Frances Wright

Speak of change, and the world is in alarm. 

And yet where do we not see change?

Frances Wright was born in Scotland, she was a writer, feminist, and abolitionist. During college she became intrigued with the newly independent United States,

"A two-year tour of the United States with her sister provided Frances Wright with the material for her Views of Society and Manners in America(1821), an enthusiastic account of Americans' patriotic idealism."

She was an advocate for Women's Rights, concerning abortion, birth control, and liberalized divorce laws.

She lived in New York, where I'm sure, Walt had met and talked with her.

Walt was quoted saying, "We all loved her, fell down before her, her very appearance seemed to enthrall us, She was sweeter nobler, grander-multiplied by twenty-than all who traduced her"

I found out that Walt was brought up with influences of deism and quakerism. Deism, which was handed to him through his father and who subscribed to the Free Enquirer, which was edited by Fanny Wright, a deist. Deism puts all religions on the same levels and tried to extract from the basic moral principals.

They both show signs of this in their writings and beliefs. The morals of human rights, compassion and equality.

I found that he would go and listen to her lectures.  I can imagine how well the two would  get along. Fanny, as she was called, spoke out against misogynistic treatment in churches, society and advocated for women rights. She didn't lay down and accept the roles given to her, she wanted to break the mold. This is much like Whitman and his ways, I can imagine  how they would adore each other, share ideals and thoughts.

http://www.librarycompany.org/women/portraits/wright.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=G7RgMU3eC9sC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=fanny+wright+and+walt+whitman&source=bl&ots=TXiuxpfUcf&sig=GJ07V_BR6dDKjGwzdfGWlCH-xTk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cfZOT6L0MMrFtgf0sNCoDQ&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=fanny%20wright%20and%20walt%20whitman&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=oLZa9nDWz1AC&pg=PT17&lpg=PT17&dq=fanny+wright+and+walt+whitman&source=bl&ots=8kQdooLmgu&sig=37aXga7sTWZVT5jffCBQ3dCdbkA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=cfZOT6L0MMrFtgf0sNCoDQ&ved=0CEAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

A melodic hum under my roof...

I have read a few of Specimen Days deciding which to write about every week and I am enamored at Walt's compassion and empathy for the wounded soldiers he goes to visit. He just sits with them, listens with them, watches them, feels for them and wants to be near, helping as little he can,

"He had turn'd over on his left side to get a better view of the singers, but the mosquito-curtains of the adjoining cots obstructed the sight. I stept round and loop'd them all up, so that he had a clear show, and then sat down again by him, and look'd and listen'd."



This entry, Home Made Music, caught my eye, (had no idea it would be about wounded soldiers) because I had just been singing out loud in my house, just because I was in a good mood I guess, but it turned out to fit into my blog :)
I love to see that Walt is always entranced by life's little beauties, he notices the
"the shadows down the lower and upper parts of the ward" or takes note of the " voices up to the high, whitewash'd wooden roof, and pleasantly the roof sent it all back again" 
I like that he notes back to his love of New York as well, mentioning the New York opera and saying he had just as much pleasure in this moment of home made music as he has the best opera.
I usually pick a entry that moves me and this is just such a beautiful moment of peace,captured by Walt, for men that have been under an intense amount of stress. Home made music for the pure enjoyment of it. I think I'll go make my own...

The Bowery B'hoys: Wicked rather than virtuous out of conformity or fear...

The Bowery B'hoy was a term deemed to a certain type of man in the mid 1800s New York, he represented the rise of commercial culture and decline in the status of skilled trades. Often associated with drinking and rowdiness. His lifestyle was a fun, adventurous and colorful sub-culture. They mocked the dress and manners of aristocracy, and are seen as "icons of working class high spirits and urban Americans" 

Barnum's American Museum's often attracted people of this type, a place Whitman had been and wrote about, once even studying the people that visited it's slightly askew and interesting exhibits. 

Whitman was enamored with the Bowery lifestyle and slang. He often mingled with the men who made up the b'hoy population as their slang and vigorous outbursts was often a demeanor that Whitman was not afraid to accentuate in his poems. he wanted to capture the essence of a bowery b'hoy, one that stands up against what is and fights for what he wants,

he writes, 

"The boy I love, the same becomes a man, not through derived power,

  but in his own right, Wicked rather than virtuous out of conformity or fear"

It is said that Whitman is the "Bowery b'hoy of Literature"

The Bowery Boys frequented the five points of New York, which reminded me of the movie Gangs of New York. I found a clip where the Bowery B'hoys are mentioned in the beginning very quickly and I'm almost positive, the character Danilel Dae Lewis plays, "the Butcher" was a bowery b'hoy. As they were often, butchers, firefighters, ship builders or other working class men of that sort. 

