The Whitman You Don’t See in School, Part 2

Today’s Whitman poems are some of my favorites. I adore a good love poem, as you may have gathered from my writing on “Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances” back in part 1 of this series, and these two are some of Whitman’s best. I first read them back in middle school (not as part of class, I’m just a nerd that reads poetry for amusement) and they are probably what convinced me that Whitman was the best poet I’d ever read. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

This portrait of Whitman from 1860 was included in some editions of Leaves of Grass. Whitman himself didn’t remember this photo being taken and there was some argument about when it was from. The image and it’s story can be found here.

When I Heard at the Close of the Day

This poem is sweet and true and lovely. It was published first in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass and Whitman had some notoriety at this point. He had earned praise from well known figures (as well as some scorn). You’d think “plaudit from the capitol” would be a cause for joy for a writer, but Whitman claims here that news of this praise does not make him happy. What makes him happy is the knowledge of his lover is returning to him. Even the just knowing he can expect his arrival lights up Whitman’s day. The praise from the capitol is dim in comparison to the light his lover shines in his life. 

This poem doesn’t have intricate phrasing to dissect or deep metaphor to explain, but it rings with truth even in that simplicity. It is a poem that is easy to understand and feel. I think it sounds beautiful out loud, as well, in a way that free verse isn’t necessarily constrained into. This piece shows the power of unfettered words.

What Think you I Take my Pen in Hand?

This particular verse combines many of the aspects I love about Whitman’s poetry as a whole. It directly addresses the reader, it makes the common place important, and it revolves around love. This poem is not a love poem in the same way that “Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances” or “When I Heard at the Close of the Day” are, but still it is about love. 

The opening sets a rather sweeping and majestic scene of a battleship and a cityscape, which at times Whitman does record. The sparse details to me bring to mind a distant view, a camera panned out and prepared to zoom in on some action befitting these scenes. But Whitman isn’t here to record the battleship at sea or the bustling city. Instead, we zoom from these epic subjects to a small and quiet moment. Two men are parting, one to go to sea and one to stay. It is the kind of moment that a passerby may not even notice, but to the two involved it is unforgettable.

The comparison between epic scenes to this brief exchange of two strangers may seem odd, but Whitman has a point with this juxtaposition. The parting of the two men has importance, just as the battleship and the city do. He takes his pen in hand to record the most important piece of the scene he could: The parting embrace of two who clearly love one another. 

The Whitman You Don’t See in School, Part 1

Engraving of Walt Whitman found in some editions of Leaves of Grass. Image found here and I recommend clicking through to read a bit about it. It’s surprisingly interesting in my opinion.

Most people, at least in the USA, have encountered the poems of Walt Whitman. At some point in school, a teacher assigned you something from Leaves of Grass and you probably read it and moved on with your life. I’m here to tell you to give a bit more time to this great American poet. I was very discontent with the treatment of Walt Whitman in my Junior English course back in high school because it barely scratched the surface of the man’s genius and misrepresented his ideals. I find it hard to believe that other schools didn’t have similar faults in their curriculums.

I’ve loved Whitman’s poems since I was a kid. I always have Leaves of Grass at hand, downloaded on my phone so I can flip through it wherever I’m at. however, I have not read every poem all the way through (yet) and I understand why some people may find the schoolbook presentation of Whitman impenetrable or uninteresting.

I am guessing that most schools focus on Whitman’s most famous works: O Captain My Captain, Song of Myself, and I Hear America Singing. I love these poems and they deserve your attention, but I think Whitman’s true strength shines in some of his lesser known, quieter pieces. Whitman told humble stories of people easily over looked, wrote notes filled with emotion, and spoke to the reader directly with timeless sentiments. His longer and more famous works have these qualities, but there are plenty of other examples within Leaves of Grass that are more accessible (and more exciting than pieces acceptable for a classroom).

So I thought I’d lay out my own list of good, lesser known poems of Whitman and why I think they are worth your time. I quickly realized that this would take more than a single blog post, so this will be an ongoing series of posts celebrating lesser known Whitman poems.

Of the Terrible Doubt of Appearances

This is one of my favorite Whitman poems of all. It may take you a few tries to parse the beginning of the poem. That’s intentional, I’m pretty sure. The beginning speaks of overwhelming doubts about the world as the individual perceives it. We can never know whether someone sees the night sky or the colors of our world the way we do (or don’t). If you think about it too long, these kind of thoughts that make your head spin. The poem embodies that feeling with twisting phrases filled with parenthetical comments.

But the turn comes in the last third of the rambling poem. The convoluted phrasing fades away as Whitman explains that when he is with who he loves most these uncertainties no longer matter. These unanswered questions cannot disrupt the satisfaction of beloved company. The whole poem is a love poem hidden beneath the initial philosophical discussion. I think it is one of the sweetest love poems I’ve ever seen.