Sunday, January 12, 2014

"One's self I sing" by Walt WHITMAN

One's self I sing
Walt WHITMAN

One’s-Self I sing, a simple, separate person;
Yet utter the word Democratic, the word en-Masse.

Of physiology from top to toe, I sing;
Not physiognomy alone, nor brain alone, is worthy for the Muse
I say the Form complete is worthier far;
The Female equally with the Male I sing.

Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
Cheerful for freest action form’d, under the laws divine,
The Modern Man I sing.

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Walt WHITMAN was a great American poet living from 1819 to 1892. He is among the most influential American poets of all time, often called the father of free verse. Leaves of Grass was his most famous collection of poems and he didn't stop revising it from its first publication in 1855 until the end of his life. Finally the collection was expended from just twelve poems to some four hundreds poems. The poems in this collection represents the celebration of the poet's philosophy of life and humanity.[1]

One's self I sing is the preface of this colossal collection. So this poem can be seen as a summary and an introduction. Just from the beginning, Whitman "sings" for "one's self". Here "one" is impersonal and indicates neither the poet nor someone special, but a common "one", the human being in general. "Self" is the individuality. So the poet sings for everyone's individualism. Terms like "simple" and "separate" further strengthen this idea. This individuality, for him is related to the word "democratic" and the word "en-masse". The French word "en-masse" reminds me of the great French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville, for whom the individualism bears the democracy.

The poet further sings the human body, "the form complete" and the equality between men and women. Not just the thinking, or human intelligence is worthy being sung, but the human body as well. So why not human desire? Why not human passion? So the poet sings the complete form of human beings, not a separate part, but the whole. He sings what makes humanity, and furthermore we will see that is the "Modern Man". The "Modern Man" who has pulses and passions, who has created the democracy, who promotes the equality and who appreciates the individualism. The poet is a lover and a protector of "Modern Man".

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman


2 comments:

  1. be sure to give credits for anything you didn't write yourself....
    "As explained in Wikipedia (http:www.wikipedia.com/eecummings):
    blah blah blah...."

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  2. Ma è incredibile, il mio albero è ancora tutto intero e nessuno dei gatti si è interessato delle palline nè delle luci!
    Auguri di buon anno Cécile, anche ai tuoi mici bellissimi :)
    https://quotesjin.com/rain-quotes/

    ReplyDelete