A Note on Walt Whitman's Poetry

                        

                

Walt Whitman is acknowledged as the national poet of America who paved a new way both in verse form and style. He wrote about American people, American landscape and American way of life. He celebrated the individual values, democracy, everyday life, Nature, love and friendship in his poems. His work chanted praises to the body as well as to the soul. He found beauty and reassurance even in death since in his view even death is a stage in the cycle of life. He treats death as a door that opens the passage from one world to another allowing for life to re-start and perpetuate its eternal cycle. 

Whitman was born on 31^st may, 1819 in Huntington, Long Island. At the age of eleven he left school and went to work as an office boy, as a teacher, as helper in a printing press and later as a journalist. He spent much of his career in Brooklyn. He started his career as a poet in 1855 by publishing his first volume of twelve poems as “Leaves of grass.” He described the realistic and darker aspects of society like war, murder and fear. He encouraged his readers to strive for their life without falling back on someone. Later he revised nine times almost till his death in 1892, adding nearly three hundred poems. During American Civil war, he went to work in Washington D.C. as a nurse to help wounded soldiers. After a stroke towards the end of his life Whitman moved to Camden, New jersey where he later died.

 Whitman wanted to create an original, distinctly American form and style that would better embody the American voice, identity and ethos to mirror the primary values of American culture. He wrote in free verse because most of his subjects are common man and beauty in common life. In free verse there are no style restrictions. There is lack of rhyme and strict meter. It follows natural cadence and rhythms of the language. It is a verse paragraph with no standard of line length. He chose free verse form as it is a flexible medium to portray the life of common man, and common life. Moreover, it breaks away from conventional verse form and embodies democratic spirit and original approach. According to James Perrin Warren the most important techniques in Whitman’s verse are use of syntactic parallels, repetition and cataloguing.

 About Whitman's work, “Leaves of grass” Emerson said, “it was the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom America had contributed.” Whitman was very much influenced by the Civil War and he described his war experiences in “Drum taps” (1865) and in “Sequel to Drum Taps” and also in his prose work “Specimen days” (1882-1883). In his work “Sequel to Drum-Taps” he wrote famous poems like “Pioneers! O Pioneers!”, “When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloomed”. In 1871 he wrote three essays entitled “Democratic vistas” where he expressed his views about the role of democracy in establishing a new cultural foundation for America. 

In “Song of myself” Whitman emphasized the role of democracy and the oneness of mankind cutting across the artificial barriers of race, religion, colour, status and professions.  His poem, “Song of myself” takes the reader on an epic journey through many settings, time periods and viewpoints. This poem delineates Whitman’s ideas about America, democracy, nature, sexuality, the intimate connection between soul and body, the role of friendship and sexuality in a candid and clear way. Whitman was criticized for his frank and outspoken views about sexuality and description of obscene things in this poem and also in his work “Calamus” where he was accused of homosexual leanings. In “Song of myself” Whitman projected his transcendentalist view of the common soul of mankind and the universal self. This poem has fifty-two sections running about seventy pages.

 In his poem “Passage to India’ (1870) Whitman describes an imaginary journey to India, the ancient land, where he can feel rejuvenation of his soul and return to the birthplace of mankind. The poet uses his journey as a symbolic exploration of the past, expansion and the future. He also reveals the importance of myths and fables in shaping the future of mankind and guiding him on the right path. In another poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” Whitman interprets the movement of people riding on ferry as the spiritual unity of men in the world.  He shows the ferry as a bridge connecting the present and future. He also expresses profound love for cities, rivers and people. 

In “Out of the cradle endlessly rocking”(1860) Whitman shows the transformation of  a boy into a poet through his experience of love and death. Using the images like bird, boy and sea the poet shows the relationship between Nature, art and suffering. It shows how a boy matures into a poet by listening to the tragic notes of a bird whose mate has been killed. From the noisy waves of the sea, he listened to the voice of death which is a kind of release form stress and strain.

 In the poem “I hear America singing” (1860) the poet presents an idealized vision of American life. The poet moves from cities to villages covering various aspects and professions of people to build a portrait of America which includes each individual. It is like the various notes of music which make up a symphony. The poem celebrates the self-sufficiency and individualism through” these varied carols.” Lastly the poet expressed his patriotic feelings and his love for Abraham Lincoln in poems like “O Captain! My captain”, “When Lilacs last in the Dooryard Bloomed” and “Hushed be the camps today.”

