Journal #39

Walt Whitman's poem titled "Bardic Symbols" displays many of Whitman's common themes such as the everyman, America, and Christianity and spirituality, but at the same time it exhibits much confusion due to the symbols he uses. Essentially what happens in the poem is that the narrator is walking along the beach as some sticks wash up on the shore. He studies this debris for a moment and tries to find deeper meaning in it. However, this is a difficult task because he cannot deduce just what it means, and for that matter what the bigger meaning in life is (Whitman). William Dean Howells references this large confusion in his criticism of the poem. His main message is that no one man can interpret this misconstrued message because it is not necessarily their right to just infer what Whitman's true and deeper message behind the poem was because they are not Whitman (Howells). Whitman incorporates his ideals of Christianity, everyman, as well as America into this general idea. First, the ideal of everyman is seen as the narrator is just casually walking down the beach one day (Whitman). This could really be any man because he is portrayed as a normal man. Next, the reader may notice Whitman's views on America almost as a microcosm in this poem. The ocean itself could be viewed as America spitting out symbols to what life is all about, the sticks. It's almost as if America, the ocean, is a vast wasteland of sorts, but on the inside, there is a deeper meaning represented by the sticks. However, this deeper meaning is not absolutely displayed out there obviously to see. This is where the confusion comes into play as William Dean Howells demonstrates. Whitman's views on Christianity work in a similar manner. As many people know, God is portrayed in the modern world as a mysterious figure of sorts, and of course there is the mystery of the afterlife. The sticks work in the same way. Just as Whitman does not know what is exactly happening with the washed up sticks, man does not know for sure just what is going to ahappen after death (Whitman). Howells reiterates this point by stating that it is impossible to guess the meaning of the sticks because Whitman never revealed what his exact meaning was. This is directly related to Christianity's ideal that no one may "correctly" assume the meaning of life because God has not yet revealed it.

Works Cited

Howells, William Dean. ""Bardic Symbols"" The Walt Whitman Archive. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. .

Whitman, Walt. "Bardic Symbols." The Walt Whitman Archive. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.