Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Walt Whitman II
Katja
ENGL 48B, Whitman II
Journal #2
10 January, 2007
"I remember I say only that woman who passionately clung to me/" (Walt Whitman 98)
"I remember, I say, only one rude and ignorant man/" (Walt Whitman 98)
Both lines are taken from Whitman’s "Once I Pass’d through a Populous City," although from different versions of that poem. Whitman describes how one memory has been completely overwhelmed by another. The intensity of the break up and the relationship between the poem’s lovers is well illustrated by this obliteration of time and place.
I chose to use both versions of this particular line because I think each gives completely opposite meanings to the poem as a whole. Let’s start with the first rendition. I think Whitman draws an adequate portrait of his "woman" (98) in just this one short line. I visualize a somewhat needy female, who through her desperate ways have caused the relationship to come to an end. She clings to her lover, she ardently hopes for a continuation of their connection, however her partner cannot fathom prolonging their relation. He wants to go, she begs him to stay, he stays a while, comes to his senses, leaves, comes back, etc. This intense emotional dance causes the loss of any sense of the lovers’ surroundings, the lapse of time, their place in the universe.
Whitman’s re-interpretation of the poem offers new details. Here, the tables are turned. His phraseology in the second time around allows us to read with a different voice. Perhaps, the voice in this version takes on the role of the jilted lover, victim of a rejection so hurtful as to usurp all knowledge of surrounding goings-on. The line sounds angry and offended, as if spoken by someone who was taken by surprise at the turn of events.
As is typical in Whitman’s poetry the genders do not really matter. In any place we could switch out man for woman and vice versa. Whitman’s poem is not about gender specifics, but rather the emotional impact human relationships impart on partners in love.
ENGL 48B, Whitman II
Journal #2
10 January, 2007
"I remember I say only that woman who passionately clung to me/" (Walt Whitman 98)
"I remember, I say, only one rude and ignorant man/" (Walt Whitman 98)
Both lines are taken from Whitman’s "Once I Pass’d through a Populous City," although from different versions of that poem. Whitman describes how one memory has been completely overwhelmed by another. The intensity of the break up and the relationship between the poem’s lovers is well illustrated by this obliteration of time and place.
I chose to use both versions of this particular line because I think each gives completely opposite meanings to the poem as a whole. Let’s start with the first rendition. I think Whitman draws an adequate portrait of his "woman" (98) in just this one short line. I visualize a somewhat needy female, who through her desperate ways have caused the relationship to come to an end. She clings to her lover, she ardently hopes for a continuation of their connection, however her partner cannot fathom prolonging their relation. He wants to go, she begs him to stay, he stays a while, comes to his senses, leaves, comes back, etc. This intense emotional dance causes the loss of any sense of the lovers’ surroundings, the lapse of time, their place in the universe.
Whitman’s re-interpretation of the poem offers new details. Here, the tables are turned. His phraseology in the second time around allows us to read with a different voice. Perhaps, the voice in this version takes on the role of the jilted lover, victim of a rejection so hurtful as to usurp all knowledge of surrounding goings-on. The line sounds angry and offended, as if spoken by someone who was taken by surprise at the turn of events.
As is typical in Whitman’s poetry the genders do not really matter. In any place we could switch out man for woman and vice versa. Whitman’s poem is not about gender specifics, but rather the emotional impact human relationships impart on partners in love.
# posted by Katja @ 9:40 PM 