 As a romantic poet, he glorified nature, common man, nationalism and the supernatural element. At the same time, he blended realistic and transcendental aspects in his poetry.  Sometimes he very frank and did not care for decency and propriety. His poetry is often described as lyric nationalism. As the greatest poet of democracy, he had faith in the inherent dignity and nobility of common man. In his view all men and women are equal and all professions are equally honourable.  

His poetry gives a kaleidoscopic view of American culture and the ideals of that country. He championed the democratic ideals of America and glorified the life of common man and the diverse professions. He fused the traditional as well as the modern scientific developments; he fused the rural and the urban aspects of life and projected a global vision of the future man. He called America as “the centre of equal daughters, equal sons” who are “strong, ample, fair and capable”. He encouraged readers to strive for their life without falling back on others. He added everyday scenes in his poems and emphasized on individualism, reasonable patriotism, love and patriotism. 

Whitman revised his masterpiece “Leaves of grass” considered as the national epic of America nine times in which he celebrated nature, democracy, love, body. Soul and friendship. He is treated as successor to Homer, Virgil, Dante and Shakespeare as he gave a comprehensive view of American life and culture and elevated the role of the poet to that of   universal bard transcending the boundaries of nation, race, creeds and religion. Whitman abandoned the metrical tradition of accentual syllabic verse and adopted the prosody of the English Bible. Harold Bloom called “Leaves of Grass” as “secular scripture of the United States.” Whitman combined spontaneous, prosaic rhythms with incantatory repetition he found in the Old Testament. He tried to show the unity and diversity of the rich and varied American culture by choosing flexible, free verse.

Whitman widened the possibilities of poetic diction by including slang, colloquialisms, Americanism, foreign phrases and regional dialects instead of using stiff, erudite and conventional language. He broadened the thematic range by describing myriad subjects such as everyday life, democracy, growth of America, celebration of individual, attitude towards life and death. He even included obscene and ugly aspects of life since in his view everything in creation has its own identity and value. He introduced unusual and previously forbidden subjects-sexuality, human body and debris. He emphasized the present things and everyday scenery. The image of the most realistic America is present throughout his poetry. Whitman said,” The proof of a poet is that his country absorbs him as affectionately as he has absorbed it.” Whitman believed,” Poetry is a form of knowledge, the supreme wisdom of mankind.” To him God is both immanent and transcendent.  Whitman was a religious sceptic. The human soul is immortal and is in a state of progressive development. As Ezra Pound called Whitman “America’s poet… He is America.”

        "I celebrate myself, and sing myself,

         And what I assume you shall assume,

        For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."

                                       (Song of Myself") --1892.

             ***********************************

       16th April, 2022                 Somaseshu Gutala

 

A Note on Influences on Whitman’s poetry

                  

Whitman devised a suitable form of free verse based on Hebrew poetry and rhythms of Biblical language. He blended Romantic elements with realistic and transcendental elements to give a broad-based and universal vision of his democracy, nationalism and humanism. Glorification of nature, elevation of common objects, deviation from traditional norms and use of supernatural element show his romantic approach.

Whitman was inspired by his travels through the American frontier to write his poem, “Leaves of Grass.”   Though his parents were not Quakers in formal sense, they were admirers of the radical Quaker, Elias Hicks who laid emphasis on humanism and on the authority of inner light. Hicks was an acquaintance of Whitman’s father and grandfather. Hick’s strong sense of belief in diversity in all aspects of Nature bears an interesting resemblance to Whitman’s own belief in the sense of spirit at work in the natural world. The influence of Hick’s rhetorical and rhythmic Biblical style is seen in Whitman’s poems. 

 Whitman’s style also bears resemblance to the Protestant pulpit style of oratorical style of ministers such as Henry Ward Beecher and Edward Thompson Taylor of Seamen’s Bethel chapel. Rhetorical style rich with varied emotional range and imagery is noticeable in Whitman’s use of everyday life to express his spiritual vision. The most popular prose-poetry written before Whitman was Martin Farquhar Tupper whose style, just like Whitman, exalted the events and gave elaborate details of everyday life and Nature. Inspired by his original experimentation in free verse, many other poets like Carl Sandberg, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore and Wallace Stevens wrote some variety of free verse. The versification of Williams Carlos Williams and Marianne Moore resembles the Verse Libre of the French poets. 

