Journal 30

Walt Whitman during his lifetime wrote a lot of poems. A lot of them and I mean a ton of them were published and looked at by millions of readers. He sends a great message through all of them, but there was one poem that I really enjoyed reading and I am going to tell you why. The poem that I have chosen that I have enjoyed the most is "O Captain, My Captain". I have chosen this poem because it has a great message with it and it was enjoyable to read. Everybody remembers president Lincoln. He was in my opinion one of the greatest presidents of all time and I am sure that everyone else almost feels the same way. The things he did during his presidency was incredible compared to what the other presidents did. In a time that would seem to be impossible to control, Lincoln took control and did the right things which made him how popular he is today. Anyway, Whitman did a great job with Lincoln in the poem "O Captain, My Captain". The captain in this poem is President Lincoln, hence where I said all the information about Lincoln. Walt Whitman is talking about when Lincoln got shot in the head in the theatre. He says, "But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red", so he is talking about when Lincoln got shot in the head and he is bleeding very badly. "Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead", this part of the poem is talking about how Lincoln is dead on the floor. I do not really know why this poem has such a big impact on me. I really liked president Lincoln and the things he did. I never knew that Walt Whitman had written "O Captain, My Captain" for Lincoln or even related to Lincoln. Then we went over it in class and I finally realized that it did talk about Lincoln and it finally made sense to me. Everything Whitman did in this poem whether it was the description he used or just because he wrote about Lincoln, either way I enjoyed the poem.

http://whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1891/poems/194

Chanting the Square Deific

This poem that Whitman wrote was very nice. It was calm and it had a nice background in it. Whitman did a good job with organizing this poem, which he is known not to do very well. Anyway, when you think of God sometimes people call him the Son, the Holy Spirit, or the Father. Well this story, which is called "Chanting the Square Deific" it introduces a fourth element that has to do with God.

The first stanza has to do with God taking the lives of people. Which in someone's view is probably not right because everybody sins in some way or another and God always gives them a second chance at life or whatever the deal is. Here is a quote from the story that might give you more of a background, "Not Time affects me-I am Time, old, modern as any, Unpersuadable, relentless, executing righteous judgements, As the Earth, the Father, the brown old Kronos, with laws, Aged beyond computation, yet ever new, ever with those mighty laws rolling, Relentless I forgive no man--whoever sins dies--I will have that man's life" (Whitman). This quote basically explains all of what I was talking about. About how God is relentless and whoever sin's, that he will take that man's life which is the part that I do not find true. God gives everybody a second chance.

In the second stanza, it was sort of inspiring. Whitman wrote, "From this side, lo! the Lord Christ gazes--lo! Hermes !--lo! mine is Hercules' face. All sorrow, labor, suffering, I, tallying it, absorb in myself, Many times have I been rejected, taunted, put in prison, and crucified, and many times shall be again" (Whitman). This is saying that God has been rejected by a lot of people, but he never goes away. He absorbs it and it makes him more strong than he already is. "He absorbs all sin in himself" (Oliver) so he becomes stronger.

The third stanza talks about Satan. Here is a quote from the poem, "Aloof dissatisfied, plotting revolt, Comrade of criminals, brother of slaves, Crafty, despised, a drudge, ignorant" (Whitman). This is just talking about Satan and what he is. He says "brother of slaves" (Whitman), which means he has a "soft heart for the downtrodden" (Oliver). Satan creates a balance between good and evil. There has to be something that makes everything balanced out, in this case it is Satan to balance out the Square Deific.

The final stanza just puts everything together. "Santa Spirita, breather, life, Beyond the light, lighter than light" (Whitman). This is saying that God will keep us together through the thick and the thin. It is our job to believe in him and and trust him. Whitman, throughout this poem, does a good job with organization by talking about each side of the Square Deific. Overall, this poem was very well put together and talked a lot about spirituality.

Bibliography

Whitman, Walt. "Chanting The Square Deific." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 03 Apr.

Oliver, Charles M. "'Chanting the Square Deific'." Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

Journal 29

For me this whole self analysis thing is getting me confused. I still do not really know how Walt Whitman saw self, but I sort of have an idea as to what I am supposed to talk about. My name is Justin Yakel. I was born in San Francisco California on May 27, 1995. Now that does not define the word self or how Whitman saw the definition of self, but in my eyes self means who are you. Now that is a tough question to answer because I know who I am, but I do not know how to define it. So first my personality is very important to me. My personality throughout my life that has been the thing that makes me who I am. I am a nice, caring guy which is what I am known for. Once in a while I do get a little cranky and go off on some people, but that is only rare occasions. Anyway, I find that your personality is big when it comes to Self because it defines who you are and how you act. Another thing that is important to me is the way I act around other people. You know you have a group that screws around all the time and they do not really pay attention. Well for me it is the other way around. I am a good student in school and I pay attention in class. I never disrespect anyone except if it's for my parents, but other than that if there is a coach telling me what to do or a teacher during class tells me to go do something I always do it. This is part of my personality. My parents raised me to be a good kid and to always respect your elders. I will always remember that I should respect anyone even though they might not be the nicest person in the world. The last thing that is important to me and defines the word Self is the way I see myself. I do not mean I look at myself everyday in the mirror and say I am pretty or not, I mean the way I see myself around other people per say or something else. This is the way I defined my Transcendental Self.