Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself”: An Analysis

Walt Whitman’s â€Å"Song of Myself†: An Analysis Walt Whitman’s â€Å"Song of Myself†: A Mystic’s Path of the Self In the poem â€Å"Song of Myself† Walt Whitman identifies himself as more than a poet, but as a mystic as well. The speaker stresses the spiritual significance of a cathartic self, unburdened by the programming of society. â€Å"Whitman does not use regular meter, but†¦at some points he seems to slip into a traditional use of stresses and beats.† (Team). The speaker identifies what a mystic’s function is while using a full spectrum of imagery patterns as well as stresses and beats to illustrate depth of experience to the reader. Whitman’s message is that of a mystic, giving insight into the inner treasure of awareness of one’s self. He places a need to bring one’s self to a cathartic state from all the borrowed knowledge in the world in order to find one’s own intelligence. The speaker of the poem believes that if one acquires a state of catharsis, awareness of the self can be realized among the simplest of experiences; and oneâ⠂¬â„¢s intelligence can then bring meaning and understanding. The first line reads â€Å"I celebrate myself, and sing myself.† (Whitman) The speaker identifies himself as a mystic. The sole function of a mystic as stated by Osho is â€Å"to celebrate himself†¦ that’s what a mystic has always been supposed to do†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Osho Speaks on Walt Whitman) The mystic finds Joy within solitude, alone among himself. The mystic’s message is that the joy of one’s own aloneness is our birthright. Unlike loneliness, aloneness is the enjoyment of one’s own company. The mystic befriends himself, his aloneness, that which he considers the essential being. In the next two lines the speaker says â€Å"and what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.† The word â€Å"assume† stands for a capacity for intelligence. Unlike intellect, intelligence is not derived of borrowed knowledge but from one’s own existential experience. The speaker is saying that the capacity I have for intelligence you also have. Intelligence is a quality or depth of awareness. It is universal among all things. (Whitman) The next verse reads, â€Å"I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.† The speaker is providing the right way to awareness. The speaker uses the word â€Å"Loafe† twice. This word choice symbolizes the relaxation as the source for right awareness. Merely trying to become aware applies strain and tension. The speaker describes an effortlessness and as he leans and loafes at his own ease. (Whitman) The next verse follows , â€Å"My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I , now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. â€Å" The speaker is making a commitment to become more and more aware. The speaker uses words from the first line â€Å" My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,† to symbolize the connectedness of all things. The second and third lines, â€Å"Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,† symbolizes the role of man to reach his potential. Through awareness we can reach the source of intelligence. All our lives and the lives of our ancestors have served for this very purpose, to reach one’s potential. (Whitman) The next verse speaks on spontaneity and truth. The first line goes, â€Å"Creeds and schools in abeyance. â€Å" The word abeyance is used to symbolize the knowledgeability collected by society. In the next line the speaker identifies the knowledge or intellect gained through these sources as ego pleasing devices saying, â€Å"Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten.† The speaker is identifying borrowed knowledge. The last line reads, â€Å"I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard, Nature without check with original energy. â€Å" The speaker describes the use of intelligence outside the boundaries of knowledgeability. The speaker reveals experience and action out of one’s awareness as the highest use of intelligence. Acting outside knowledgeability is known as spontaneity or what the mystic calls action through intelligence and awareness. (Whitman) In the second half of the poem the first verse reads, â€Å"Houses and rooms are full of perfumes, the shelves are crowded with perfumes.† Whitman uses stresses and beats in this first line. The rhythm goes HOUSes and ROOMS are FULL of perFUMES. The second and third lines read, â€Å" I breathe the fragrance myself and know it and like it, The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.† The speaker describes non-possessiveness. The pleasant fragrances are experiences. The speaker is performing the function of the mystic which is to not judge or hold on to any particular experience. (Whitman) The next verse follows, â€Å"The atmosphere is not a perfume, it has no taste of the distillation, it is odorless.