Like his father  Whitman admired Thomas Pain’s holistic and optimistic perspective of the world.  He studied Thomas’s Paine’s “The Book of Reason” and also listened to the lectures of Frances Wright. Paine’s combination of patriotic fervour, opposition to religious superstition and firm belief in radical democracy shaped Whitman’s understanding of America.

He was influenced by Deism which believes in rationalistic interpretation of religion and does not believe in miracles and divine revelation.  Deism believes in the sense of a benign creator and in a providential rational design underlying the universe. Deism’s cosmopolitan outlook with a wide acceptance of religious practices helped Whitman to have a broad and sympathetic embrace of diverse faiths and to cultivate a holistic and optimistic perspective of the world. As a sceptic he embraced all religions equally and respected all of them. “I adopt each theory, myth, god, demi-god/I see that the old accounts, bibles, genealogies are true without exception.” To him God was both immanent and transcendent and the human soul is immortal and is in a state of progressive development. 

The influence of Emanuel Swedenborg, a seventeenth century scientist and mystic, is seen in Whitman’s presentation of assigning spiritual meanings to various phenomena and entities of the natural world. According Swedenborg’s doctrine of correspondences, the microcosm reflects the macrocosm and both are symbolic in their content. Swedenborg’s concept of mystic communion of common with divine as a type of sexual bond gave rise to Whitman’s conception of God as the great friend and lover. 

The concept of eventual reconciliation of seemingly different aspects of experience and views enunciated by the German philosopher Friedrich Hegel inspired Whitman to hope for national unity underlying the multiple and conflicting elements of national life. 

Emerson’s influence on Whitman was seen since 1842 when Whitman might have attended Emerson’s lectures on poetry in New York. Emerson called for a new kind of poet, an American bard who would create a new kind of poetry. The transcendental idea of God and Nature is also seen in Whitman’s poems. He was familiar with transcendentalist thinkers like Bronson Alcott and Henry David Thoreau. Whitman was also influenced by oriental literature through transcendentalist philosophical writings and thought. The concept of immortality of soul, the concept of death as a stage in evolution of soul, the concept of universal soul, the symbolic interpretation of nature and universe reveal the influence of Indian religious scriptures. In his famous epic “Leaves of Grass”, Whitman identified himself as the Cosmic Self beholding himself in every person and thing transcending the barriers of time and space. In Bhagavad-Gita also Lord Krishna in his mystic cosmic form revealed the identity of the whole universe within His Cosmic Self. 

Whitman’s conception of the poet as the spokesman for the nation and its people resembles Emerson’s concept of the prophetic and representative role of the bard as described in Emerson’s essay on “The poet.” Emerson praised Whitman “Leaves of grass” in his introductory letter thus:” I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed. I am very happy in reading it as great power makes us happy."  In his letter of encouragement he added,” I greet you at the beginning of a great career.” Whitman too responded by saying,” I was simmering, simmering, simmering; Emerson brought me to a boil.” But later as a result of Emerson’s increasing reservations about Whitman’s verse, Whitman too felt reluctant to acknowledge about Emerson’s influence. 

Prior to his journalistic career he was very much impressed by novels of Sir Walter Scott, Janes Fenimore Cooper and poems of Mc Donald Clarke. Like Wordsworth Whitman deviated from conventional and poetic style, and also broadened the thematic range by describing many topics such as everyday life, democracy, growth of America, modern developments, positive attitude towards life and death and celebration of the individual. 

Whitman’s upbringing and his association with working class people naturally drew him towards the goals and values of Democratic party, the party of the common man. He worked as the editor of the Whig Weekly paper “Long-Island Star” for some time. During his stay in New York he founded his own newspaper” Long-Islander” and later sold the publication to E.O.Crowell in July, 1839.  In 1842 he was the editor of the” Aurora” and worked as the editor of the “Brooklyn Eagle” from 1846 to 1848. But he was later disillusioned with the democratic party as it did not support anti-slavery movement. He moved away from party politics and believed in the role of the poet as a representative of people and who would give a sense of moral direction in national life. 

