Text 63

From Song of Myself

I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul.

The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me,

The first I graft and increase upon myself, the latter

I translate into a new tongue.

I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,

And I say it is a great to be a woman as to be a man,

And I say there is nothing greater than he mother of men.

I chant the chant of dilation and pride,

We have had ducking and deprecating about enough,

I show that size is only development.

Have you outstript the rest? Are you the President?

It is a trifle, they will more than arrive there every one, and still pass on.

I am he that walks with the tender and growing night,

I call to the earth and sea half-held by the night.

Press close bare-bosom'd night – press close magnetic nourishing night!

Night of south winds – night of the large few stars!

Still nodding night – mad naked summer night.

Smile O voluptuous cool-breath'd earth!

Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!

Earth of departed sunset – earth of the mountains misty-top't.

Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!

Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!

Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!

Far-swooping elbow'd earth – rich apple-blossom'd earth!

Smile, for your lover comes.

Prodigal you have given me love – therefore I to you give love!

O unspeakable passionate love.

In Russian, the translations of Whitman's poems appeared early in the 20^th century. An influential critic, Kornei Chukovsky, and a young poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky, discussed Whitman when they first met in 1913.

«И я стал читать ему (Маяковскому) только что законченный мною перевод "Поэмы изумления при виде воскресшей пшеницы…"

– Занятно! – сказал он без большого восторга. – Прочтите эти стихи Бурлюку. Но все же в вашем переводе есть патока. Вот вы, например, говорите в этом стихотворении плоть. Тут нужна не плоть, тут нужно мясо … Уверен, что в подлиннике сказано мясо».

Не зная английского подлинника, Маяковский угадывал его так безошибочно и говорил о нем с такой уверенностью, словно сам был автором этих стихов."

Poets of revelation are soul mates, always.

5.3 Whitman's poetical reverberations

The poetical revelations of Walt Whitman impressed several generations of poets who excelled in free verse. Though Frost denigrated free verse to playing tennis with the net down, 20^th century poets used the technique successfully.

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) was one of them. He uses free verse successfully to treat many "unpoetical subjects". Sandburg loves the everyday life of common people. He wants, just like Whitman, to be the People, the Mob. He often uses the rhythmic repetitions of free verse to "sing" about factories and the building of skyscrapers.

His poem Chicago (1914) is very like Whitman's poetry. Here, Sandburg actually sees hope and joy in the brutality of the city. He describes it as strong, muscular man, filled with the joy of living. Sandburg is better known for his fine biography of Abraham Lincoln. By the way, his love for Lincoln is another similarity with Whitman (Text 64).