Entry nº 46 : Walt Whitman Poem Analysis : Souls of men and women!

In this poem, Whitman is thinking not of his own individuality, but of modern humanity in its actual types, especially as found in America, whose representative he is. Whitman stands at the birth of a vast modern world, whose future growth he seeks to penetrate. He peers down the " democratic vistas " of the opening age, and discerns afar the great new shapes looming up in the dim distance. It is not of his own personal ego, it is of the tidal rush of new virile life on the American continent, that he writes. The " I " constantly sprinkling the poem is not the individual but the collective American Ego, whose voice he believes himself to be.
On the other hand, what is named the primary imagination: "a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite I AM ", is present in the poem. Whitman's " I " would be the part of himself that he associates with the creative impulse what is evidenced in the following lines: “ I own publicly who you are, if nobody else owns... and see and hear you, ...” All these I see, but nigher and farther the same I see; None shall escape me, and none shall wish to escape me.” ... “ I bring what you much need, yet always have, I bring not money or amours or dress or eating... but I bring as good;”
He speaks for the modern man of his own country ; for he reminds one perpetually that he claims nothing for himself which he does not concede to all. No, it is not egotism, it is the identification of a great individual nature with the spirit and life of modern humanity. He is America’s voice, the voice of the average American spread over a vast and still ragged continent, flush with life, energy, and hope.
His task is to foreshadow the future of the democratic life there, to announce things to come. Whitman wants to help America to find her soul. Redemption will come, thinks Whitman, through the spiritual influences of the great poet, bard, seer what you will. From the first to the fourth stanzas, he will speak to the people on equal terms. He is to lead the people, not as a master from above, but as a friend and comrade in their own ranks:
“ I see not merely that you are polite or whitefaced... married or single...
... a lady or gentleman in a parlor... or dressed in the jail uniform...
or pulpit uniform,”...
...“The wife _ and she is not one jot less than the husband,The daughter_ and she is just as good as the son,The mother_ and she is every bit as much as the father.”
...“Offspring of those not rich _ boys apprenticed to trades, Mechanics, southerners, new arrivals, sailors, mano’warsmen, merchantmen, coasters, All these I see, but nigher and farther the same I see;None shall escape me, and none shall wish to escape me.”
Whitman’s idea of the modern redeemer, the light-bringer, the friend of man, may be summed up in his own words:
“ I bring what you much need, yet always have,I bring not money or amours or dress or eating... but I bring as good;And send no agent or medium... and offer no representative of value_ but offer the value itself.”
Whitman wants to tell us that the modern man, as a democrat, shares in the general life of mankind ; a true and fruitful idea.
Whitman stands in an anthropocentric position; it is, indeed, the central in spiring thought of Whitman’s writings. In the lines addressed "To You," the poet speaks from his heart to the average man:
“ It is not you I go argue pro and con about, and to settle whether you are alive or no;”... “ It is for you whoever you are”.....” You may read in many languages and read nothing about it; You may read the President's message and read nothing about it there,”...
Now, to state Whitman’s fundamental democratic ideas in as concise a way as is possible. He is, at the outset, neither absolutely collectivist nor individualist. The care and culture of the individual, his spiritual growth, is, indeed, the final end. This development of the individual is so dominant in Whitman’s mind, that, though he writes of the "Modern Man," he is always actually thinking of particular types, distinct people:
“ Citizens of old states or citizens of new states...
Not only the free Utahan, Kansian, or Arkansian...
Grown, half-grown, and babe _ of this country and every country, indoors and
outdoors I see... and all else behind or through them.”
Yet, on the other hand, he sees that the spiritual individual is made a reality by the social whole of which he is a part. Man is not man except as son, lover, friend, citizen. The world pours its life into a man, and he in turn renders back in new forms the gifts so bestowed. Whitman always comes at last to the individual, no doubt. But that individual is a mere undifferentiated potentiality by himself ; his spiritual life is only possible through his interaction with the social whole. Freedom, brotherhood, democracy. Walt Whitman has come to represent the best of American beliefs.
By the end of the poem, he adresses us, to think of this journey of appreciation. His optimism isn't triumphalism, or even happiness, but the confidence that each of us can find our rightful place in the world. As representative democratic bard, Whitman exhibits complete freedom from conventionality, a very deep human love, hope for all, faith in the rationality of the world, courage, energy, and the instinct of solidarity. All lines seem to be converging towards a new point in the distant horizon, a new type of life and to a new attitude of the individual towards the world.