Whitman’s emotionally charged style and realistic images of common themes with romantic idealized setting to a certain extent owe a great deal to the influence of fine arts like painting, photography, theatres and music. His friendship with the fellow-poet William Cullen Bryant made him familiar with a number of Hudson River school Artists and artists of the American art Union. Whitman passionately involved himself as an advocate for the important impact of art on democracy. The realistic American paintings, especially of nature paintings and of every life designed for mass audience inspired Whitman to a large extent. Whitman also developed an interest in the new art of photography with its ability to offer an honest, unvarnished representation of everyday life. He tried to capture the vividness of visual art in language and imagined his poems as paintings with mental and emotional stimulation. In “Leaves of Grass” Whitman depicted in vivid detail the contemporary, historical and imaginary scenes in a visual language.

 Both in painting and photography he saw an opportunity to refine and uplift the perception of the public. Whitman was also influenced by the play houses of his day. Whitman’s favourite actors like Junius Brutus Booth and Edwin Booth with their vehement and rhetorical style and sensational and melodramatic approach added dramatic and emotional element to his poetry. The emotional intensity and powerful imagery of opera songs and American popular music also shaped his poetry. He wrote the book “The Leaves of Grass” with the goal of creating a literature that was authentic and organic to the United States in every sense.

 Thus, diverse influences of music, drama, painting and popular music reveal his wide range of his vision and his urgent desire to offer an image of the whole of his future and to represent the totality of experience and fullness of life. 

Whitman’s influence is seen on Beat Movement poets like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac in the 1950s and 1960s and on anti-war poets like Adrienne Rich, Gary Sander and Alicia Ostriker.  Allen Ginsberg addressed his poem “A supermarket in California” to Walt Whitman. The influence of Whitman on Ezra Pound is seen in Pound’s modernist poetic experiments. In the essay “What I feel about Walt Whitman” Pound declared Whitman as “America’s poet” and also wrote that “He is America”. The poems of Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson also show Whitman’s influence in themes and approach.

Rabindranath Tagore praised Whitman's understanding of oriental philosophy. "No American has caught the spirit of the oriental spirit of mysticism as well as he." Whitman's use of free verse influenced Tagore's prose-verse and style. Tagore's verse in "Gitanjali" shows simplicity combined with sublimity, use of graphic and vivid imagery. According to Ezra Pound, Tagore's style and rhythm are determined by the requirements of thought and emotion and not by the laws of the metre. It is a chantable  prose with Biblical rhythms. It is a series of spiritual lyrics. 

 Andrew Carnegie aptly called him “the greatest poet of America so far.” Really as Whitman expressed, he is unique and untranslatable. But his wild spontaneous verse inspires and catches the attention of everyone with its friendly, humane and candid approach."

“I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable

 I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.”

                                                       ------ “Leaves of Grass”

            **************************************

  3rd April, 2022                               Somaseshu Gutala

 

A Note on Whitman's Life (1819-1892)

 

   

                 

             

 

Walt Whitman was born to Walter and Louisa Van Velsor Whitman in Huntington on Long Island on May 31, 1819. His parents took interest in Quaker principles and ideals. Whitman was the second of nine children. At the age of four, Whitman’s family moved from West Hills to Brooklyn. At the age of eleven Whitman left school and worked as an office boy for two lawyers. Later he worked as an apprentice in a printing press for the weekly Long Island newspaper “Patriot” edited by Samuel E.Clements. Later he worked for another printer, Erastus Worthington in Brooklyn.

 

 His family moved back to West Hills but Whitman remained in Brooklyn and took up a job in the office of the Whig weekly newspaper, ” Long Island Star.’ During this time Whitman anonymously published some of his poems in the "New York Mirror". At the age of sixteen in May 1835, Whitman moved to New York to work as a compositor but lost his job when there was a severe fire in the printing press. So, in May 1836 he went to Hempstead, Long Island to join his family. Whitman taught at various schools though he was not satisfied with his teaching profession.

 Later he went back to Huntington, New York to set up his own newspaper “Long Islander” but after ten months he sold his newspaper publication to E.O.Cromwell.  Later he went to work as a teacher at Southold, New York. During this period Whitman published a series of ten editorials called “Sun-down Papers-From the Desk of a School Master” in three newspapers between 1840 and 1841. Whitman moved to New York again to work for various newspapers like “Brooklyn Eagle” and “Aurora”. He showed interest in Italian opera and reviewed performances of works by Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. This new interest had an impact on his writing of free verse. Throughout 1840s he contributed fiction and poetry to various periodicals. In 1848 he lost his position at the Brooklyn Eagle. He tried his hand in various literary genres like the novel, biography and nonfiction.

