1.
Walt Whitman is a favorite poet of mine--when he is at his best, he is very good indeed. I'm fond of him for several reasons. First, he was a great innovator, profoundly changing the course of American poetry. I like that. Second, he did not become a great poet by being a recluse in a library; his poems are a result of confrontation with himself and with the world. I like that even more. Third, he was also a poet of great wisdom. He knew what was important in life, namely the sacredness of human relationships, of nature, and of that which transcends nature. Every relationship was a miracle for him, just as it should be. I like that most of all.
I was walking near a mall recently while in a very Whitmanesque mood, praising everything I saw and finding music in the city sounds around me. Smiling, I watched a young couple approaching from the opposite direction. What a handsome couple, I thought.
The man, perhaps in his late 20s, walked a few steps in front of his wife; he was holding their child by the hand. Yes, I'm a pediatrician and find most kids cute, but this one, about two years old, was a knockout. She got her good looks from her mother, also probably in her late 20s. After looking at her, I recalled Whitman's lines, " I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,/ And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,/ And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men." He would undoubtedly have praised this attractive family lavishly....
...up to a point. There was trouble in paradise. The man was wearing earphones; his head was bobbing to music no one else heard. His wife had fallen back behind him because she was completely self-absorbed with texting. One got the impression that if her husband had stopped short, she would have walked right into him.
The little kid was staring blankly ahead while sucking on her thumb.
Perhaps I should call this my anti-Whitman moment. I felt like saying to them, "Please stop listening to a recording; please stop texting; please start listening to the world around you. Please start talking to each other and, most of all, please instill a sense of wonder in your lovely child!"
I passed them by without uttering a word. I thought of Whitman's lines:
Stranger, if you passing meet me and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me?
And why should I not speak to you?
I also thought, since I lack Whitman's way with strangers, that the father might have punched me in the nose for giving him unwanted advice.
2.
Whitman, unbelievably idealistic, considered his poetry to be the medicine his sick country needed. Imagine that--he actually hoped that his fellow Americans would take his brilliant medicine and get better! That is not how things turned out. The disease--poor communication--has arguably gotten worse. Walt Whitman, "a kosmos, of Manhattan the son" --what would he have thought while passing someone talking out loud--very loud--into a Bluetooth headset? Talking to somebody who is not present as if Walt Whitman and worse, the entire world, didn't exist? Such "conversations" take place in public places alas! quite often these days.
Are we that afraid of listening to the world? Are we that afraid of listening to ourselves? Apparently we are.
Whitman did listen to the world and to himself; the result, after a long struggle, was great poetry. Although very, very few would become great poets, confrontation with the world and with one's self would certainly make nearly everyone wiser. This path to wisdom will always have rough patches--some of them taking years to cross--but shutting out that confrontation is nothing less than shutting out life.
Are we so afraid of loneliness that we must drown it out--along with what really matters--with constant chatter?
Would Whitman still praise living pearls, albeit more thickly covered with mud? What would he have said?
"Vivas for those who have failed?"
The Walt Whitman Essays
(all on Thomasdorsett.blogspot.com)
1. Walt Whitman and Equality
2. Walt Whitman and Music
3. My Walt Whitman Moment
4. Five Poems About Death
5. Walt Whitman's Vision
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