Journal #42

There is a lot of controversy over who people prefer to read, Walt Whitman or Emily Dickinson. Personally I would prefer to read Emily Dickinson, because she makes a lot more sense to me than Walt Whitman does. Walt Whitman was a very complicated poet, and he made every poem that he wrote have multiple meanings. Personally I prefer to sometimes have poems that I can take at face value and that are very literal, so it is a lot better for me to read Emily Dickinson. I prefer to read some of the complicated poems every once in a while, but quite often I prefer to read the poems that are simple and easy to follow. Walt Whitman tried to talk about very complex things in every single poem that he wrote, because he tried to write about Self, the every man, God, Christianity, or America in every single poem that he ever wrote. It may not have always been about all of those things, but almost every time he writes about more than one of those themes. He also writes things in a very complicated way that is quite often very hard to follow. He is very egotistical in his poems, because he says everything is him and about him and he is God and everyone else is God as well, and I do not agree with that. I do not like Whitman from what I have seen from him, and he kind of makes me mad. I much prefer Emily Dickinson, because she is a lot more simple with what she is trying to say. It is also easier, because even if she is trying to be complex, she is still a lot easier to understand than Whitman ever was. Whitman and Dickinson were not popular during their lifetimes, because many people did not agree with them or did not have their poetry. Whitman and Dickinson were both extremely popular poets after their deaths, and many people continue to read them even today.

"The way I read a letter's this:" - Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson was a unique poet that does not fit well into any specific literary category. She wrote many, many poems, that all became incredibly popular after her death. She wrote about any number of things, and her poems are very diverse. Some of them are incredibly literal and have nothing hidden in their meaning, but there are also some that are completely loaded with hidden meaning and other interpretations, so it is often hard to figure out what one will be getting in any given poem. I read a poem by Emily Dickinson that was called "The way I read a letter's this:". This poem basically talks about the speaker reading a letter from their lover. It talks about how the person wants to hide in the very back of their room and open the letter very secretively, so no one else can see the beauty of it or can feel how intimate it is. She is trying to show how meaningful and heartfelt that kind of thing can be, and how important they are to the person that receives them. Emily Dickinson talks all about how she checks every step of the way that no one is following her or sneaking in to see the letter. She talks about how she constantly feels for the letter, and makes sure that there is no way that she could drop it anywhere along the way. She talks about hiding in the corner so that she will be the only one to see how sacred and pure and amazing it is. She wants to make sure that she feels the full effect of the letter and all of the emotions that go along with it, so she makes sure to go into a private room that may well be a sanctuary for her. She talks about how she feels after reading the letter and soaking up all of the goodness that it can give to her. She talks about how much she wants her lover and how being with her lover would be heaven to her. Not the conventional heaven, but her heaven. This poem is very literal and it would be hard to take it different ways. It does not relate to Christianity, because this letter is more between lovers than it would be between a father and a son. It might be mildly awkward for people in those positions to have those feelings for each other, so it is difficult to think about. There is no hidden meaning that Christ wrote letters or received letters from lovers, so Christianity does not fit. There is not a hidden meaning, because only lovers should have these feelings for each other, because it would be awkward for family members to feel this way about each other. Friends might be able to feel this way about each other, but they might want something more with the other person if they feel this way. This poem is pretty simplistic, but it is still very meaningful and shows a lot of depth and emotion.

Dickinson, Emily. "24. “The Way I Read a Letter’s This.” Part Three: Love. Dickinson, Emily. 1924. Complete Poems." Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and Hundreds More. Web. 21 Mar. 2011.

"Érudit | Romanticism on the Net N38-39 2005 : Mayer | Finding Herself Alone: Emily Dickinson, Victorian Women Novelists, and the Female Subject." Érudit. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. .

Journal #41

I read Emily Dickinson's poem "A Word is Dead" The poem says simply this:

"A word is dead
When it is said,
Some say.
I say it just
Begins to live
That day."

I think that she is trying to say a number of things. She is trying to say that while some people think that words do not last any longer than the length of time is takes to say them. They think that words are dead things that can not mean anything and can not make a lasting impression on anyone. Dickinson, on the other hand, completely disagrees. She thinks that words can last for a long time. She thinks that words can last forever, and that can definitely make a lasting impact on a lot of people. She says that words, such as those used in speeches or famous letters, can make people do a number of things, and they can also make people believe a number of things, whether or not they are true. Words are very powerful, which Emily Dickinson knew very well. She understood their importance, and she saw them as living things that last forever, no matter what anyone else around her thought. She knew that words could make a huge impact, no matter how small the word is, because of people's interpretations of the word and the situation. Words could also mean a number of other things, because they could be interchanged with quite a few things that other people do not consider important, but she believes to be so. They could be synonymous with things such as plants or animals, which Dickinson spent much of her time studying and writing about. She could see the power and importance in every situation, while many people could not, because they did not spend as much of their time sitting out studying nature and the things that are in it. Dickinson saw quite a few things that other people did not, and she saw the good, beauty, and importance in every situation.

