Celebrations might be another "outside the poem" topic which we could pursue with "Song of Myself." It looks like the "celebration" in the opening line of the poem is the only time Whitman actually uses that word, but he also includes a catalog of contemporary types of celebrations (pg. 36 of the 1855 edition):
Upon the race-course, or enjoying pic-nics or jigs or a good game of base-ball, |
At he-festivals with blackguard jibes and ironical license and bull-dances and drinking and laughter, |
At the cider-mill, tasting the sweet of the brown squash....sucking the juice through a straw, |
At apple-pealings, wanting kisses for all the red fruit I find, |
At musters and beach-parties and friendly bees and huskings and house-raisings; |
Could research into the cultural context of celebrations help us better understand what he means by celebrating himself? What does Whitman see in American celebrations?
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yes . .. I think so . . . there is an historical argument about the public/private status in 19th century America . . . i.e. that there was more of the public and that the private was underdeveloped . .. holidays, festivals, street gatherings, etc. . . .and I think that distinction (public/private) might be an interesting one to track through the poem .. pub/priv selves, actions, spaces, emotions, etc.
ReplyDeletethanks, Hanley. Now, I have this public/private question in the back of my mind as I re-read...A few things that caught my eye this last time through:
ReplyDeleteI cock my hat as I please indoors or out.
Unscrew the locks from the doors!
Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs!
I swear I will never mention love or death inside a house,
And I swear I never will translate myself at all, only to him or her who privately
stays with me in the open air.
Suddenly I see an intertext with Eliza Haywood and the question of private/public, inner/outer, mind/body. Those last three lines from Song of Myself that you quoted above--AMAZING.
ReplyDeleteThis post is really amazing
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