 

 In 1850 he decided to become a poet. He wished to write a distinctly American epic and used free verse with a cadence based on the Bible. By the end of 1855 he printed the first edition of Leaves of Grass with his own money.  Unlike heroic characters in traditional epic, in this American epic, lives of common people are portrayed in prose-like poetic form. It also dealt with the impact of modern urbanization, scientific advancement and industrial expansion. He used simple and realistic symbols with multiple meanings. He used rhetorical and rhythmic style with long flowing lines giving a broad spectrum of American life and culture.

 

 The first edition has a prose preface of 827 lines. The famous poem “Song of Myself” is included in this first edition. This first edition gained popularity owing to its commendation from Emerson who wrote a five-page letter to Whitman praising his poetry. Whitman added this complimentary quote of Emerson (“I greet you at the beginning of a great career…”) to his second edition with twenty additional poems in 1856. "The Leaves of Grass" was revised again 1860. Later he went on adding more poems and publishing the collection till his death in 1892. Whitman got a very clear picture of the Civil war from his brother, George who joined the Union army. Whitman was very much moved by the war scenes. In Washinton D.C. He volunteered as a nurse in the army hospitals. Later he tried in to get a post in Government with a letter of recommendation from Emerson.  At last, with the help of William Douglas O’ Connor, a poet and editor of The Saturday Evening Post, he got a better job as a clerk in Jan 1865 in the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Department of the Interior.

 

During this time, he published “Drum taps” a poetic description of the war experiences. But in June 1865 he was fired from his job by the Iowa Senator who found some objectionable content inn Whitman’s 1860 edition of Leaves of grass. Whitman’s poet-friend, William Douglas, defended Whitman in his biographical study “The Good Grey Poet” in Jan 1866. Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain” on the death of Abraham Lincoln also helped in increasing his popularity. His contact and interaction with confederate soldiers at Attorney general’s office afforded him a chance to know more about the war conditions.

 

 In 1866 he prepared a new edition of Leaves of Grass and published it in 1867. In Feb 1868 with the help of William Michael Rossetti his poems were published in England. This edition became very much popular due to complimentary remarks from the writer, Anne Gilchrist. In 1871 another edition of Leaves of Grass was published. In the same year Whitman published “Democratic Vistas”, a collection of three essays in which he expressed his views about the role of democracy in establishing a new cultural foundation for America. In this work Whitman condemned corruption and greed of the post-civil war materialism that had overtaken the country and advocated the creative role of literature in shaping the future cultural identity of America.

  

Whitman worked in Attorney General’s office till January 1872. He spent much of his time in 1872 in nursing his mother who was struggling with arthritis. After suffering from a paralytic stroke in early 1873 he moved to his brother George Washington Whitman’s house at 431, Stevens Street in Camden, New Jersey. His mother died in the same year in May. During his stay there he published three versions of Leaves of Grass. Famous writers like Oscar Wilde and Thomas Eakins visited him. Whitman bought his own house in 1884 at 328 Mickle Street (now 330 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) as his brother and sister-in-law moved away due to business reasons. His neighbour, Mary Oakes Davis, the widow of a sea captain, served as his house keeper as Whitman was mostly bed-ridden.

 

 During this period, he produced editions of 1876, 1881, and 1889. At the end of 1891 he prepared a final edition of Leaves of grass (nicknamed as Deathbed edition). Whitman died on March, 1892. Four days after his death he was buried in his tomb at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden. Whitman is forever remembered as the first “poet of democracy” and one cannot understand America without reading Whitman’s leaves of Grass. Andrew Carnegie rightly called him “the great poet of America”.

                           *****************************

            " I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world."

                                           --- Song of Myself -- Whitman.

Yellow Leaves

 

           

    

                        

1)         We are not alone, Dear Friends!

             Though our close bonds are out of sight

             Their hopes and wishes will not blight;

             Our past memories that we ever cherish

             To cheer our hearts even though they vanish;

             Even in dreams they shine with unusual glow

             Unseen melodies our inner feelings flow.

 

2)          We are not alone, Dear Friends!

              Our dearest kin may have been too far away;

              Still, we can communicate in every way;

              What matters is to feel our bosoms near

              True exchange of warmth with conscience clear.

