“I Love Old Whitman So”

In Allen Ginsberg’s “I love Old Whitman So”, we see that he is gripped emotionally by Whitman through the many references to Whitman’s work throughout the poem and we also see Ginsberg attempt to capture Whitman as Whitman did himself to others. In the poem there seems to be moments in which Ginsberg is taking moments from Whitman’s work and creating small scenes of his own that he is assigning Whitman to. The poem is also interesting due the way in which we see Ginsberg connecting to Whitman’s work in a physical way. We’ve discussed the fact that Whitman wants us as readers to see the real connection that can be made through his work, and in this poem, Ginsberg is connecting to Whitman’s work within the form of poetry itself.

The poem begins with the lines, “Youthful, caressing, boisterous, tender Middle aged thoughtful, ten thousand noticing of shore ship or street, workbench, forest, household or office, opera-” (WWMS, 341). Here, Ginsberg looks towards the young Whitman, a man who “connected” himself to all types of Americans within his time. He notes drastically different places in which individuals could find themselves. This shows how Ginsberg believed that Whitman understood and successfully connected to his world through his own work. He was so successful that he could capture those on a workbench to those in an opera house. The drastic difference in these settings shows how Ginsberg also believed that Whitman could connect to all types of Americans no matter their race or class. This idea continues in the next few lines. “-tavern boy’s look, a stone prisoner’s mustache-sweat, the prostitute in the sun, a garrulous old man waving goodbye on the stoop-” (WWMS, 341). When looking at these lines written by Ginsberg, I think back to Alexie’s “Defending Walt Whitman”. Alexie did a good job of capturing the ways in which Whitman attached himself to people and things due to his sheer excitement and obsession. The problem with this is the fact that Whitman may experience being amongst different types of people but that doesn’t necessarily mean he has truly connected himself to them successfully or captured their experience successfully. In Ginsberg’s poem, it seems as though he believes that Whitman did successfully reach those heights of connection. In this last quoted phrase Ginsberg writes of the “prostitute in the sun” and the “prisoner’s mustache-sweat”, these lines suggest that Ginsberg believed that Whitman had captured those things or at least captured them well. Despite this last point, it does also seem that Ginsberg is referencing Whitman’s work and the fact that Whitman wrote of these things. It complicates the poem because it reinstates those connections that Whitman was attempting to make, and it reinforces Whitman. In these first lines, Ginsberg writes of the things that Whitman wrote of and praises them and their ability to reach out and capture others.

As we continue through the poem we read a line in Which Ginsberg is physically going through Whitman’s work in the poem, something that I believe Whitman would’ve found very interesting. Ginsberg writes, “I skim Leaves beginning to end, this year in the Middle Kingdom, marvel his swimmers huffing naked on the wave and touched by his desperado farewell, ‘Who touches this book touches a man'” (WWMS, 341). This is the most interesting part of the poem to me due to the fact that it’s a poet referencing Whitman’s work in a way that I believe Whitman would’ve have loved. Ginsberg states that he is physically touching the book in the poem, and then references the line “who touches this book touches a man”. It is the ultimate praise for Whitman due to it’s reference to the closest form of connection that Ginsberg could have to Whitman, a connection through their work and inspiration.

The final lines of the poem read, “inspired in middle age to haunt Eternity in Manhattan, see the speckled snake & swelling orb earth vanish after green seasons Civil War and years of snow white hair” (WWMS, 341). These final lines are beautiful to me, and they capture the spirit that Whitman was chasing. They capture the mysterious knowledge that Whitman sought, yet they also capture the vicious inspirations that caused some of Whitman’s best work. Ginsberg refers to “green seasons Civil War” and “years of snow white hair”, I believe that these lines reference the best time in Whitmans life, despite this, it also references the state that America was in. It was this America that created Walt Whitman as a poet. In this poem Ginsberg does a good job of praising Whitman through the referencing of Whitman’s work and the personal connection that he feels to Whitman’s work.