† The speaker uses the word atmosphere to describe the whole and perfume is used again to symbolize experience. The whole is not concerned with attainment. The speaker goes on to describe the atmosphere as tasteless, and odorless. Through right awareness one can come to know wholeness, or atmosphere. The second line reads, â€Å"It is for my mouth forever, I am in love with it,† the word forever symbolizes the infinitive nature of awareness. The following lines read, â€Å"I will go to the bank by the wood and become undisguised and naked, I am mad for it to be in contact with me. â€Å" The speaker takes on the mystic’s love affair with going beyond the mind. The speaker’s madness symbolizes living in the present moment as going beyond the mind, becoming meditative. (Whitman) The next verse use patterns of a wide variety of imagery. The entire verse reads, â€Å"The smoke of my own breath, Echoes, ripples, buzz’d whispers, love-root, silk-thread, crotch and vine, My respiration and inspiration, the beating of my heart, the passing of blood and air through my lungs, The sniff of green leaves and dry eaves, and of the shore and dark-color’d sea-rocks, and of hay in the barn, The sound of the belch’d words of my voice loos’d to the eddies of the wind, A few light kisses, a few embraces, a reaching around of arms, The play of shine and shade on the trees as the supple boughs wag, The delight alone or in the rush of the streets, or along the fields and hill-sides, The feeling of health, the full-noon trill, the song of me rising from bed and meeting the sun. â€Å" (Whitman) The speaker uses visual, auditory and tactile patterns of imagery to elicit experiences for the reader. â€Å"My respiration and inspiration,† describes these images as the product of living. They are the small subtle moments in which one becomes more and more aware. Whether it be the smallest of experiences of â€Å"the passing of blood and air† through one’s lungs, or the â€Å"sound of the belch’d words† of one’s, â€Å"voice loos’d to the eddies of the wind.† These seemingly simple experiences can-not go by unawares by a mystic. These experiences are not merely fortuitous but the involvement of one’s essential being. (Whitman) This next verse follows, â€Å"Have you reckon’d a thousand acres much? Have you rechon’d the earth much? Have you practis’d so long to learn to read? Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems? The speaker identifies subjugation of one’s intelligence. The use of the word â€Å"reckon’d† symbolizes calculation. The speaker is simply asking if one’s involvement with their intelligence is merely to calculate and to acquire skills and knowledge from outside sources. The speaker asks if the reader will look at the work in a calculative way when he says, â€Å"Have you rechon’d the earth much?† The speaker attacks the ego when he says, â€Å"Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems? It is one’s thirst for knowledgeability that misses the value of meaning itself. (Whitman) The last verse of the poem describes the value of intelligence through awareness in a cathartic state. The first two lines read, â€Å"Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of all poems. You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions of suns left,)† The speaker uses the phrase â€Å"the origin of all poems,† to describe one’s pursuit for understanding or meaning. The next lines of the verse describe necessity of a cathartic self. â€Å"through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books, You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self.† The speaker identifies knowledgeability as a burden to one’s advancement in order to experience the self. The phrases, â€Å"through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books† symbolize all the obtained knowledge or borrowed knowledge that does not provide depth to individual experience. (Whitman) Walt Whitman’s â€Å"Song of Myself† are the words of a mystic. He identifies aloneness as a treasurable essence of the essential being to be celebrated. His poem closely defines right-awareness as a relaxed or â€Å"loafe† approach to the most subtle experiences. Whitman describes knowledgeability alone a burden to the essential being, where the pursuit for meaning becomes entangled with preconceived ideas and barrowed knowledge. Whitman implores the reader to reach a cathartic state from all the borrowed knowledge in the world that has crowded the view of one’s self. Walt Whitman believes that there is a much more qualitative depth to one’s intelligence and through the bond of one’s self, of one’s aloneness; even the simplest of experiences can provide the richness of poetry. Works Cited Osho Speaks on Walt Whitman. 5 9 2014. 25 10 2014 http://www.oshonews.com/2014/09/osho-speaks-on-walt-whitman/>. Team, Shmoop Editorial. Song Of Myself. Ed. Shmoop Editorial Team. N.P. N.P. 2014. Shmoop University, Inc. 22 Oct 2014 http://www.shmoop.com/song-of-myself/rhyme-form-meter.html>. Whitman, Walt. Chapter 29 Song of Myself. Mandell, Laurie G. Kirszner Stephen R. LIT Student Edition. Boston: Michael Rosenberg, 2012. 520-521.

