Journal #39

Walt Whitman's "Bardic Symbols" is a very emotional poem. It explores certain different emotions he is experiencing, and he presents them in a very dramatic way. Personally, I was a bit thrown off by the poem; it was sort of confusing, and he seemed to go back and forth in his thoughts (Whitman). William Howells, in his criticism of "Bardic Symbols," was said to kind of make sense of the madness Walt Whitman wrote; however, I think that Howells made it even more confusing. Howells was biased; at the beginning of his criticism he praised Whitman's works and the greatness of them (Howells). When I read that, it immediately made me disregard the rest of his criticism. I do not think a literary critic should be so bluntly biased. I think it sort of ruins their credibility, so the analysis he wrote really did not help clear up anything Whitman wrote.

Although I obviously am not a fan of Whitman's "Bardic Symbols," it did definitely portray his beliefs and tendency to write about spirituality and the "every man" concept. Whitman focused on himself throughout most of the poem and on his specific emotions and thoughts, but then in the very last stanza he wrote about how everybody feels that way since everybody is the same (Whitman). This obviously shows his "every man" concept, as he portrays everybody as basically being the same since we all derived from the same being, God. Whitman also touched more on spirituality throughout the poem as he talks about his father (Whitman). It is possible that he is literally speaking and is actually talking about wanting his biological father and how he wants to be closer to his father, but I took is as his spiritual father, as in God (Whitman). I think that Whitman is expressing how he wants to be closer to God and he wants God to love him and accept him and hold him close, even though Whitman is such an unhappy man and has sinned. Although the poem is super dramatic and a little too wordy, Whitman did portray an example of the "every man" as well as focusing on spirituality.

WORKS CITED

[Howells, William Dean]. ""Bardic Symbols"." The Daily Ohio State Journal (28 March 1860): 2.

Whitman, Walt. "Bardic Symbols." Leaves of Grass (1891-1892). The Whitman Archive. Ed Folsom & Kenneth M. Price, 1995. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.