I like how Whitman sees himself and the ocean as surging with life. "Held by this electric self out of the pride of which I utter poems / Was seized by the spirit that trails in the lines underfoot / The rim, the sediment that stands for all the water and all the land of the globe." Sediment is an important word here, a symbol for Earth. I think he's trying to be very scientific, yet he wants to meld the two. He wants the physical (earth) intertwined with the meta-physical (spirit). It's very important for Whitman to make these connections. It's part of his ideals.
Life rolls this way and that way, constantly moving, never standing still. This is a great parallel that Whitman draws from as he writes about the ebbing ocean. He references the people of the past, the folks who were shipwrecked. He talks of how we all share this beach, a feeling of timelessness. As their footsteps crossed this sand, so does his, and so could mine. When he states he too is a trail of drift and debris – I think he is talking about all his mishaps in life. He contains multitudes, but has he really told us anything? Who is the man behind the poet? I think he is afraid and unsure of himself. Did Whitman secretly wish for his father’s approval? "I throw myself upon your breast my father / I cling to you so that you cannot unloose me / I hold you so firm till you answer me something." It's as if Whitman were afraid that if he didn't hold on tight that his father would simply brush him off--or perhaps he wanted his father to answer for his mistakes with their family. His dad was a working class guy with issues of alcoholism. I am sure they had a strained relationship at times.
In "The World Below the Brine" Whitman embraces the underwater power of nature. "Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves / Sea-lettuce, vast lichens strange flowers and seeds, the thick tangle, openings, and pink turf." He gives us this great description (including vivid color in later lines) of underwater sea life and tells us that there is a whole world down there, separate from ours but still full of culture--he says, "Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-depths, breathing that thick-breasting air, as so many do." I think the message here is that it's important to see nature is present everywhere, and living organisms, just like humans, have a culture to follow and we shouldn't take it all for granted.
I am going to change my focus and talk about "A Hand Mirror." In this poem, Whitman asks us to take a stern look in the mirror. Do we like what we've become? "Lungs rotting away piecemeal, stomach sour and cankerous / Joints rheumatic, bowels clogged with abomination / Blood circulating dark and poisonous streams..." This is pretty powerful imagery and rooted somewhere in the descriptions is the cause of the downfall of the American people. Our great nation has become selfish, but I wonder if we were always selfish. Alcoholism seems like it was just as prevalent then as it is now. I am sure that sexual disease spread with no remedy as well. We were so excited to get away from the Mother country and have a society with no rules (thought that really didn't happen) but it was our attitude. Our poor choices led us to sickness and destruction. I think Whitman wrote this poem to wake everyone up - sort of like a reality check. We still need one today.
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