Witty Whitman

     Though I have come to really enjoy reading Whitman's poetry, I think I may have enjoyed the notebook more because it humanizes him and shows you were it all started. When just glossing over the pages I was instantly drawn to the drawings. He often alternated between headshots and full body drawing, but many of his drawings were of people. I think this is very representative of his interests in his work, which was the human experience and identity. I also found it interesting how the images often looked very similar to one another with some variation and it reminded me of the cataloging he does in his poetry. I also found it interesting how he developed themes as he went. For example, he started in one page with a broad thought about liberty and "seeing it crash," in a few more pages he writes another thought about a storm crashing, and then in the next thought he connects the two by talking about Lincoln as a ship captain. This is very revealing to how Whitman worked, as it shows he wrote freely and that the connections were not planned and came about organically.

     One thing I found cool was in the first few pages he had some title ideas for his brochure, which was never published, about his conversations with Lincoln. I think it is interesting that he was so willing to share this intimate detail of his life, which could cause those who read it to think he is crazy, and shows how open and honest he was with his writing. It is also interesting because as I reader I never really considered this great writer facing uncertainty about what to title his book, which seems too mundane for the larger-than-life presence he makes himself to be at times in his poetry. Another note I found interesting was about his friend dying in battle and Whitman going off and volunteering as a nurse. I think this reveals a lot about Whitman's feelings about the war and that killing was not the answer, but he still needed to participate and help those who were fighting. The last note I found intriguing was one about his tone shift in regards to liberty and suggesting that it outlasts every regime no matter what. This thought really exemplifies the complexities of his feelings on this issues and of people in general, which he shows when he states, "I contain multitudes" (Whitman). This also relates to his feelings about the universe and brotherhood, revealing that Whitman believed that these themes were bigger than people and would always survive in the end.