Whitman's Full of Wit, Man

Perhaps Whitman's greatest thoughts can be found between the beaten pages of an old leather notebook. The problem is, they're just a little (lot) scattered to the reader, which makes it all the more intriguing. I am especially intrigued by the way he lays out his writings; even though it's his own personal notebook, he seems to set up the scene or preface what he's writing. He says "Two Characters as of a dialogue between A. Lincoln and W. Whitman". He then goes on to discuss religion, power, and The Queens of England and Spain. He talks about a ship being held up against the winds and calls it the "Ship of the Libertad". In Spanish, libertad means freedom and it is questioned as to why he used the Spanish word rather than the English word for liberated. Whitman says about the ship, "come now we will see what stuff you are made of." As he continues to describe this ship, he begins to show that this ship is a positive thing. He states that this is the "ship of humanity," the "ship of the hope of the world," "the ship of promise." I think what Whitman is trying to say that this ship represents freedom, freedom that, while hard to achieve, is the hope for humanity. He is also suggesting that Lincoln is the captain of this ship, thus freedom is in his hands. This foreshadows the role that Lincoln plays in American history.

The next pages show illustrations. The first one looks like he is drawing himself, the next one also looks like him but looks more robust, and the last one looks like a mix between Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln. His very last picture looks like a drawing a high school student would draw on their paper during a boring lecture. I think it's really interesting to see that Whitman involves drawings in his journal... perhaps he's trying to illustrate what he just wrote or maybe he just likes doodles, either way the illustrations make me wonder. It is especially interesting to learn that these pictures were not drawn by Whitman himself. Maybe it aids in his ideas of democracy and people working together (or maybe the curtains are just blue). 

With people stating Whitman's writings revolutionized poetry, etc, etc. It's easy to forget that he is still human. It's nice to see that even the greatest of poets and writers have a process. From his scattered thoughts, to crossing out words, to seemingly random illustrations, Whitman shows us that it took more than just pen to paper to write Leaves of Grass. His journal shows me that he carefully thought through what he wrote before he published writings. It also shows that he is not only reflecting what America was going through before and during the Civil War, but also what he was going through at this time. During the Civil War, people stopped buying books which made it hard for Whitman. Whitman's journal shows the thoughts of Whitman, the thoughts that, unlike his poems, were not published for the world to see. Yet, he still projects similar statements as his published writings. He shows that his talent was not just a talent, but his lifestyle.