Journal #2 Walt Whitman: The Real Walt Whitman!

QUOTE:

“An unseen hand also pass’d over their bodies, / It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs…They do not think whom they souse with spray” (Whitman 37).


SUMMARY:

This section of Whitman’s “Song of Myself” can be very ambiguous because it is unclear whom exactly Whitman is referring to. There is a woman, the speaker, and the twenty-ninth bather, however those may all be the same person.


RESPONSE:

When reading the eleventh subdivision of “Song of Myself,” a first-time reader will probably think Whitman is writing literally about a spinster woman who is spying on a bunch of half-naked young men. However the idea that Whitman himself is actually the “woman,” or possibly the twenty-ninth bather in the poem, was brought up in class. Whitman could have been referring to himself as living “Twenty-eight years of womanly life and all so lonesome” (line 201), but that would probably only work if he wanted to represent his homosexuality as “womanly.” Thinking of Whitman as the woman may be too simple of an explanation though, because there is also an “unseen hand” that is touching the young men’s bodies as they bathe themselves and splash each other.

There are so many different possibilities to answer the question of where Whitman may show up in the poem (if at all), and no one can ever really know the truth. However, I don’t necessarily think anyone really needs to know because I wonder if Whitman himself even knew! He probably did know, but maybe the poetic master in him liked to imagine the future debates on his poetry between grad students? I think it’s fun coming up with really mysterious or complicated explanations for poetry, and especially ones that make me see some aspect in a whole new light.

I’m really happy that we’ve read Walt Whitman in class though, because I’ve never actually read his poetry before, even when I feel like I’ve seen so many references to him. When we were discussing Whitman in class, I kept thinking about Homer Simpson. In one episode, Homer’s upset because his father always told him that his mother was dead, but when he finally decides to go look at the supposed grave up close, it’s Walt Whitman’s! Homer then yells, “My mother’s grave belongs to WALT WHITMAN??!! I hate you Walt Whitman! Leaves of grass my ass!” I guess I’ll repeat that I’m glad to have found out about the "real" Walt Whitman now.