juxtaposed to his emphasis on "The Past," Whitman alludes to the opening of the Suez Canal (waterway that links Europe and Asia), the Union Pacific Railroad (connects the continental US), and the transoceanic cable (the laying of cable across the Pacific Ocean). The idea of physical connectedness is further expressed in the second stanza as Whitman observes "The earth to be spann’d, connected by network."

The physicality theme continues in stanza 4 as Whitman points out that the roundness of the world has been completed with the development of America. He states, "Thou rondure of the world at last acomplish’d." Yet, at this point in the poem, even though there is a sense of great physical accomplishments being made in the world, there is still a sense that there is something missing. Whitman is stating that past ideologies from the East and West have converged in America, yet there is still a longing and a need to look back to the East, which represents wisdom, in order to gain some insight into ourselves. This idea refers back to the first stanza when Whitman continues calling out for "The Past." In essence, modern accomplishments can connect people, but there should always be an awareness of what has been lost in the name of progress.

Whitman makes a transition from the physical to the spiritual in the fifth stanza of the poem. There is a theme throughout the rest of the poem of the need for Eastern and Western intellects and spirits to combine in order to reach a unity. Whitman illustrates this idea in stanza 7 as he states, "Of man, the voyage of his mind’s return, To reason’s early paradise." The idea of connecting Eastern and Western ideologies is interesting since there is a great deal of transcendentalism and mysticism in Whitman’s poetry. Many of the ideologies are also seen in Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Taoism, which focus on unity, harmony, and oneness with the universe. There is a possibility that Whitman was exposed to these ideologies. In a coy response to a question posed to him by Thoreau asking if he had ever read any of the "Orientals," Whitman replied, "No. Tell me about them." While Whitman had never traveled to the East, his incorporation of Eastern ideologies into his work could possibly show that Eastern and Western ideologies can be connected on a spiritual realm whether or not individuals are connected physically. In short, the intellectual and spiritual connection to ideologies is just as important as the physical connection.

In the final stanzas of the poem, there is a greater focus on spirituality. Whitman states in the eighth stanza, "As fill’d with friendship, love complete, the Elder Brother found, the Younger melts in Fondness in his arms." The ideas of the physical and spiritual are merged. The physical passage to India is related to a passage toward God or some greater spirituality. The connectedness between continents is also related to the connectedness between man and God. The physical is related to man returning to physical origins, whereas the spiritual is the man returning to God and Truth. This can be seen in stanza 9 when Whitman states, "Passage to more than India."

A theme in Romanticism is the idea of desire and loss. In other words, wanting something and then once it has been obtained, possessing nostalgia about what has been lost. In his poem, Whitman describes the past as "the dark unfathom’d retrospect," as well as defining it as having "infinite greatness." How does the Romantic construct of desire and loss function in "Passage to India" in terms of what we have been discussing about colonization? To take it a step further, how does the concept of "desire and loss" or looking on the past with "infinite greatness" to use Whitman’s words apply to how modern society looks upon the effects of colonization.

Instead of physical terms, the poet is describing a journey of the soul back to infinity and the "old." The soul is journeying backward from Christianity, and trying to find unity through leaving the Earth, which is what occurs at the end of the poem. (Verena)

Average people would not be able to travel to all of the places without the technology that Whitman writes about. In this sense, we desire the technology, but we mourn the loss of what has been lost due to its creation. (Sylvia)

There was not knowledge of all of these cultures before, but greater ability to travel places makes them less unique, different, and distinct. (Dr. White)

He is less interested in finding unity in India that in finding unity in his soul. The poem is triumphant. India stands as the origin to his identity – to find it would be to box it in. (Sandra)

Whitman really valued differences. He valued differences in men. He valued men! (Dale)