Specimen Days: "GROWTH--HEALTH--WORK"

This entry in Specimen Days shows how broad Whitman's youthful participation in literary culture was, including novels, plays, poetry, journalism, teaching, and even debate. He worked in offices in New York City and in country schoolhouses, which presumably was one source of his enthusiasm for the diverse work of everyday people in their various settings exhibited in Leaves of Grass. I imagine that his early experience with debate contributed to his confident tone as well.

My favorite part of the entry is when he parenthetically notes, "['boarding round' while teaching] I consider one of my best experiences and deepest lessons in human nature behind the scenes, and in the masses." I assumed this meant staying with students' families, based on a vague memory of hearing that this sort of thing happened back then, but I made a quick search to confirm this impression. A brief article from Michael Day on the Country School Association of America website describes "boarding round" as teachers living with their students' families, switching families every week or so: http://csaa.typepad.com/country_school_associatio/2007/04/index.html

As in Leaves of Grass, Whitman appears here to be someone greatly concerned with the goings-on of his fellow man rather than some aloof, reclusive poetic figure making grandiose statements from on high. In contrast, though, he certainly doesn't live up to his epic "Song of Myself" loafing reputation.

The Damp of the Night

"Logic and sermons never convince,
The damp of the night drives deeper into my soul."

Choosing a favorite couple of lines from "Song of Myself" is difficult; there's so much there in both ideas and presentation that I am forced to choose one of at least six favorites to share. These two lines aren't particularly impressive to me in terms of their language, especially compared to others I might have shared, but what I took to be their meaning really resonated with me.

I see in these lines the clash of powerful institutions, people, and ideas against the convictions of commoners during quiet moments alone--the ways we come to understand the world through experience as opposed to theory. There are important, contentious issues being investigated through science, religion, and various social and political movements, and it is easy to think that if others could be convinced of the rightness of any one approach an individual embraces, that we could finally make some progress together. Logic and sermons can help us make sense of the world and can inspire us, but at the end of the day we still have those damp nights to contend with on our own. We still have physical agonies and feelings of despair that persist in spite of the perspective we try to bring to them. Logic and sermons have their place but are ultimately inadequate to explain or address the power of the difficulties that can overwhelm us.

The Wilmot Proviso

During the Mexican War, in 1846, a bill was introduced to allocate 2 million dollars for the negotiation of a territorial settlement. The Wilmot Proviso was an amendment to this bill, which required that slavery not be practiced in any new territory. The bill passed in the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate, and was a major source of controversy between the North and the South. The text of the bill is as follows:

"Provided. That, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted."

Increasing animosity between North and South over whose vision of America's future would prevail is an important element of the context for Leaves of Grass. This reveals that Whitman's description of sheltering a fugitive slave was a radical political statement in his time, but also that a significant population of Americans objected to slavery and were a ripe audience for his assertions of equality.

"Wilmot Proviso." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition (2011): 1. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Jan. 2012.

"Wilmot Proviso, 1846." Wilmot Proviso, 1846 (2009): 1. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Jan. 2012