Journal #37

The article entitled "Whitman's Image of the Self" was not only very informative as to how Whitman uses this technique of self in his poetry, but it was also very interesting to see another perspective on his style of writing and how his life affected it rather than just my own assumptions. Bauerlein discusses how Whitman is almost arrogant and self-centered through all of this writing, which I may think is false, but I agree with him in that this is certainly necessary to portray this idea of self. It gives a new way to look at this way of writing about one's self because it almost appears to be selfish writing. Bauerlein goes on to relate the harsh life of Whitman to his poetry. Rough topics such as his abusive father and homosexuality are evident in his work through many harsh realizations. I always seem to understand the author's literature more when I know a brief history of their background because I then know just where they are coming from in their message. Bauerlein uses a quote by the author Richard Poirier to essentially sum up the idea of natural style by saying that an author's style should truly stem off like a leaf on a tree to grow and flourish naturally. This was not directed at any one author, but it seems directly linked to the writing of Whitman. His free style of poetry emanates this sense of style with the idea of self. I believe Bauerlein really hits home when she talks about Whitman's word choice. She states that he was often unhappy overall with the complete word selection and rhyming of his poetry, but he disregarded this uneasiness because he simply wanted his message to be heard in any way possible. This is very admirable of Whitman. Many authors spend countless time perfecting every word and phrase they use, but Whitman displays a rawness that emanates the idea of Realism in that the sorld should be displayed as is truly is.