Overpopulation Outline

I. II. III. IV. Overpopulation’s effect on children in China and India in comparison to America’s more balanced population A. Infant mortality rates are higher in countries with an overpopulation problem than in countries that have room to grow. 1. In countries that struggle with overpopulation, such as India and China, the economy is in a constant flux that hinders the advancement of life saving health care. With this one issue out of the equation in America, she is still able to provide the necessary medical care for infants born premature or with dangerous defects that would result in death in other places. . Even if the medicine in such countries was improved, with the amount of people in any given place, it would be a huge undertaking to provide all of them with these new medicines. 3. Since, by definition, overpopulation is an abundance of people, India and China are less concerned about high infant mortality rates. Even though losing a child is terrible anywhere, in America, the death of such a young innocent is more catastrophic than in an overpopulated country. B.India and China struggle with educating their young children, while in some area’s in America children as young as six months are beginning to learn basic language and mathematics. 4. Densely populated countries like India and China have so many people that some of populace simply fall through the cracks. In America, while the education system is not perfect, most children under sixteen are in school. For a child to be aloud by his or her parents to stop attending school is against the law. 5. Children attending school in the United States have the advantage of a 15. :1 student-teacher ratio in public schools and 12. 5:1 ratio in private schools. China’s ratio is closer to 18:1 and India hits an astounding 34:1 ratio. 6. While the US, India, and China all have high percentages of two parents working households, the pre-kinder kids in both India and China are not rec eiving the same attention to preschool education as the children in America. C. With the overabundance of people in India and China, childhood traumas are not treated the same as in America. 7. In overpopulated countries struggling to feed all their people, proper sychological treatment for children who have gone through shocks and distress is low on the list. 8. Some experts think that America tends to overdramatize some traumas in children. Overall children can bounce back and suppress many things unless they are constantly brought up over and over to be sure that a child is coping. This sometimes produced handicaps in adults that would otherwise have not been there. 9. In countries such as India and China where there are so many people to compete with to stand out, family pressures on children to be great result in high suicide rates.Census Bureau Facts for Features: World Statistics Day: Oct. 20. Rep. Lanham: Federal Information & News Dispatch, 2010. Print. â€Å"POPULATION EX PLOSION: In India, Propaganda Overrules Reality. † The Statesman: 1. Aug 28 2004. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 31 Jan. 2013 . Anderson, Gerard F. , and Sotir Hussey Peter. â€Å"Population Aging: A Comparison among Industrialized Countries. † Health affairs 19. 3 (2000): 191-203. ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 31 Jan. 2013. â€Å"India Facts. National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition n. d. : n. pag. Web. 1 Feb. 2013. . Si-ming, Li. â€Å"Population Migration and Urbanization in China: A Comparative Analysis of the 1990 Population Census and the 1995 National One Percent Sample Population Survey: IMR IMR. † The International Migration Review 38. 2 (2004): n. pag. ProQuest. Web. 3 Feb. 2013. . The Population Issue: A Third World Women's Perspective. Quezon City, Philippines, Quezon City: Isis International, 1993. GenderWatch. Web. 4 Feb. 2013.