              And Time cannot wipe out the precious store

              Of memories safe within our inmost core.              

 

3)           We are not alone, Dear Friends!

               Our faithful friends who forever stay

               Our mentors they are, by night and day;

               Our greatest teachers with thoughts sublime

               Who strengthen and comfort us in difficult times;

               Our books, wise counsellors, our dearest mates

               Rich mines of beauty and knowledge great.

 

4)            We are not alone, Dear Friends!

               Though our busy schedule is over;

               Though we have no profession or power;             

               Though we feel unwell and tired sometimes

               To grieve over present, a hopeless pastime;

               Though age has slackened and made us weak

                In spirit’s inner strength, true hope we seek;

 

5)            We are not alone, Dear Friends!

                Our age might have made us pale and yellow;

                And yet our life made us a little wise and mellow;

                At this ripe age, we should never complain

                No scope for past regrets, tensions and strain;

                If not, you beckon more troubles and ills

                Do not make mountains out of mole-hills.

 

6)            We are not alone, Dear Friends!

                Our dearest people have vanished from our sight

                 Don’t feel depressed, sunk in despair and fright;

                 Don’t get stuck up in worthless grief;

                 Be assured they found true peace and relief;

                 We are not an exception; all have to go

                 An eternal journey in Time’s endless flow.

 

7)             We are not alone, Dear Friends!

                 We dwell here and beyond our breath

                 After we pass through caverns of death;                

                 Our lives move on to goals unknown

                 What we think ours, we will not own;

                  Entangled in web 0f woes we never tried

                  To feel our eternal support and friend beside.               

 

8)             We are not alone, Dear Friends!

                 In course of time our relationships change

                 With changing circumstances and age;

                 Our true consistent friend, our eternal guide

                 In life and death near us doth ever abide;             

                 One who stands by but beyond our sight; 

                 Trust Him, almighty Lord, effulgent and bright.

                             ************************

                 
       14th March, 2022                           Somaseshu Gutala

         

                

               

                

            

              

              

        

An Epistle to his Friend

                    

 

    Dear Friend! Which muse shall I invoke

    To praise your magnanimous acts? A stroke

    Of luck it seems for me to have in you

    A helping, noble-minded soul: in you

    A humane understanding do I find

    Unasked you blest me with your favour kind;

    Like the radiant sun which warms us all

    And breathes vital life without our call;

    Like the rain that pours itself from skies

    To water our fields and touches us with love

    Like God-sent benediction from above;

    Like the fruit-trees and flower-laden bush

    Like the cool moon in cloudy silver hush;

    A noble trait of God, to help unasked, I know;

    In you I find with gratitude I bow;

   How oft we see men with supreme intellect keen?

   How oft we see shrewd statesmen with jealousy green?

   And yet they lack the sincere spirit to feel

   The pulse of people and work for their weal;

   Your fluent speech on various occasions I hear

   Your wide horizons of knowledge I cheer;

   Your fond memories of old friends commend

   Your timely assistance to me a god-send;

   Reminds me of Krishna’s love and noble act

   Of blessing his friend with wealth, unsought;

   May God with all His might and mercy bless

   Thee as you did to me to ease my stress;

   May God bestow real peace and prosperity

   In all your walks of life with amity;

  This humble soul’s weak poetic greeting, may

  Please accept with a friendly smile, I pray.

           **************************

   28th February, 2022                     Somaseshu Gutala 

 

 

  

 

        

ODE TO Solitude

 

                               

   1)     Thou, dark mistress of silent tread!

            Afraid of thy grim looks I fled

            Yearning for human touch and tongue;

            No heavenly peace from thee has sprung

            No saint-like blessed mood

             No angelic revelation stood.

 

2)       Shadow of me wherever I go

           I dread to see thy tight-lipped face

           Thou hast not unlocked thy breast

           No heart-throbbing outflow

           Of feelings or friendly grace

           To stir my lonely bosom’s nest.

 

3)        No rosy passionate glow

           A sullen frowning brow; a slow

           Dragging pace as if ages passed

           With stony silence embossed;

            No lilt of dynamic warmth infused

            Thy iron grip makes me confused.

4)        Where are the charms that sages found in thee?

            What bliss serene that saints in thee have seen?

            What poetic zeal uplifted bards with glee?

            What made lovers seek relief in their grief?

            What made them in thee repose their belief?

