In “To the Sun-set Breeze” we once again see a Whitman who is frail, tired, and old. As we discussed in class, it seems strange to think that Whitman would write in such a defeated way seeing as his early work expressed vitality, youth, and the ability to fully express ones self. Here, as we’ve seen, we see a Whitman who seems to be on the verge of giving up. In the poem he writes as if he is reaching out to the natural world, praising it while also asking it to bring him energy.
In the first section of the poem we see Whitman talking and interacting with nature, appreciating its presence. We read, “Ah, whispering, something again, unseen, Where late this heated day thou enterest at my window, door, Thou, laving, tempering all, cool-refreshing, gently vitalizing Me, old, alone, sick, weak-down, melted-worn with sweat…” (WhitmanArchive.org). When I first read these opening lines I thought of Whitman as a physical person at first. We’ve talked about it a lot recently in class, and it seems that Whitman is fearful and worried about his own life. I read this as Whitman sitting in a room feeling the breeze come into his home. Once I read the poem again, I found the lines “window” and “door” to be interesting. It made me think that this poem could possibly be about Whitman’s spiritual/creative self as well. These natural elements that Whitman constantly talks about do find their way into his work, and it seems that he is speaking to nature in a more spiritual and creative way. As he grows old with age, he counts on nature to keep his spirits young and healthy. Despite this, the breeze brings Whitman back to thinking about his run-down physical body as well. It seems that Whitmans physical body and creative self are almost at war with each other.
We see more of this interaction between nature and Whitman’s more creative/spiritual self later in the poem. The middle section of the poem reminds me of the poems we read in “Leaves of Grass” due to the fact that Whitman is so inspired he becomes something more than himself, he all of sudden has new knowledge that others don’t seem to posses. We read, “Thou, messenger-magical strange bringer to body and spirit of me, (Distances balk’d-occult medicines penetrating me from head to foot.) I feel the sky, the prairies vast- I feel the mighty northern lakes, I feel the ocean and the forest-somehow I feel the globe itself swift-swimming in space…” (WhitmanArchive.org). This part of the poem makes me ask a lot of questions but it also makes sense to me. I wonder if Whitman felt truly lifted in this moment, and if so, why didn’t we see his questions of mortality lighten at all in some of these later poems. It also makes sense to me because we see the Whitman that we knew at the beginning of the course. We see the Whitman who can see and understand more due to his inspiration. It seems that Whitman reacts out to nature so that it can spiritually heal him.
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