Journal #40

Whitman's "Self" is supposedly the same in every single person, and when he found what "Self" was, he would be able to figure things out and let it apply to everyone in the entire world. I disagree with Whitman, in that I do not think that "Self" is the same in every single person. I think that every person is different, because everyone has their own unique traits, characteristics, personality, and reactions. Everyone reacts to things differently. Some people are calm in the face of danger and do not show their reactions at all, while some people totally freak out and let their emotions play across their faces like they are an open book. Some people are not easily scared, while others jump when the toaster pops with their toast. Some people are incredibly organized, while others are so messy, that they can not find anything that they ever need. On a deeper level, some people believe in Christianity, some in Buddhism, some in Hinduism, some in Muslim, some believe in Scientology, some in Atheism, and people believe everything in between. Those are more philosophical thoughts, and if people do not believe the same thing, how can they have the same "Self"? At the same time, though, people normally all have the same wants and desires on a basic level. We all need food, water, and shelter, and we all want to be loved and cared about. No one in the world can say that they would be able to live on their own their whole lives, because we were made so that we, by human nature, need to have company. If we do not have people or pets around us, we will make something into company, as "Wilson" was created in "Castaway". People may not all believe the same things and not think that all of the same things are true and correct, but we have some of the same needs on a basic level, so it depends on where one is searching for "Self".

"BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS!" - Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman wrote this poem differently than some of the rest of his poems. This poem is about the Civil War, and how the Civil War changed the lives of many Americans. This poem is talking about how all of the troops would march through all of the towns. Whitman was explaining that they should not stop for any reason at all, and that the drums and the bugles should never stop playing their music. Whitman said that they should not listen to any requests from anyone along the streets that wanted them to stop. They should not listen to the mothers that wanted their children back, and they should not listen to the people that just wanted to sit there and talk about the war. The whole point of a war is that negotiations did not work, so all of the soldiers need to go to war. Whitman may also be saying that the drummers and buglers should not stop not matter what, because the soldiers count of the musicians to help give them all the commands, and if the drummers or the buglers stopped, some soldiers could die that did not need to, because they would not know what they should be doing. He could be telling the soldiers the same message in turn through the musicians, because they can never give up as well. This poem fits well with his theme of the "Everyman", because this applies to every person that was in the military. It would have been easy for him to write this poetry, because he was a nurse in the army during the Civil War. This poem fits everyone in the military, because he is telling every single person that they should not give up. They are all going through some of the same things and understand what the others are experiencing, so they can all relate to these poems really well. This poem does not have anything to do with Christianity, because this poem is about the Civil War and how the soldiers in it should do their best, and since the Civil War was not about Christianity or how it relates to the world, Christianity is not in this poem. Walt Whitman also carried a notebook with him where he wrote some things that eventually turned into poetry. This could have easily been inspired by him seeing soliers walk by, which makes the poem that much more meaningful. Whitman wrote many poems from the Civil War era, and they probably came from many different inspirations, but Whitman had the chance to remember where he came up with every single poem that he wrote because he wrote all of his notes in the notebook that he carried everywhere with him. People are able to relate to his poems more easily since the know that they all had legitimate, good inspiration. Walt Whitman was a very controversial poet that wrote some awkward things, but this poem was good and it helped explain to many people the difficulties of wars.


"Whitman's Wartime Washington." American Studies @ The University of Virginia. Web. 08 Mar. 2011. .

Whitman, Walt. "BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS! (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892])." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. .

