| Original Message |
Leon Silverman
Posted Oct 23, 1999 1:05 AM
From my point of view, after reading the section of Whitman's "A Woman Waits For Me" he appears to be describing the thoughts of a man engaged in intercourse. Whoa! Stop! My thoughts are those of a preconditioned man raised in a male dominated atmosphere. Let me think like Whitman. Shift, shift. Whitman, who after having an epiphany between the ages of thirty-one and thirty-three, wrote in "A Backward Glance o'er Travel'd Roads" that he wanted to write about current America (1850-1880) from his own perspective. He further states that the readers of his poetry must be prepared to inject their own interpretations. Knowing of his disinterest in women and trying to think like Whitman here is another analysis.
The "I" form in the poem refers to the total male population of America and their attitude of male dominance. The males feel they are in control, with feelings of love. That women must be impregnated to populate the country - which satisfys the driving force (pent-up rivers) of men. (The dropping from capital "I" to lower case "i" is interesting??? Could he be going from general to specific?) Together women and men are passing from generation to generation the best offsprings so that the future of America will be secure.
In the "Song of Myself" Whitman speaks more specifically of himself and not generally about populations of men and women. |
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