Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Whitman post

Leaves of Grass is a poem that touches upon every aspect of human life.  To me, Whitman wrote this poem jumping from thought to thought and unifying these thoughts with a common theme.  The me/you theme is repeated perpetually throughout the text.  This me/you theme is as much a spiritual endeavor as it is a poetic device.  Not that Whitman is preaching any one doctrine, but he does try to establish a universal relationship between the me/you, the reader.

My favorite lines are "Divine I am inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touched from;/ the scent of these arm pits is aroma finer than prayer/ this head is more than churches or bibles or creeds."

These are powerful lines.  The main idea is not to reject God, but instead to search for a greater truth not found in any dogma or churches, bibles, or creeds.  It's clear that he does reject religious authority and knows that truth cannot be simply transmitted by devout practice or by following someone or something who claims to know truth  and true happiness.  His head is more than churches, bibles, or creeds probably because he has been exposed to those things and he also questions the credibility of those things.  To be skeptical means to actually care about the veracity of a system of belief.  The idea that he is divine inside and out is really just a kind of observation of his uniqueness as a human being yet he is no better or different than you the reader.  Or it might be that God lives inside him though not the almighty Christian God, but instead God as the soul or some kind of energy that can never be destroyed.