Wednesday, March 28, 2012

tweet-of-the-week: Peter Doyle



Now isn't that an adorable couple. I'm sure I'm not the only one to post this photo. I have discovered through extensive research that Peter Doyle was Walt Whitman's boyfriend, and therefore has a very direct relationship with the poet. Doyle was born in Ireland and came to America to take residence with his family in Alexandria, VA. Doyle worked as a blacksmith there and would have been very familiar with the type of labor Whitman praises in his poem. He was also a confederate, and his artillery company, the Artillery Fayette, was named after one of Whitman's heroes Marquis de Lafayette the revolutionary war hero. He was also present for the tragedy that would haunt Whitman's poetry, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Post redo

I think I would like to expand upon the flower blog I posted in a while. I would like to see if his inclination for flower anatomy continues. I would look at some of the other poems to see what's in them and maybe look at some pretty pictures of flowers. I'm not entirely sure.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

ONLY A NEW FERRY BOAT

This is another visually descriptive passage from specimen days. You can tell Whitman appreciates just about everything in life. Man-made objects are in no way unequal to the natural in beauty. In this passage he makes it clear that the new ferry boat has, for the moment, out-shined nature with its brilliance. He is connecting the technological with the natural and melding them. He uses the imagery of clouds dressed in a, "golden profusion of beaming shaft and dazzle," in much the same way that the ferry is draped in, " flags, transparent red and blue, streaming out in the breeze." The comparison is a simple one but pleasant, and I don't think there are many that would argue that either would be an ugly sight to behold

Tweet of the Week: Martin F. Tupper

I would like to start this blog post by saying married his cousin, just an interesting fact I thought we all might enjoy. Also when you Google Martin F. Tupper the first three selections that come up are in fact the tweet-of-the-week. But all inane facts aside Tupper was an interesting fellow and had quite the direct relationship with Whitman. I have found an essay online by one Matt Cohen who links the two through the early reviews of Leaves of Grass. The essay is titled “Martin Tupper, Walt Whitman, and the Early Reviews of Leaves of grass” in it he goes on to say why Tupper came up so often. I’m not really going to go in to what he sees too much, I’m merely mentioning to credit Mr. Cohen as my source for discovering this nifty little fact. Anyway Martin F. Tupper wrote a series of morally didactic proverbs titled Proverbial Philosophy. It is filled with nifty lines like, “A man too careful of danger/ Liveth in continual torment,” when they first came out in1837 they were widely unpopular, especially in America. Over time, however, they slowly began to worm their way into people’s hearts and by 1867 nearly a million copies were sold in the U.S. and all of that I got from Wikipedia. But back to the topic of Whitman and Tupper, I went over are reviews of Leaves of Grass and found three that mentioned Tupper.
In “Our Book Table” the anonymous author simply mention that Whitman’s style is similar to Tupper’s. He or she doesn’t go into much more detail than that; to be fair though the author does mention such Emerson as a second influence to Whitman.
In the "[Review of Leaves of Grass (1855)]." from The Literary Examiner the other anonymous writer brings in Tupper as though he were speaking to English audience, saying something along the lines of, “Oh that Whitman fellow is much like a young Martin Tupper,” I’m paraphrasing of course. His own words described Whitman as a “Tupper of the west.” He’s making Whitman out to be a moral and didactic compass of the American citizen, so that we might escape the tradition of the Tupper of the east; which is all fine and good, but now that we have our own guy we don’t much need the other one.
The third and final review, which by no means desires to remain anonymous, was written by George Eliot in which he says, “like the measured prose of Mr. Martin Farquhar Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy, or of some of the Oriental writings. The external form, therefore, is startling, and by no means seductive.” It is very clear that he doesn’t like either poet.
All the reviews point to stylistic similarities as well as similar goal orientations. Tupper was trying to be a didactic poet for England while Whitman was attempting to establish himself as a great American poet. I didn’t read much Tupper so I’m not sure how successful he was, but I can say Whitman did very well indeed.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Whitman Culture




I was really surprised to find this ad by Old Crow Whiskey. The ad depicts Whitman, after a long hard day writing poetry, sitting down to enjoy a glass of whiskey. The poster is trying to (depict) Whitman as a classic American writer enjoying a classic brand of American booze, never mind the whole temperance thing. In this scene Whitman could really have been replaced by any other classic American writer: like Twain or Thoreau, but not Poe they don't want to frighten their demographic. Whitman becomes, in this ad at least, an interchangeable part of Americana.

The second representation I found in a very short lived TV show called New Amsterdam. I couldn't find a clip to show because nobody seemed to care about the show. Anyway the series is about an immortal man who has recently joined the homicide branch of the NYPD. In this particular episode the detective, John Amsterdam is dealing with a suspect who has PTSD. Like in modern detective show the protagonist has a special ability, John Amsterdam’s ability is to remember, not that he has a photographic memory, but he remembers his own experiences in the past. In the episode he reminisces back to the days when he was surgeon in the civil war. He recalls a conversation with another surgeon about PTSD, or as they called it "soldier's heart." It turns out by the end of the show that the other surgeon was, you've probably guessed it, Walt Whitman. In the show Walt has his beard fully grown and he seems to be a man of great wisdom, he was the one to first refer to PTSD as "soldier's heart" as though he could delve into the depths of the soldiers' soul. Whitman is very connected with all the people around him, and unlike the other surgeons he attempts to make relationships with his patients while John is complaining how awful everything is. The shamanic Whitman gives very good advice and lifts john’s spirits and the show ends with Whitman giving a first edition of Leaves of Grass to John.

http://soundcloud.com/myrobotfriend/walt-whitman-zombie-nation

The link above will transport to a website containing a song called Walt Whitman by My Robot Friend. The song’s lyrics are attempts at asking questions of Walt Whitman and attempts to speak to him directly.