Reputation: Advantage or Disadvantage Essay

Reputation can make or break an individual. It determines how people view one another and it also decides how people treat and react to each other. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the monster, Victor Frankenstein and Elizabeth Lavenza face struggles with their reputation and how it defines them. Also, in Othello by William Shakespeare, Iago, Othello and Desdemona are presented with similar struggles to the ones the characters in Frankenstein face. The presentation of reputation in both works allows the readers to understand how the characters interpret each other, how reputation can cause an inner struggle within a character and how reputation can cause a characters ultimate downfall. Reputation plays a large role in how the characters interpret each other. In these particular works, reputation gives a false understanding of two specific characters. In Frankenstein, the monster is completely misunderstood by the people around him. His grotesque appearance gives him a violent reputation, which even the monster himself recognizes. The monster says, â€Å"I was, besides, endued with a figure hideously deformed and loathsome; I was not even of the same nature as man† (Shelley, 119). Although the monster does display acts of violence during the duration of the novel, killing William Frankenstein for example, it is because he was thrown into a world with no one similar to him. He doesn’t understand how to act, and also he doesn’t seem to understand the concept of right and wrong. The monster just hopes for understanding, love and attention from anyone, but especially from his creator. When the monster says, â€Å"Cursed, cursed creator? Why did I live? Why in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of life which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not† (Shelley, 137), it becomes visible to the audience that the monster is aware the he is unnatural and it displays his confusion towards his own creation. A being with a truly evil nature would and could not wonder why they were created. Additionally, if he was indeed evil, he would not be pitying himself or feelings remorse about anything. Another character that is misunderstood because of his reputation is Iago. In this case, Iagos false reputation is what causes him to be so successful in his mission to take down Othello. Othello repeatedly refers to Iago as, â€Å"most honest† (2. 3. 6), which the audience knows to be incorrect. Othellos belief in Iagos so called honest nature and their friendship is what leads Othello to be blinded by the tricks Iago is playing. Iagos true nature is pure evil. He is constantly referred to as Devil Incarnate because he is conniving, vindictive, and he is able to commit terrible acts without feeling remorse. Iagos deception ignited Othellos doubts in Cassio and Desdemona. In addition, he has directly caused Roderigos death and he is indirectly the cause of Desdemonas death. At the start of the play, Iago says, â€Å"Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty / But seeming so for peculiar end† (1. 1. 60-61). He’s saying that he does everything for himself, not for Othello and that his actions are not to be mistaken for love and respect of duty. Othello is supposedly his best friend, yet Iago goes against him anyways. Emilia, Iagos wife, is stabbed by her own husband because she knows the truth about his tricks and he cannot risk the truth getting out. When it comes to power, Iago will stop at nothing to attain it. Along with interpretation, reputation can also have an enormous contrast with a characters personality. Through the use of his reputation, the readers see Victor Frankenstein change immensely. Victor holds a reputation of being a kind man with an overwhelming intelligence. He says, â€Å"curiosity, earnest research to learn rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember† (Shelley, 25). He’s always had a passion to learn and this is where the theme of danger of knowledge can come into play. Victor begins to struggle with his behaviour in comparison to his reputation. He tries to play God by putting together body parts from different users and it fails miserably for him. When Victor sees the monster he has created, he says, â€Å"the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart† (Shelley, 49). Only when he sees the monster does Victor realize the error of his ways. He believes that by pretending that the monster was never created, that he will essentially go away, but that is not the case. The monster begins to wreak havoc in an attempt to get the attention he craves from his creator. The creation and the acts of rebellion from the monster cause Victor to become ill and that’s how Robert Walton finds him in The Arctic, which the readers learn in the letters Walton sends to his sister, Margaret. Victor faces an internal battle between his actions, his conscience, and his reputation, which causes his illness and his death at the end of the book. Othello also faces the struggle with his reputation. Othello is introduced as a confident, well spoken, and well respected character. Every other character in the play, even Iago can agree that Othello is, â€Å"of a free and open nature† (1. 3. 390). Iago is commenting on Othellos personality and he’s basically saying that Othello is very straightforward. Othello is appointed Governor of Cyprus and is responsible for keeping up with the expectation everyone has of him. The first signs of his inner struggle are seen when he begins to believe what Iago is telling him. Othello orders Iago to gather more information about Cassio and Desdemona. Othello begins changing the moment Iago mentions a possible relationship between Cassio and Desdemona. Othello is skeptical at first, but becomes convinced when Iago tells him that Cassio has Desdemonas handkerchief, which was Othellos first gift to her. He then begins to become more observant of what Desdemona does, and eventually, he starts to plan Cassio and Desdemonas demise. Othello ends up killing Desdemona and that’s when Lodivico and Gratiano compare him to his reputation. Lodivico says, â€Å"O, thou Othello, that wert once so good† (5. 