Walt Whitman's Notebook

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I have never been very skilled in the art of deciphering scribbles and chicken scratch - even when it’s my own writing. Therefore, this experience left me a little stressed and strained as I could barely make out any of the words. His writing is a downward-slant cursive that appears to be written in a rushed fashion. I’m sure one of the reasons for what appears to be careless cursive is that he wanted to quickly document his many ideas, inspirations, and thoughts so they couldn’t pass by to be forgotten before he could formulate them into a poem. In terms of his images, the first sketch of the profile of a man was honestly stunning and I was not expecting such detail in his drawings since his journal seemed to be the place he quickly placed his thoughts. However, the drawings became more strange until the last sketch which caught me off-guard. The last image of the skeleton with a heart as a body that has been stabbed through with a sword with the setting sun in the background left me curious and a bit uncomfortable. There is no telling for what exactly Whitman meant by this last image but I agree with the comments that it must be some sort of allegory either of America as a whole or possibly the society in a time where human rights were far from achieving equality.

I believe through a combination of Whitman’s writings and sketches, his inner thoughts are revealed to be darker and more scattered than the Whitman he reveals in his poetry. This makes sense in terms of his final product being a free verse style that seems to follow a rhythm only as long as his own thoughts adhered to the same cadence (rather than a poet fitting his thoughts into an accepted style and comfortable rhythm). His inner thoughts went beyond what he ever published for us to read today as his mind seemed to be constantly overwhelmed with creativity and reflection. Even the nature of an imaginary dialogue between himself and Lincoln takes a lot of creativity and reflection in how they would respond to one another.

As I read through the notes provided, I am now beginning to see the true content of Whitman’s words and I am fascinated by the link with the historical events unfolding to his writings. Whitman uses nature often in his poetry and I believe he uses the ship on rough waters to show the pursuit of liberty and justice in a divided America. Whitman’s journal becomes progressively distraught in terms of the division in America leading up to and during the Civil War. This is very reflective of his desire for universal brotherhood and his poetry that addresses the need for this unity and acceptance of all people since he sees what strife can be caused by brutally opposing one another. The water becomes more rough as the ship is tossed about which is connected with the approaching Civil War which was a very interesting aspect that I did not see before reading the notes. I was disappointed to learn that the sketches are not believed to be Whitman’s himself but it does make sense as it goes from such great detail to the strange picture he sketched himself of the skewered skeleton. This journal is significant because it contains an his outlet for the social strife and injustices that were happening around him. The fact that he had an imaginary conversation with Lincoln could also reveal that he wished to be more involved in making the change politically which he was able to feel by pretending to discuss the matters with Lincoln who could make the change happen.