“We wash your clothes but the dirt won't come out
and no one knows what the hell your all about

Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman”

It also incorporates the poem itself and attempts again to directly contact the poet.

“What rivers are these
What forests and fruits are these
What persons and cities are here
What myrids of dwellings are they filled with dwellers
What widens within you Walt Whitman”

The song itself is a remix of a remix originally made by Zombie Nation. Both are DJ’s who work mostly in the electro techno genre. I don’t really know what that is nor do I have any idea who these guys are but My Robot Friend has done a very good job of incorporating Whitman into the song. How does this tie into Whitman you may ask. Well I’ll tell you, Whitman’s poetry is itself a remix. Whitman goes back to his own work to change things around adjust the flow and diction in much the same way one artist does to another. By incorporating Whitman My Robot friend is remixing to different artists, melding them to fit together.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Whitman's critics

I looked over three criticisms they are as follows:
Norton, Charles Eliot. "[Review of Leaves of Grass (1855)]." Putnam's Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, and Arts 6
He was quite positive towards Leaves of Grass.
Hale, Edward Everett. "[Review of Leaves of Grass (1855)]." The North American Review 82 (January 1856)
He was very positive towards Leaves of Grass.
Dana, Charles A. "[Review of Leaves of Grass (1855)]." The New York Daily Tribune
He had nice things to say but was, ultimately, negative in his response to Leaves of Grass.
I choose these three because they each bring up with in the first paragraph the way in which Whitman’s collection is presented. All three point to the anonymity of the work’s author, and some like Dana and Hale find that aspect a tad lacking. They find it this way for different reasons however. Hale believes it is a shame to have had it published this way as it makes it more difficult to find for the average reader. He truly enjoyed the collection and noticing the self-publication points to the desire Whitman holds in getting away from conventional poetry. All draw attention to this aspect, but Dana in particular makes its use abundantly clear. He draws attention to the picture describing it as the perfect image of the “loafer.” He does make it clear that there are good points in Whitman’s collection, but still leaves a lot to be desired. Dana has at least some admiration of Whitman’s work in it’s own as he says, “the taste of not over dainty fastidiousness will discern much of the essential spirit of poetry beneath an uncouth and grotesque embodiment.” He is pointing to the innovation Whitman has in his move from the overly eloquent and poetic and his use of various forms of speech. Still Dana finds issue in a number of the poems claiming that they aren’t quite up to snuff, but this claim is repeated by the other two critics in a more positive light. Hale was particularly pleased with Whitman’s use of language claiming he was, “one of the roughs,—no sentimentalist,—no stander above men and women.” He really did enjoy the poems and their use of language which leads me to believe that many American critics would have found Whitman’s use of vernacular at least intriguing; as it points to some aspects of the American experience. Norton also has an appreciation for this claiming that, while one might not want to read the book in mixed company it is still a delightful read. This in turn relates back to the picture of Whitman and the way in which the first copy was published. Whitman was greatly interested in finding the best way to get his name out there yet these critiques suggest that in the first publication he had no idea what he was doing. The picture and form of publishing then evoke the question of, who is the author. Each critic I have read had no real interest in attacking the author out right and, even in the negative criticism, found something enjoyable in the text. This suggests that the book itself may have simply sprung out of American soil.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Specimen Days: Entering a Long Farm-Lane

I am not entirely too sure how much walking down country lanes is a hobby. Yes it’s quite nice and lovely way to spend an afternoon, but as a hobby I don’t know. I do admire the way in which he has described the farm lane, being from the country myself I wish I had the ability he has for description. His use of natural characteristics in juxtaposed periods of the year such as, “apple blossoms in forward April,” and “pigs, poultry, a field of August buckwheat,” suggested that he has been walking and will be walking down farm lanes for some time. It also speaks to the many variations of beauty found in the natural setting. In one season the roadside is awash in apple blossoms, and in another the livestock and wheat strut out their own. This also is a little similar to the various descriptive lists in his poetry, and hints at how he may go about find inspiration for the various natural imagery that can be found in Leaves of Grass.

Tweet-a-Week: Frances Wright

Frances Wright was Scottish, but she was also so much more than that. She was a lecturer, feminist, abolitionist, social reformist,. She believed in many things like: freeing the slaves, birth control, and sexual freedom for women; she didn’t much care for other things like: organized religion, and capitalism. She became an American citizen in 1825 when she also, like many other Americans, founded a communion. This commune was not purely about the ideas of shared marriages and the adoption of new religious ideas, like some other ones we learned, but was instead designed educate and emancipate slaves. It was known as the Nashoba Commune centered in Germantown, Tennessee which in many ways makes sense, it wouldn’t do much good if it were in New York. Her ideal would have been the complete freedom of the society within the commune. This would have included the idea of “inter-racial” marriage as she was a believer of equality and, sexual and romantic freedom. This was, however, one of the reasons the commune was abandoned. Sadly Ms. Wright had to return to Europe after contracting malaria. The people she left in charge were very strict about everything particularly “inter-racial” marriage as they claimed it affected their funding. A tie in with Whitman is their shared interest of the written word. Wright herself was an essayist and co-founder of a newspaper the Free Inquirer. Here you have another rather amazing believer of freedom of education, freedom, social reform, feminism, and sexual freedom who also happens to be a writer and critical thinker. And in her publication Views of Society and Manners in America Wright addresses the topics of humanitarian ideas in the context of the democratic world.