IN BETWEEN

                  

                               

1.         Thy ways so strange and weird seem

      You lift our souls to jump with joy to scream;

      You hurl us down to depths of gloom and despair

      Why so sudden change? Is it fair?

      A mixed web of pleasure and pain

      A gift of beneficence or disdain?

 

2.         You give us a taste of heavenly bliss

      In warmth of mother’s closest kiss;

      You give us sportive mirth and merry play

      With friendly company jovial and gay;

      A phase of golden years with no burdens and load

      Childhood, a smooth and care-free road.

 

3.         You fired our fancy to unreachable heights

     You plan our path so rough and not so straight;

     So many hurdles test our struggling mind

     So many challenges, our goal too hard to find;

     Very few lucky ones their goals attain

     Others retreat wounded, deep-struck with pain.

 

4.         Our fancy runs riot beyond our reason’s range

     Our vision seems blurred, vague and strange;

     We chase shadows hare-brained with foolish grit

     Till we lose their grip and concede defeat;

     A waste of time and resources, a thing of past;

     Our dreams melt down in factual day at last.

 

5.         Our burdens increase with growing age

     Our ways appear like labyrinthine maze;

     Our youthful dreams, like stars beyond our hold

     Our inner drive slows down as we turn old.

     Why such regressive dissolution?

     Is there no ultimate solution?

 

6.        A series of sharp and uneven ups and downs

    We swell with joy on crests of success to drown

    Into dark depths, a sudden reversal of fate;

    Till yesteryears so great, now destitute, a spate

    Of hurdles to test and crush our pride;

    We feel rebuffed by Time’s unexpected stride.

 

7.        We swing between extremes of ice and fire

     No time to acclimatize to realms so dire

     Like Lucifer in livid burning spires;

     We are thrown into realms with frozen desires;

     What do we gain from these swift changes in life?

     What do we lose from this uncertain strife?

 

8.         How odd and incomprehensible display!

     Sages ascribe this to Thy sportive play;

     So many tender blooms cut off in prime

     While suffering lives survive beyond their time;

     For these worldly tensions where is the end?

     You seem to exult in unforeseen turns and bends. 

 

9.         Injustice seems to flourish day by day

         While honesty beggared collapses on the way;

     While corruption rules free and total power wields

     Transgressing rules forcing common people to yield

     Why this discrimination and why so mute?

     Can’t Time punish these inhuman brutes?

 

10.     Our sense-bound reason can’t unfold Thy maze;

     Time’s mysterious ways beyond our gaze;

     Our faltering steps guided by forces unseen

     To burn our passions and make our minds serene;

      Meanwhile we pray to Thee to purify our minds;

      Let us not lose our faith, Master Gracious and Kind!

 

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

     10th June, 2022                     Somaseshu Gutala

     

 

 

        

 

      

 

 

  

 

            

     

WHAT IS YOURS?

                                

 

              

 1.    What is yours now belonged to others

         And what is yours now will go to somebody else;

         None can see destiny’s pulse

         And what happens to you, who bothers?

         Our lives insignificant specks in endless tide

         Of time which batters our ego and pride.

 

2.      The tender bloom of childhood which you had

          Melted like dew with growing years;

          No more can you feel those innocent smiles and tears;

          You lost those realms of golden fantasies so glad

          What an unbridgeable gap between you and that child!

          Your mind, no more like blossoms fresh and wild.

 

3.       Through turbulent youth a few blunders you made

           Thy age, an excuse to act with renewed delight;

           None blamed thy negligence and none did slight;

           Like happy dreams of night, they slip away and fade;

           Those lovely forgiving intimate ties

           You can’t find now and Time so quickly flies.

 

4.     You flaunted your vigour in reckless youth

        You rambled free gloating on luxuries full;

        You yielded thoughtless to temptations’ pull;

        You spared no time to think of vital truths;

        You cared little about consequences in store

        In worldly joys you sank down more and more.

 

5.    As family burdens with age did bend you down

       Your cuckoo dreams swept off like dust

       In gust of worldly ways and passion’s thirst;

       Must yield to burdens you have to bear

       The thrust of your deeds with others you cannot share.

 

6.   As old age looms, your strength slowly wanes

       You have to pay for your wayward ways past;

       Your youth and beauty have to yield at any cost;

       Your status and power cannot retard or restrain

       No more can you indulge in pleasures vain

       You spend a lot on medical bills, but can’t complain. 

