A Song For Occupaations.

*this is a little bit late cos i deleted my first go by accident.

Song For Occupations continues in the same kind of linguistic choreography as the poem which precedes it. The narrator seems ordained with the same lyrical omniscience, engaging the reader with rhetoric which seems transcendant and insightful.
The poem is a call for the essentially American notion of egalitarianism, to be inherited and embraced by Walt's audience. He measures the great man alongside the common man, demanding that there be a unity of worthy between them. He writes:

Because you are greasy or pimpled—or that you was once drunk, or a thief, or
         diseased, or rheumatic, or a prostitute—or are so now—or from frivolity or
         impotence—or that you are no scholar, and never saw your name in print . . . .
         do you give in that you are any less immortal? 

This stanza uses the concept of mortality to illustrate the existential worth of every man. It serves to undermine the barriers that alienate people from one another; that a person's worth can be measured by achievement, or fame, or looks. Death unites us all regardless of status- nature connects the most noble with the most ignoble. Whitman's message therefore is to view the world on your own terms, to not compromise your existence by fear or jealousy, rather to live in the moment. My favourite section of the poem reads:

The earth is not an echo . . . . man and his life and all the things of his life are well-
         considered.

You are not thrown to the winds . . you gather certainly and safely around yourself,

Yourself! Yourself! Yourself forever and ever! 

 
There is a militant call for existential enlightenment in the poem, and this section expresses it wonderfully. The direct use of the word 'you' is especially engaging for the reader, and the frantic anaphora directly governs one's attention. The section demands the abandonment of all things that cast us into subordination, 'the earth is not an echo' an especially engaging phrase to emphasise the philosophy of posative freedom enshrined in the text. Whitman really surpasses himself in this poem through his fervant language, and what appears to be a genuine affection for his readership. It is an inspiring discourse on the meaning of life, and how we measure our achievements and successes in relation to others. I had a very good time reading it.
   

Specimen Days- Female Nurses For Soldiers.

A great deal of the articles contained in specimen days are concerned with Whitman's first hand experiences with conflict. Here he composes a profile of the female nurses involved in the American civil war, celebrating their altruism and compassion. Walt seems deeply invested in the maternal nature of these nurses- on a few occasions aligning the medical care recieved from the soldiers, with the care of a mother for her child. This symbol is particularly arresting considering the intrinsically masculine framework Whitman is addressing. This establishes a somewhat antithetical narrative to the events recorded. The images of man and child are welded together, defamiliarising any preconcieved notions  of heroism or fraternity to the conflict, rather a bathetic picture of men abased to a state of infancy.

1860 and 1855 Song of Myself Comparison.

I believe the principle difference between Whitman's 1860 and 1855 versions of Song of Myself is the stylistic tone employed in each text. Whitman's latter version seems invested in language similar to Milton's; each phrase seems to dwell in a kind of theatrical pageantry, it is overblown, epic. This is by no means a criticism of Whitman, indeed that the poem lends itself to such a genre is surely a compliment. That said I find the earlier version to be presented in a more intimate and accessible way. Let me quote an example from the begginning of each poem:

1860.

I, musing, late in the autumn day, gazing off south-
         ward,

Alone, held by the eternal self of me that threatens          to get the better of me, and stifle me,

Was seized by the spirit that trails in the lines          underfoot,

In the rim, the sediment, that stands for all the water
         and all the land of the globe. 

1855.

I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.  

 Firstly the content of each opening stanzas are vastly different. They appear to be unique works of poetry, rather than one a revision of the other. Notice Whitman's use of caesura- the break in a text. The use of comma is used for different ends in Whitman's revision of the poem. We are all well acquainted with Whitman's use of cataloguing, however the latter version uses the comma to add an air of significance and authority to the text, alongside Whitman's trademark indexing of imagery. 

It is because of this difference in punctuation that I contend Whitman's revision of Song of Myself was intended to be a more high-brow and literary version of the first. He is aligning his poem within the spectrum of epic poetry, and in doing so, I believe, abandons the intimacy and buoyancy which his original embraces. While it would be fatuous to criticise the latter version on these grounds, I find more inspiration and enjoyment in a poem who engages in language less distant and ornate. As the prententious drone at a sold out gig would say; I liked his early stuff better.

 

specimen days

In reading Whitman I find his appreciation of nature to be the most interesting facet of his writing. The posts in specimen days dedicated to the natual world seem to trace a pattern in American writing which express complete veneration toward the American landscape. In this sense Whitman's work contains favourable echo's of Emerson, and indeed informs a lot of beat literature which I have read.

These influences are especially pertinent in his short ode to Entering A long Farm Lane, which lends the sense of overwhelming joy at what one suspects is a fairly routine portrait of the American landscape. It begins, "As every man has his hobby-liking, mine is for a real farm-lane fenced by old chestnut-rails." The short piece continues to establish the details of Whitman's 'hobby,' and as each detail of the scenery is listed off one could be forgiven for feeling as if we are embarking on a quaint stroll through the countryside with Walt.

It is the term 'hobby' which Whitman applies to this elegant description of the long farm lane. He starts by measuring it against other men's hobbies, and thereby demonstrates the implicit notion that his hobby is in fact the world around him. Whitman's xbox is the portrait of a forgotten monument, his amateur dramatics performed in the theatre of a curious forest. His hobby does not detatch himself from life, rather it is life.