2. 288). This testimonial from Lodivico shows the readers that Othello has completely changed and lost against his struggle. His reputation and his personality are now polar opposites. Othello has lost the respect of his peers and his position as Governor of Cyprus. Lastly, in both works, reputation is responsible for causing two characters downfalls. Elizabeth Lavenza is the type of stereotypical woman that is kind and would do anything for her husband. Elizabeth has always been considered to be beautiful and her beauty can be seen as an advantage and a disadvantage for her. The Frankenstein family picked Elizabeth out of many children at the adoption agency because of her image and her image has also gotten her into a relationship, and soon to be marriage with Victor. Even though her beauty has helped her, Elizabeth has been nothing more than just, â€Å"a pretty present for Victor† (Shelley, 24). Elizabeth is the type of wife that supports everything her husband does and she would never go against him. Towards the ending of the book, the monster kills Elizabeth on the night of her marriage to Victor. The monster does this as a form of punishment for Victor, since he destroyed the female monster. The monsters gives Victor a warning by saying, â€Å"I shall be with you on your wedding night† (Shelley, 173), and Victor misunderstands the warning. He believes that the monster is coming after him and because of that, he leaves Elizabeth unattended and vulnerable to the monster. Elizabeth and Victor knew each other since childhood, and not once did Elizabeth over step the boundary of getting into Victors personal business. Elizabeth died because of the man she would do anything for. She died because she fits the reputation of a blinded woman in a relationship. Desdemona is also a woman who is seen as a personal possession. At first she belonged to her father, Brabantio, and the readers see an example of this when Iago and Roderigo tell Brabantio that he’s been robbed of something, which is his daughter. After Othello marries Desdemona, she is considered his. Although Othello treats Desdemona with love and respect, her reputation is still a wife that is considered an object, and a wife that would never go against her husband. Desdemona obeys every command she is given. An example of this is Othello telling Desdemona to go to her bed chamber and send away Emilia, and after Desdemona does what he says, she tells Emilia that, â€Å"It was his bidding; therefore good Emilia/ Give me my nightly wearing and adieu/ We must not displease him† (4. 3. 15-17). This specific example is about something as minor as sleep, but Othello also commands her about more serious things. Although Desdemona is the same as her reputation for majority of the play, there is one time where she isn’t. She asks Othello to give Cassio another chance even when Othello tells her that he doesn’t wish to speak with Cassio. This one difference from her reputation is the start of her downfall. Othello becomes sure of the love affair between Desdemona and Cassio and he begins to plot her death and then eventually murder her by suffocation. Even in death Desdemona stays true to her reputation. When Emilia asks Desdemona who is responsible for her murder, she says, â€Å"nobody; I myself† (5. 2. 125). Othello just committed the ultimate betrayal by causing her passing and she still defends him. Desdemona attempts to protect Othellos reputation by clinging to her own. In both works studied, reputation can be used to a characters advantage or disadvantage. Iago benefits from his reputation, while the monster gets pushed into isolation and more violence. The contrast between Othello at the end of the play and his original reputation cause his struggle, while Victor’s actions cause his illness. Additionally, both Elizabeth and Desdemona die because of the reputation that is put onto them. Although sometimes reputations can be viewed as a good thing, more often than not, they bring more trouble than good.

evilhod Uncovering Evil in Joseph Conrads Heart of...

Uncovering Evil in Heart of Darkness In Heart of Darkness, a novel written by Joseph Conrad, the literary characters are forced into a web of darkness and evil as they enter the heart of the African Congo. However, the Congo itself is not the true evil, but the darkness instead lies within the dimming hearts of mankind. Conrad uses the literal darkness of the African jungle as a contrast to societies supposed enlightenment to show how the morals of civilized man are broken down when exposed to what they claim to be savagery. This contrast is most evident in the different settings, the changes in civilized individuals as they venture deeper into Africa, and the final collapse of white man under the darkness of the†¦show more content†¦Once the narrative has begun, the author moves his main character, Marlow, to another situation. Such a place is the Outer Station, teemed with thriving civilization, yet organized to fit European standards. Although the station is owned and commanded by the whites, it is maintained and run by the African natives. Marlow suddenly notices the contrast between light and dark (the whites and natives), as the natives appear to be more animal than human. One with his chin propped on his knees stared at nothing, in an intolerable and appalling manner...others were scattered about in every pose of contorted collapse, as in some picture of massacre or pestilence. Marlow interprets darkness as evil, therefore relating the dark night and the black skin of the natives to represent evil as well. Marlows assumption that evil lies in literal darkness begins to fade as he and his team of men move further into the heart of the Congo. Marlow notices the brutality of the white Europeans as they force the natives to carry their equipment through the jungle. Marlow now begins to question the true evil at whether it lies within the blacks or the whites. The team soon reaches a second station, the Central Station, where the European influence is still evident, but equally influenced by the natives. The central station is on black water surrounded by scrub and forest...white men with long staves in their