 

7.   Your splendour, glory, wealth and power

       Vanish in a flash just like a dream

       No more can you wield authority supreme;

      Your bonds of which you boast tumble like a tower;

      The cloud of uncertainty hangs before

      The effects of change you can resist no more.

 

8.   Just like leaves in winter turn sick-pale and fade

      Old age weakens our limbs and brain as well;

      A gradual change and how it happens none can foretell

      Our worldly possessions, mere dancing shades;

      So many unforeseen complaints attack our health

      Our past vicious habits, like thieves, impact in stealth.

 

9.   Our closest kin depart to leave mere memories past

      Our dearest bonds will not forever last;

      Even our dearest children have to live apart

      To shoulder their own tasks at any cost;

      What happens to your family’s privilege and pride

      When they act free and not by rules abide? 

 

10.  In tide of time of what you assume as yours

       Turns weak, wrinkled and not so well it seems;

       Irreversible change you cannot redeem;

       Your body loses its vital force and living powers;

       What you assume as yours-nothing remains at last

       Your power and wealth all gone; tell me, what is yours?

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

         31st May, 2022                     Somaseshu Gutala

  

 

 

 

 

       

When I touch Thy holy feet

                                   

       

           When I touch Thy holy feet

            I feel myself in heaven’s embrace;

            When I touch Thy holy feet

            I feel the blissful kiss of paradise;

            When I touch Thy holy feet 

            I find myself in the lap of Elysium;

           When I touch Thy holy feet

            I feel delight in my bosom’s beat;

            When I touch Thy holy feet

           I feel a thousand springs blossom within;

           When I touch Thy holy feet

           I feel all my worries dissolve in a trice;

          When I touch Thy holy feet

          I feel all my lost treasure found;

          When I touch Thy holy feet

          A thousand rain-bows unfold before my eyes;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

          I feel mother’s coolest comforting grace;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         I feel rejuvenation of my spirits;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         I feel the support of Thy blessed hand;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         I feel unburthened of all my griefs;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         My soul flows out in flooding tears of joy;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         My soul floats free like a swan in the sky;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         My heart throbs with penitential tears;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         I forget my failures and frustrations;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         I feel too deep to voice my immense joy;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         My soul dances like a pea-cock in showers;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         My soul is inspired to write paeans of thy glory;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         My soul with thine doth seem to meet;

         When I touch Thy holy feet

         I feel thy grace and blessings sweet.

                *********************

     18th May, 2022                    Somaseshu Gutala

       

 

You have chosen

 

                                   

 1)       You have chosen your way—no chance to go away

           Now or before-- you cannot go astray;

           No more excuses to jump out of this fray;

           Your way studded with blooms or thorns spread

          “You have to tread” my conscience sternly said.

 

2)       Time’s twists and turns we can’t unfold

           What we hope for, not within our fold;

           Rushing events, we can’t withhold;

           We have to face whether we wish or not

           We have to accept our destined lot.

 

3)        Once you release, you can’t withdraw

            The darts of your actions, a rigid law;

            Like the ripples unfold your lapses and flaws;

            The hounds of Karma chase you wherever you stay;

            Whatever you do or think, you have to pay.

 

4)       “You need not hesitate—you need not fear

            No use of blaming and shedding tears”

            A voice whispered and brought me cheer;

            I know; Thou art the never-failing source

            Of all this creation, Mighty Force!

 

5)        Thou art the Lord of all this universe

            Thy laws may seem mysterious and terse

            Our destiny appears so harsh, we curse;

            Our acts boomerang with vengeful deal

            Our past we can’t recall; dejected we feel.

 

6)        A trivial speck I am in this universe vast

            Give me strong faith and patience steadfast

            To mend myself and make up for what is lost;

            Thy firm support and grace my only need;

            Let my bosom be free from grief and greed. 

 

7)        So many times, you told your devotees, Lord!

            To leave our worries and end our discord;

             Saviour Thou art, All-bearing mighty God!

             Set us free from cares and give us solace;

             Clear our confusion and live in peaceful ways.

 

8)          Let me not fall into temptations vain   

             The pull of brutal passions, let me restrain

             Let me be not the cause for other’s pain;

             Let me trust Thee and equanimity maintain

             Lead me unscathed, through stress and strain.

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

Ref :  “Quickly they become virtuous and attain lasting peace. O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that no devotee of mine is ever lost.” ---

                   Bhagavadgita (Raja Vidya Yog, Verse 31)

   3rd May, 2022                                    Somaseshu Gutala

 

       

 

           

 

 

 

        

        

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.