Walt Whitman’s Gods
Walt
Whitman (1819-1892) was an American poet. His anthology of poems entitled Leaves of Grass is popular all over the
world. Its contents are not sublime like those of other poets. They are
plebian, yet thoughtfully as also aesthetically impressive.
Whitman
does not care about meters, rhymes and other poetic requirements. He is not a disciplined artist. He speaks
rather than writes and every word that he writes or speaks is essentially poetic.
His
themes are democratic. He does not versify for high society. His readers,
rather listeners, are common men. He is a poet of the masses wherever they be.
This
is how he introduces himself:
Walt Whitman, a kosmos, of Manhattan
the son,
Turbulent, fleshy, sensual, drinking
and breeding,
No sentimentalist, no stander above
men and women or
apart from them,
No more modest than immodest.
Speaking
about Leaves of Grass , he says:
I believe a leaf of grass is no less
than the journey-work of the stars.
And the pismire is equally perfect,
and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren,
And the tree-toad is a chef-d’oeuvre
for the highest,
And the running blackberry would
adorn the parlors of heaven.
Look
at this line on liberty:
Liberty, let others despair of you
---I never despair of you.
Finally
his poem on GODS:
Lover divine and perfect Comrade,
Waiting content, invisible yet, but
certain,
Be thou my God.
Thou, thou the Ideal Man,
Fair, able, beautiful, content, and
loving,
Complete in body and dilate in
spirit,
Be thou my God.
O Death, (for Life has served its
turn,)
Opener and usher to the heavenly
mansion,
Be thou my God.
Aught, aught of mightiest, best I
see, conceive, or know,)
(To break the stagnant tie –thee,
thee to free, O soul,)
Be thou my God.
All great ideas, the races’
aspirations,
All heroisms, deeds of rapt
enthusiasts,
Be ye my Gods.
Or Time and Space
Or shape of Earth divine wondrous,
Or some fair shape I viewing worship,
Or lustrous orb of sun or star by
night,
Be ye my Gods.
******
G.R.Kanwal
7th October 2025
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