STEP 1)
It was quickly apparent that Whitman's notebook was probably used to make notes in a casual, unsystematic manner. There seems to be lots of random notes and unfinished thoughts. I figured this by the frequent use of question marks and the number of sentences that were crossed out and replaced. The notebook appears to contain names, random notes, poetry, and sketches. A reoccurring theme is a red stamp that says "The Library of Congress. Knowing that he celebrated democracy, and was a published author maybe he was given the stamp? On page 930 the same red stamp is next to the word Libertad. Libertad is the Spanish word for liberty in English. Maybe, Whitman used the Library of Congress stamp as a symbol of democracy and free speech. This signifies his love of democracy. On the bottom of page 925 he wrote, "Dialogue between WW and "President Elect"". Does that mean that he actually spoke to Abraham Lincoln? Why are the words President Elect in between quotation marks? I have a few theories, the first is that he questions the validity of the Presidential Election, the second is he could simply implying that the dialogue was between him and Lincoln, and lastly the dialogue could entirely be made up. If made up these conversations may have served as inspiration for Whitman's poetry. Near the end, there are a few sketches of Walt Whitman. Although, the sketches get increasingly distorted, perhaps this signifies his vanity. This possibly reveals narcissistic qualities, or that he surrounded himself with other artists. Also the appearance of the cover suggests that Whitman's notebook endured some wear and tear. I imagine Whitman carried his notebook around everywhere waiting for inspiration to strike. This possibly shows how dedicated he was to his craft.
STEP 2)
The notes significantly helped my understanding of Whitman's notebook. As earlier stated on one of the first pages there are names, one of the notes explain how one of the names written down is the name of a friend that died in a battle. The note also states that shortly after Whitman volunteered to be a nurse, perhaps the fallen soldier was a former lover? I say this only because I remember Mrs. Genesky mentioning something about Whitman's possible sexual orientation. Regardless, maybe William Giggie (Whitman's friend) along with Whitman's newfound downtime influenced his decision in participating in the war effort. Writing Libertad instead of liberty was probably an intentional choice, and possibly a statement about how liberty and freedom was not limited to the United States, white people, or English speakers. This reveals how he was against slavery, and provides reasoning to volunteer for the North during the war. Whitman uses the well-known metaphor of the ship of state. The notes describe how Abraham Lincoln is now the ship's captain. Also, the notes shed light on the dialogue between Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln. It was not real, it was merely Whitman's imagination; this signifies how Whitman admired Lincoln, and used him to inspire future poems. Earlier, before the Civil War he described America as still and stagnant cesspools of water. Now, he describes fast winds and treacherous storms. This signifies his use of storm and sea metaphors. The storm is the tension built between differing opinions and the ship is the country these opinions pertain to. In addition, he says to welcome the problems ahead, that this war would show what the nation was made of. He held the belief that war showed a nations true colors in tee rems of strength and philosophy. In his poem "Ship of Libertad" he states, "blow mad winds fall around black clouds-clouds of death". It seems that Whitman welcomes the Civil War. He sees the Civil war as a test of democracy's strength. I imagine that," black clouds of death" relate to gun shots going off (gunpowder) and fires. The most important things to take away from his notebook is his use of libertad, his dialogue with Lincoln, his idea on how the Civil War was a part of a large historical cycle, and his sea and storm metaphors. Although, I believe that most of the notes made in these pages were somewhat random and not super purposeful, he did remain consistent throughout his notebook with its themes and metaphors.
I thoroughly enjoyed your observations about Whitman's journal. I think it is important to consider the time period in which he wrote this journal. It was mostly created in the height of the American Civil War and thus Whitman felt a need to promote his ideals of democracy, freedom, and "Libertad" to the world. I think when you take this into account, Whitman's stances on democracy and his imaginary conversations with Lincoln become all the more powerful. I believe Whitman's ideas of intending his writing for all people is what make him such a beloved and timeless author. His messages have the capacity to span generations because they discuss such relatable and ever present themes
ReplyDeleteHoly cow Iman, your analysis was spot-on! I used my Freebie on this one, so since I did not do a thorough reading you did a great job of summarizing it for me. I first really liked how you analyzed the wear-and-tear of the journal itself, and how it was likely due to Whitman carrying it everywhere he went. This is probably why his first-person account of the Civil War was so valuable (other than it being just one of two) since it would be more accurate this way. Secondly, my mind was BLOWN in your reasoning behind 'Libertad' being Spanish. The fact that he did this to be inclusive of others is just crazy, especially since he seemed so focused on the Civil War issues. Whitman sure is a cool guy, but not as cool as this blog post! See ya in English, buddy :)
ReplyDeleteNice blog Iman! I really think that you hit it on the head when you said how unsystematic the notes were, I think that simple fact is really important when considering the origin of this notebook, because Whitman would have let his guard down in such a personal text. I thought that it was interesting that you saw the portraits as signs of narcissism, I hadn't considered this but it does bear weight. Like you, I think that his analogy of a ship in a storm was both powerful and descriptive.
ReplyDeleteHEY IMAN!!! anyways I really enjoyed your blog post and I wanted to point out some of the statements that you made that I really liked/agreed with. Firstly when you said that Whitman most likely used his note book to not only jot down ideas for the poems he would later create, but also using his notebook to write down unfinished thoughts as he went about his day. I made a similar observation in my own blog post. I also liked how in Step 2 you added how the notebook was never meant to be taken too seriously during the time that Whitman was using it, it was just something he used to record potential dialogues and experience that he had.
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