            A dreary desolate island thou art

           With dreadful stillness in darkness caught.      

 

5)       Like a beast confined in a den

           Bereft of worldly vision;

           Thou, creature of the underworld

           Dark denizen of mystery hurled

           No friendly smile unfolds thy heart;

           Wedded to dark stillness thou art

           I know of weakened souls who depart

           Unable to forbear thy sickly state;

           Thy touch, a chilling reminder of our final fate.

 

6)        No praising paeans can I write

           Dumb, devilish sprite thou art;

           Breeding dark, melancholy thoughts;

           Gorgonic terror breeds thy sight

           No hopeful warmth, no prospects bright

           No philosophical magnitude

           Of noble thoughts, no positive attitude.

 

7)        Thou, sister of old age and death!

            Our final destination cold;

            Let loose thy weighty fetters hold;

            Before thy black gaze my weak breath

            Aggrieved runs like a deer

            Thy presence, a spine-chilling flash of fear;

             Thy bitter cup—none relishes, no cheer;

             May be a sage with godly mystic vision

             May be a bedlam fit for derision.

 

8)          And yet I keep thee in my bosom’s shrine

              Beyond the maddening din of reality;

              I choose thy serious, silent dusky mien;

              Untouched by transient fleeting levity;

              In thy dark depths I delve to find

              Thoughts too deep to my shallow mind;

              Like a diver I give up myself

              To view undiscovered precious pelf;

              Beyond the outer gleam of things

              Thy presence plucks my poetic strings.

  

9)           Welcome, dark denizen of my heart!

               Thy hard gaze hath its benign part;

                Show me thy mystic charms

                Glide swan-like with unseen tremor

                Into me with smooth gliding murmur.

 

10)           Like hard-shelled fruits with sweetest core

                 I feel thy delicious touch; no more

                 I shun thy serious looks that seem unkind;

                 A placid joy beyond outer veil I find

                 Be my life-long companion; come along                

                 Teach me thy peace and fortitude strong.

                                **********************

                            (O Solitude! where are the charms

                         That sages have seen in thy face?) – William Cowper.    

Gorgonic – monstrous : derived from the Greek monster, the Gorgon, who could turn anyone who looked at her into stone.

  Mien --- appearance   

          

     18th February, 2022                 Somaseshu Gutala

ODE TO MY MIND

 

          

                                               

  1.    How oft should I admonish you, Oh Mind!

         With you, I do not wish to be unkind;

         Though to my warnings you turned blind

          Oft crossing the limits meant for good

          You raged like a beast out of mood.

2.       How oft I warned you like a friend

          You rashly frowned, your ways you did not mend;

          With sense of defeat, you filled your heart

          And made others too sad for want of thought;

          In easy snare of pleasures, you were caught.

3.       What use your knowledge and wit I say

           You made your life a sordid play

           Of vicious thoughts and went astray;

           No ideals you have kept, a sheer pell-mell   

           No system, no rules, a confounded hell.

4.         A creature of chance in jig-jag ways

            You spent your fleeting days in idle ways

            Your words mismatched with your deeds

             A stagnant pool of idle creeds;

            While idle thoughts grow rapid like weeds.

5.         Of moral ways and goals so much you raved

            And yet to fleeting pleasures yourself enslaved;

            A road to hell with good intentions paved

            No more can I stand thy ways and wait

            I have to check thy ways and set you right.

 

6.         No more can I let loose thy senses free

            No more can I allow thy flippant spree

            Guided by reason you should strive

             In fickle ways you cannot thrive

             Listen to me; your hopes revive.

7.         Vain arguments lead you nowhere

            No reckless freedom can I spare;

            The yoke of morals you have to bear

            No tearful appeals, no pleading looks

            No clever allusions from learned books.

8.         No noble feelings you felt within

            In vain illusions do you spin;

            No feel of repentance or sin;

            No service motive for mankind

            In trivial worries yourself grind.

 

9.        Oh, Mind! Be calm like a bird in cage

            A beast deprived of furious rage

            Listen to me: my advice sage

            Haste not; be not a passion’s thrall

            Be wise and patient; act for good of all.

10.       Cool down, my mind, listen to noble call

            Find peace in helpful acts, though small

            You need not crave for ideals tall

            Please act with earnest faith in God

            He will guide you- no more discord.

                    ********************

     8th February, 2022                       Somaseshu Gutala