And this video is just a crazy, intense opening scene of the movie, also as shows what i believe to be the fashion of the Bowery b'hoys, (the men behind Daniel Dae Lewis, The Butcher)

http://books.google.com/books?id=3ECRp9xNojoC&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=Bowery+b%E2%80%99hoy+and+walt+whitman&source=bl&ots=O6CUjMTysi&sig=Ezo587DpayPYSTSOQGgy-lkjkcs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bbhFT6vNMKSdiAKYzoCWCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Bowery%20b%E2%80%99hoy%20and%20walt%20whitman&f=false


http://www.boweryboogie.com/2010/11/bowery-slang/

Comparing the years; is bigger really better?

The first thing I noticed about The editions was in the 1860 edition is much longer than the 1855 edition. He added a lot more work to the later edition. Song of Myself is just titled, "Walt Whitman"
the use of  "-ed" is replaced later by  " 'd ". On Page 35 of the bluebook he marks certain words with this notation, he changes the word "entered" to "enter'd" and "leaned" to lean'd".
 I read about the differences, that Marki Ivan had illuminated on and it just seems like Whitman would go back and tweak it here and there.I didn't notice any other  huge differences other than the length. I noticed the 1860 edition is over 400 pages, while the 1855 is only a bit over 95.
The length alone speaks to me in a way that says Whitman was becoming more confident in his work and more risky, allowing everything to flow out.

In his bluebook markings i was surprised to see all the little things he went back and changed. Things I thought sounded good, but you are your harshest critic after all. He probably went over it a hundred times trying to make it better, but I don't think there was a need to change words like "leaned" to "lean'd"
 I understand his need to write more, but if it were me, I would let the masterpiece simply be.

SD: The White House by Moonlight

This was beautifully written, I really loved reading it and had to read aloud to my roommate. It shows the kind of writer Whitman was, one who took the moment in completely, was able to intertwine his thoughts about a subject and relay it to the reader. I like how he added words like, "illusion", "drama" and "reality" because Whitman saw things in  a beautiful light but also in a true light. One can romanticize about a structure like the white house and try to connect it to all things just and true, but the white house is a representation of our American Government, of our country and though it is beautiful and dazzling to a person, it also holds reality of sometimes being a tragic drama of our reality.

Whitman and his peers

 In the Village Blacksmith, I am reminded of the part of Whitman's poem when he is describing the farmer, or the slave working. He speaks about his strong arms and the way his hair looks. They both write about the obvious hard work and strength of these men, but Whitman's is more of just a view, presenting the man as he is. In Wadsworth's he draws form this man a lesson, he creates a story with him as oppose to Whitman allowing you to create the lesson for yourself. He speaks about him going to church, hearing his daughter sing and he gives him thanks for teaching him a lesson,

"Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
 Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
 Each burning deed and thought."

I also looked at Smith's, An Incident,

It was similar to Whitman in the way that she sees animals and draws conclusions on life from them.

I noticed these poets are not as forward as Whitman is in his works. They write about what they see, how they perceive things.They are also more rhythmic and focus on themselves more. I know Whitman does focus on himself but he does it in a way that can be transferred onto the reader. 

Motif: Women and Whitman

I would like to explore the use of women in Song of Myself. As I was reading I realized, the woman always has some reference to being a mother, getting married, being trapped or another role of that sort. I wonder what Whitman's stance as on woman's rights, because he alludes to the fact that women are commonly trapped or have certain roles. I found these lines,



"I saw the marriage of the trapper in the open air in the far west,
the bride was a red girl, She had long eyelashes, her head was bare, her coarse straight locks 
descended upon her voluptuous limbs and reach'd to her
feet."
This one was interesting because the man that is marrying the woman is a trapper. I don't know if Whitman intended it to be that way, or I'm just noticing this little pun. Also, he just describes the way she looks, her long eyelashes, straight hair, and voluptuous limbs. It's interesting that he describes her like this, when he seems to hold women in such high stances in other motifs as barers of life, or important roles as mothers. Perhaps he is seeing her the way the trapper is. Only what she looks like. not the importance she holds.

"Twenty-eight years of womanly life and all so lonesome.
She owns the fine house by the rise of the bank,
She hides handsome and richly drest aft the blinds of the window."
In this passage, The woman is watching the 28 bathers, swimming naked. She is behind a glass window, she is trapped and there is a barrier. She is lonely in this big house, she "hides" because she can only imagine herself swimming with them and would never be able to actually do so. and she is "richly dressed", in comparison to being naked, this holds meaning in that she is not only trapped in the house, but is trapped within herself as well.



