Two Poems by Whitman

This paper is an analysis of Walt Whitman's concept of death, through the study of two of his best-known poems. As the poet aged, he began to think about his own mortality. He began to revise his poems to reflect this thinking. For him, death was not a melancholy, romantic figure. Whitman saw death as a vital, necessary force that was part of the cycle of life. He did not often address it as a separate issue; instead, he included death in all his writings about life. The long poem "Song of Myself" formed the centerpiece for the first edition of Leaves of Grass. Published in 1855, this volume established Whitman's reputation immediately. It also sparked considerable controversy, in part because Whitman seemed to reveal so much of himself in it. Sections 20-25 bring the reader closest to the poet; the changes Whitman made in this section between the first version and the "death-bed edition" give insight into the poet's changing perspective as his own death approached. "Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking" appeared in the 1860 edition. It continues to be regarded as one of Whitman's greatest poems. Both works show the poet's striking skill with language. They also demonstrate his fascination with his own mortality and with the universality of human experience.

Leo Spitzer describes Walt Whitman as "a nameless American boy, a solitary listener and singer on a little-know Long Island shore who, having met with nature and with his own heart, becomes the American nati

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only the ore of right,/Witnesses of us" (48-49). These edits help the poet speak more clearly in the poem, as he learns from his experience and looks toward his own death. In the earlier version, his contemplation of time reads, "One time is as good as another time . . . here or henceforward it is all the same to me" (49). As he draws closer to the end of his life, he finds his view of time becoming more expansive and all-embracing: Hence or henceforward it is all the same to me, I accept Time absolutely. It alone is without flaw, it alone rounds and completes all, That mystic baffling wonder alone completes all (210). His own time is running out. Instead of being depressed by this, Whitman embraces the idea. As Stovall puts it, "The body, which must abide by the laws that govern the progress of this world, lags behind. Thus death is for the soul a joyful release . . . frequently compared by Whitman to . . . a long-awaited voyage to some wonderful unknown land" (Main Drifts 15). Whitman also accepts the real world more specifically in his revisions. The first edition speaks of "A world of reality" (49), but by the final version he affirms, "I accept Reality and dare not question it" (210). He salutes the scientists

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