Leaves of Grass and Selected Poems by Walt Whitman
For a class from BNU, I read Leaves of Grass (original edition) and Walt Whitman: Selected Poems. You can’t help but wish that someone would go through Whitman’s poetry with a pair of scissors. There’s genius in there but it’s hard to find.
I liked Song of Myself in places, but I got really tired of the endless lists. Those lists always start with the beginning of a sentence. It’s like:
When I see you,
Strong Men,
Beautiful Women,
Robust Children,
etc.
Except that each item in the list is at least a sentence long and the list goes on for three or four pages. By the time you get to the end of the list, and therefore the end of the sentence, you’ve forgotten what the beginning was. I’m not sure he remembered either. Sometimes when I got to the end of the list, I’d intentionally go back to see how the sentence had started and discover that it never really did end. What we need is a combo What Whitman/Kurt Vonnegut. Walt could start the sentence, get in a few list items, and Vonnegut could finish up with a well placed “And so it goes.”
I liked his ideas, but I was longing for some editing.
I Sing the Body Electric was disappointing. The best part about it is the title. I think I expected the words from that song in Fame. Those are better words. The real poem is just another list.
My favorite poem was Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking. That one told a story and didn’t have any lists.