"The spinning-girl retreats and advances to the hum of the big wheel, "
 I notice that he uses the word "retreats" this word holding a negative connotation, like returning  to safety, withdrawing, or giving up.  As oppose to using a word like, "returns" which wouldn't hold such a
"the hum of the big wheel" is the spinning wheel you use to make thread for cloth, which would be a common role for women.


"The bride unrumples her white dress, the minute-hand of the clock moves slowly"
I loved this line. It's so haunting and intriguing to me. She is a bride, flattening or straightening out her dress. Perhaps getting ready to walk down the aisle and preparing her dress to look its best. "The clock moves slowly," maybe in a positive light can be seen as timeless. In a negative light, maybe showing that her life after marriage will be slow paced and will hold nothing more than the unrumpling of clothes.

Some more lines I found,
"The quadroon girl is sold at the auction-stand, the drunkard nods by
the bar-room stove,"


"The young sister holds out the skein while the elder sister winds it
off in a ball, and stops now and then for the knots,
The one-year wife is recovering and happy having a week ago borne
her first child,
The clean-hair'd Yankee girl works with her sewing-machine or in the
factory or mill, "


"The mother of old, condemn'd for a witch, burnt with dry wood, her
children gazing on, "


"On women fit for conception I start bigger and nimbler babes. "


"Come my boys and girls, my women, household and intimates"


"The young mother and old mother comprehend me,
The girl and the wife rest the needle a moment and forget where they
are,
They and all would resume what I have told them."



He still speaks to man and womanly equally, as shown in these lines,

"Do you see O my brothers and sisters? "

"And I say to any man or woman, Let your soul stand cool and composed
before a million universes."


Which shows me he was definitely not one to divide people into societal rank.


I believe Whitman thought highly of woman, he appreciated the body and gave thankful recognition in child bearing, as he uses this motif often. He gives mothers important roles and I noticed every time a woman is happy in the poem is when she is with a child or about to give birth to a child. Was Whitman is trying to illuminate the fact that women are held in certain roles, often trapped by forced marriage or the ideal wife role? or was he merely speaking of what he saw?

SD: Growth- Health-Work

 Whitman obviously adheres greatly to children, as they are a constant motif and theme in his poem, Song of Myself. He gives great recognition to youth, the essence of children and being young. A complete blank slate, not yet influenced on societal views and worldly demands, they only hold questions (sometimes answers), they wonder, they are the perfect example of being natural, and still believe anything is possible. In this entry Whitman again gives recognition to his youth and the things he did and learned. He says he Went to plays, read novels, basically giving the example that your youth should not be wasted and it does matter. What happens in your youth holds significance. That is when you are not jaded, when you're open to ideas and are able to ask questions and should continue to hold these qualities throughout life. In his poem he writes, "I am not a bit tamed, I am untranslatable"

Walt did it. He did it naked.

Barnum's American Museum: Before the Circus...

Barnum's American Museum was in New York on the intersection of Ann and Broadway.This was an area Whitman lived in at a time and went to often. Whitman interviewed Barnum for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on this museum and went into the museum at least twice. Whitman, being himself, found the people that attended the museum far more interesting than the displays that were constructed to view. He sat a chair in front of a window, back turned to the museum and watched the New Yorkers shuffle and rush by.
 After sitting in this chair, just watching he came to a conclusion and "he divides the scene into three groups: omnibuses and their drivers, fashionable women, and imitators of European aristocracy" He probably went through many thought to get to that.
 Although, he could sit and watch the people that came to sit and stare at displays, was also in deep appreciation for museums and the thoughts that they can conjure up in people. Walt was interviewed and says,

 “there is probably nothing in New York more deeply interesting” than the

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Building

museum and recommends it as “a place to go when one would ponder and evolve
great thoughts” (Whitman 1936: 40)

                                                             







I also enjoy doing this at crowded places. A very fond pastime I call, people watching. The thoughts you can think up when watching all the people you share this planet with.
The other day while walking I watched a kid running across campus and he stopped because he heard something drop from his backpack. It was a pen, he stopped to go back but he was obviously in a hurry and looked at the pen with disdain, shuffled his feet toward the place he was suppose to be and looked like he made the rash decision to leave the pen on the ground. Poor kid looked so torn between picking  up his pen or being where he was suppose to be on time. He would have to continue his life without this pen. It must have been the only pen he had on him, his very last pen, he could have had this pen for a long time and grew fond of it.
After many thoughts going through my head, as to why he would be so attached to a pen, or how it could make him late to simply bend and pick up this pen, I finally realized that I knew this feeling. The feeling of being torn between a tedious decision and having to make it quickly. Now I have a way to describe it,

"Its like dropping your last pen on the ground while rushing to catch a bus"
This may not be an evolved thought right now, but it sparked other thoughts, and it may very well lead to a great one.









Whitman uses metaphors in his works and museums were able to

(http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1117&context=libraryscience)