This clip from the movie Dead Poet’s Society ends with Professor Keating quoting Walt Whitman, “That life exists, an identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” He then asks the students, “What will your verse be?”
And so, for my own verse, I decided to imitate part 3 from Song of Myself by Walt Whitman because I feel it is an exemplar of his work overall.
Certainly, it is apparent in the exuberant and energetic choices of syntax, such as repetitive words for emphasis, and the poem’s vivid language. The form is free verse while maintaining the lyrical quality of cadence. This free verse allows for a toppling and overflowing of emotion, but the cadence keeps a certain musical structure. In addition to these choices of syntax, this poem also exhibits a common subject seen throughout Whitman’s oeuvre.
Whitman creates comparisons between “the other” and himself, while simultaneously including everything that constitutes “the other” within this portrayal of himself. He points out several separations while still retaining a connection on multiple levels. He discusses abstract thought while mingling these lines with specific concrete detail, such as when he moves from “Not an inch nor a particle of an inch is vile, and none shall be less familiar than the rest” down to “As the hugging and loving bed-fellow sleeps at my side through the night.” He starts this movement with a generalizing statement that no material or matter should be viewed as despicable or untouchable, that everything is worthy of notice and of sensory inclusion. He then fluidly merges this abstraction into the concrete details of a companion sleeping by his side and the specific details of the next day such as “stealthy tread,” “baskets cover’d,” and “white towels.” This fluidity occurs throughout the poem, where he begins with distance and a broad idea and then seamlessly merges into a specialized, intimate moment in time.
Often, not solely in this poem, Whitman then ends his exploratory verse with a peculiar revelation or observation, and these discoveries are often due to the occurrences that appear in previous lines. But, to be sure, Whitman is not staunch in his epiphany and by no means intends the audience to agree with his conclusion of events. Whitman is about openness, variety, and a wideness of perspective. His conclusions are meant for and apply to him, while additionally talking to or conversing with you. Or rather, his “intention” (if there is one) is to introduce newness of thought and experiments of mind.
These various qualities, particularly the expansive and abstract distant language moving into the small-scale momentary detail, is what I try to capture in my imitation. I attempt to stay within Whitman’s structural choices (even though it is free verse) to encapsulate its unique cadence and syntax. And though I deviate from the subject of the everything equated to the self, I still try to connect my own “I” with a type of multifaceted exterior space.
To provide context, here is Whitman’s part 3 from Song of Myself.
And now, here is my imitation of part 3.
I know I am no Walt Whitman but thanks for reading anyway! Please, don’t throw virtual tomatoes at me!
First of all, I got a kick hearing Robin Williams recite poetry in the clip you posted from Dead Poet’s Society! But all cuteness aside, I really feel his sincerity and believe his character! Thank you for your post, and let me begin by admiring some choice connections you’ve struck: Whitman’s cadence, his ground-to-the nose patience which leads him to strike at gold, his self/ other dichotomy, and my personal favorite–his abstract-to-concrete motion.
So, in re-reading this section from “Song of Myself”, the first two lines had a rhythm, or cadence, which struck me as familiar. I thought, “where have I heard that before?” And now, believe me, I’m not into T.S. Eliot’s “if you’re in the club, you’ll understand my many allusions,” but I do remember reading him in High School and loving his flow. So, I do a google search, and realize that in “The Love Song for J. Alfred Prufrock”, he writes, “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. / I do not think that they will sing to me.” This resonates with Whitman if only for its shear sweetness. But also, the syllabic emphasis is similar, and the use of a comma, with a little more detail at the end. I don’t know the specific term for that grammar, but it’s pretty. Also from Eliot, I found in “Four Quartets” written, “in my beginning is my end.” Now I wonder if the poems disagree. At first I thought, well Whitman wants to by-pass any talk of beginning and the end, but when I thought about it, so too, does T.S. Eliot. Whitman goes on, “There was never any more inception than there is now, / nor any more youth or age than there is now.” Doesn’t that too remind us of the cyclical nature Eliot is talking about? He will go on:
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place
Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.
His tone comes across a bit more negative, doesn’t it? Whitman is certainly full of that traditional poet’s spirit, one of imagination and possibility. But still, Eliot’s “open field” seems hopeful.
I’ll admit, I had to look up many words in your poem. No digital tomatoes though. I did learn from your poem just how difficult an imitation of Whitman is, if I may say so. It was very ambitious. As for form and visual layout, you clearly connected with Whitman, and you succeed in marrying abstraction and detail.
One of the things I love about Whitman is that he has so much of that spirit and imagination you’re talking about. He’s always so delighted and exuberant, even when he’s talking about “bad” things. He reminds me of why I write poetry, and it’s because I love everything in the universe, everything is worthy of observation and art. So great :]
Well done with your poem! That is a feat!
Thank you so much! It was quite a process, haha.
The conclusion of this section of SOS always surprises me: the finding of a penny on the floor seems to present Whitman with an opportunity to understand what he values, contrasting the economic context of money and work (the single penny on the floor) to the night he spent with his lover (the value of two). It’s subtle, but it is there.
I like your imitation here, though I think it is interesting that you introduced enjambment where you break a sentence in a place where typical syntax would not allow–Whitman rarely does that, but it gives your poem a more contemporary, free-verse feel.
Though this is note a CloseRead post, you do a great job of explaining what it is, to you, that makes Whitman WHITMAN in your preface.