"A Woman Waits for Me" - Walt Whitman

"A Woman Waits for Me" is a very descriptive poem of what a man does to a woman to create children. There are many metaphors in it, so younger children may not understand it to be what it really is, but most people understand the poem. It is complicated to explain and define, but it has some of the same characteristics as the rest of Whitman's poems, so comparisons to the rest of his poems and showing how they are all related is mildly easy. In this poem, Whitman talks about women that can do everything that men can do, which at the time was insane. He talks about women that can swim or row boats or wrestle or shoot guns, which was all completely unheard of at the time. At that time, women were just beginning to get rights, so to think that they would be not only equivalent of men with their rights but also man's equal in what they can do was a completely new idea. This brought about a lot of controversy at the time, and since Whitman was already involved in a lot of controversy, this did not help his cause. His critics loved this, because they could call him crazy and rage about him and his works by pointing to this. They could explain that he was out of his mind because he thought that women could be the same as men. They could show that women did not even have the rights to vote, so if they could not vote, why would they even want to be like men? They could claim that those women would not be a good or real part of society, so Whitman was insane for even trying to say that that kind of woman would exist. This poem also confused many of his friends, because he was a homosexual, so for him to be talking about women in such a sensual way. His friends may have wondered if he had become heterosexual or bisexual, and since he did not, this poem was guaranteed to have confused all of his friends that did not know his inspiration for the poem. People do not know the inspiration of his poem now, and that is why we all marvel about what he was thinking and how he could talk about women in such a sensual way if he was a homosexual male. Even some of the critics that loved his works and thought he was amazing did not know what to think about this poem. They may have thought that he was going crazy. They may have thought that in his quest for "Self" he had lost his mind. He could have been trying to get in a woman's mind, but they probably did not agree with what he said, because he said women would be able to do the same things as men could do, which was also a big controversy at the time. This poem is extremely controversial, and peope today still do not know what to think of it.

Whitman, Walt. "Leaves of Grass (1891-92)." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 07 Mar. 2011. .

Whitman, Walt, and M. J. Killingsworth. "1856:Poems of Sexuality and the Body." The Cambridge Introduction to Walt Whitman. 45. Print.

Journal #39

Walt Whitman's "Bardic Symbols" is a very confusing poem. It is hard to understand, so it is hard to read into it and try to get knowledge from it. It is about a man walking beside the sea and how cold the sea was. The man wants the ocean to like him and he cries out to the ocean, but to no avail. There are many words in this poem that are not used in everyday life, and that could confuse a great number of people. William Dean Howell agrees in his criticism of "Bardic Symbols", and he shows how people did not understand Whitman or his poetry at that time. Whitman often discusses the Everyman, America, or Christianity or spirituality in his poems, and that is an easy thing to look for as a common theme throughout all of his works. "Bardic Symbols" is a harder poem to read into, but I did not see anything about Christianity in this poem. There may be some spirituality because of how emotional and sensual he gets, but that depends on the interpretation. He becomes very sensual in the poem and it becomes mildly awkward because he is being sensual with the ocean and the beach, which he calls his mother and father. Many people would not understand that, and that might make the not like the poem and eventually not like Whitman himself. There is not much about the Everyman, but people could all walk along the beach like he does. He is not talking about something that is expensive or hard to do, so everyone would be able to walk along the beach like he did here. There is also some about America, because the poem is set along a beach in Manhattan. He is discussing how beautiful it is while is calm outside and when it is stormy outside. Whitman was a very controversial poet, and as seen in Howell's criticism, many Americans did not understand his works at that time.

Whitman, Walt. "Whitman's Poems In Periodicals—Bardic Symbolsa Machine Readable Transcription." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. .

Howell, William D. ""Bardic Symbols": [Review]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 03 Mar. 2011. .

"When I Read the Book" - Walt Whitman

In "When I Read the Book" by Walt Whitman, Whitman talks about boigraphies. He declares that he has read a biography. He wonders if when he dies, someone will write a book about him, and he wonders if that person will know anything about his life. He also says that sometimes he wonders how much he actually knows about his life, because he only catches hints of himself. He rarely sees his true self, and realizes that the few hints of his true self that he does see, he uses to their full extent to try to find the "Self" that everyone fits into. Whitman claims that if anyone wanted to write a good biography of him, it would be best for them to write their book from all of his poetry in "Leaves of Grass". He claims that people would find the best and most true part of him in his works, and most of his works were collected together to create "Leaves of Grass", which was revised a number of times and had many works added to it before its final completion. Whitman could have been thinking about a number of things when he was writing this poem, but it is most likely that he was thinking about all of the critiques that he had been getting. He had not been getting very good reviews, because most people either loved him or hated him, and he probably thought more about the bad reviews than he did the good ones. He was curious about what the people who had written the bad reviews of his works would say about him after he passed. He wanted to know what they would put in his biography, and he wondered if they would be nice about him and portray his life in a good light, or if they would hate him and be rude about him and portray his life as an awful thing that did not need to happen. Thought the reviews were mostly supposed to be about his works, many reviewers slammed him, as well as his works, which did not help his self-esteem at all. He may have felt really bad about himself because of all of the things that he had been hearing, but he did not let it get to him enough that he stopped writing. He persevered through many hard things in his life, and that can be reflected in some of his poetry, because he wrote about things that inspired him. He wrote many different poems that were very diverse in their inspirations and in their style. He talked about obituaries and the circle of life; he talked about ploughmen and the noises of America. Whitman was a very controversial author that got mixed reviews, but many authors now are influenced by his works, because he wrote in a style that was new at that time. His style blew minds at that time, because nothing had ever been done remotely life it before. People now do whatever they want in poetry, and that comes from Walt Whitman and his revolutionary changes to poetry.

Whitman, Walt. "WHEN I READ THE BOOK. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892])." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 02 Mar. 2011. .

Oliver, Charles M. ""When I Read the Book"" Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: a Literary Reference to His Life and Work. By Walt Whitman. 235. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. .

Journal #38

"As I Watched the Ploughman Ploughing" is a short poem about life and death, and how they are related to plowing, sowing, and harvesting. This work shows that life and death are like the seasons, and they all come at some point. Walt Whitman says that life is like plowing or sowing. He says that they come in their own season and that there is a specific time for it. He also says that harvesting is like death. This could be tied to Christianity in that Whitman could be saying that there is a divine being like God that is doing the plowing, sowing, and harvesting of people. He could be saying that God is in charge of when people are born and when people die. There is also a passage in the Bible that says things along the lines of "There is a time for everything, there is a season for everything under Heaven". It is along those lines, and that can also be tied to this poem. This poem is very similar and it says basically the same idea in a different way. Whitman could have read that passage, and he could have realized that he wanted to write about it or write something similar to it. He also could have just heard the passage as a child and not really remembered it when he grew up. He could have subconsciously remembered it, and used it as his inspiration, even thought he did not really know what he was talking about. Whitman could have gone to a church one day, heard that passage, and realized that he would be able to sell many copies of a book or poem if it was about that passage, because the passage was so optimistic and comforting when something bad happens. Whitman definitely had some roots in Christianity, and it shows in some of his works; it especially shows in this work. This poem is incredibly spiritual, and it can be inspirational to any number of people.

Whitman, Walt. ""As I Watch'd the Ploughman Ploughing"" Leaves of Grass. 1900. Print.

Walt Whitman's "Self"

Walt Whitman was a very unique poet, who wrote of many things that were controversial at the time. He was not afraid to speak of things like sexuality, and many people considered his conceited. He can be taken a number of ways, because he speaks of the world and how everything is one. He tries to say that everyone is everyone else and is also God at the same time, so many people are not sure how to perceive him. He was a complicated man, with many emotions, and it helped him a lot in his poetry writing.
Whitman emphasized Self very much in his poetry, and he does it in many ways. He tries hard to show that everyone is the same as everyone else. This could be taken to say that everyone should have the same rights, because they are all the same people, but at the same time, they are all God as well. So, it could also be taken that all people should have all of the same rights as God, because they are all the same and they are also all God. This helps to show how complicated his works were and how far ahead of his time he really was.
Whitman uses Song to factor into Self in a poem called “One’s-Self I Sing”. In this poem he talks about how bodies do not matter and really do not count for anything. He says he is cheering for males and females alike, and that meant a lot from him, because he often was on the fringe when discussing sexuality. He often put women down quite a bit, and it is surprising that he would cheer for women as much as he would cheer for men. He claims that bodies do not matter, because he is talking about souls and how souls are all the same because everyone is the same person. He says that brains also are not the only things that are needed, because, while they are a part of the body that is vitally important, they do not complete the body, and that is what he wants. He wants the whole thing to come packaged together nicely in a set, because he claims that makes things much better and easier. He claims that songs can help oneself in that they can make one much more cheerful and can help give one much passion, which he explains as very important in the life of a person. He realizes that people need to be happy to really live, and he says that songs will definitely help them do that. He also wants people to be modern and up to date, because he thinks that will help the self become much better and much more complete. He realizes that there are many components to being a good soul, and he really thinks that songs will help humans achieve that amazing soul.
Walt Whitman was a very influential writer that has been compared to Shakespeare. He wanted people to think of the Self as the most important part of the being, and people were split about whether they should listen to him or not. There were not many people that were on the fence about him, because most people were either whole-heartedly for him, or they were whole-heartedly against him. Many people will argue for days about whether or not his writings were egotistical, and that all depends on where people draw the line. He may not have thought that he was crossing the line while other people did, and that makes his works very controversial. He was a good author and he had new ways to convey his thoughts and meanings, but new things are not always taken well in the beginning and his works were not an exception.