Specimen Days: Two Brothers, One South, One North

        In this entry, Whitman writes briefly of his visits with a wounded soldier. The soldier is 19 years old, missing his right leg, and dying. He says they loved each other very much, the wounded soldier being lonely and hurt, and Whitman being his only companion during that painful last chapter of his life. The soldier reveals himself to be a rebel soldier fighting for the Confederates, as if it might change the way Whitman would look upon the wounded soldier, but Whitman tells him that his allegiance makes no difference to him. Whitman continues his visits, and ends up finding his brother, also wounded and dying, in another ward of the hospital. This brother, though, died fighting for the Union.
        This entry puts in very literal terms an idea of equality which Whitman emphasizes in "Song of Myself." While he tries to convey in his poetry that we are all one, regardless of our birthplace or skin color, he shows these two soldiers, brother, cut from the same cloth, and both dying over differences. The humanity shared between two brothers would seem to be strong, but here Whitman shows us an example of that humanity being overlooked because of differences, and the results of allowing those differences turn into violence. Whitman, though, does not compromise his shared humanity with the wounded soldier, letting him know that no matter what side the young man was fighting for, he would stay by his side.

Cold War Kids - Hospital Beds

"I got one friend, layin across from me. I did not choose him, he did not choose me. 

We got no chance of recovery, sharin hospital joy and misery."

Whitman's entry reminded me of this song. Good song. I linked the song rather than the music video, cuz the music video is weak.

Tweet-A-Week: The Wilmot Proviso

        The Wilmot Proviso was introduced to the House of Representatives in the 1840s by Congressman David Wilmot and would have banned slavery in all new territories the US was hoping to acquire from Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War. Through its travels in our legislative processes, the Proviso found supporters, but also found many politicians strongly against it. It highlighted an ethical divide in our nation at the time, and those sentiments ultimately resulted in the American Civil War.
        In Whitman's "Song of Myself," he points out the differences of the people in our nation, but shows that there is an underlying humanity in everyone's story that ties us all together. Whitman's treatment of the runaway slave in his poem shows pretty clearly how he felt about slavery, and he does his best to show the struggle of the slave can be as painful as any other human suffering. Still, even though Whitman's ethics would place him on the Northern side of the war in terms of his sympathies, it seems Whitman is torn apart by the fact that his own nation is at war with itself. People from the same nation, who he might liken as brothers, were killing each other. As much as we have seen divides in our country, we have never seen it turn into a full-out war, fortunately, but this type of event is surely something Walt had on his mind while writing his song of unity and oneness...

A Closet Full of Agony... and Other Sentiments

Agonies are one of my changes of garments;
I do not ask the wounded person how he feels....I myself become the wounded person,
My hurt turns livid upon me as I lean on a cane and observe.
pg.27

        The first line in this selection grabs me right away. Throughout "Song of Myself," Whitman either describes things that aren't himself or changes perspectives in his writing about 1,763,014 times, and this line gives us an idea of what that process of changing perspectives is like for him. From these lines, I gather that, for Whitman, shifting his viewpoint from person to person to inanimate object to animal is... easy. At least, it is easy in terms of getting in the mode for writing from different perspectives. He compares it to how one might change their clothes, which is... easy. The part which requires work and concentration though is in the observation of life of those whose shoes he is occupying at any given moment. In this part of the poem, he is speaking on the pain and suffering certain people go through, and telling their story. He mentions Agony at this point because he just finished telling the story of a runaway slave who is caught by his 'owners.' He lets the painful anger that he himself has endured enter his heart, which he channels as he enters the mindset of another individual, remains patient ("as I lean on a cane"...) and "observes" the life of another in his empathetic imagination.
        Whitman displays empathy for those who suffer many times in his poem, and in the same way, he can even give us a picture of those whose life warrants no complaints. He can go on describing what lives may be like for unfortunate soldiers, farmers, politicians, prostitutes, musicians, and even personify the sea. The reason why I chose to write about this line is because for me, empathy is of utmost importance in my own personal life. I feel that empathy is what causes me to be curious instead of judgmental whenever I deal with people or read/hear about someone's life. I also feel that being empathetic would lead to much more peace and understanding between individuals, groups, and nations. Some say there's two sides to every story, but often, there are much more than two. Sometimes, I think we could take some advice from Walt by putting ourselves in someone else's shoes, being patient, and taking some time to observe.

Walt Whitman, leaning on his cane, as depicted in the comic-book The Amazing Spider-Man.

jk it's actually a character named Kingpin from said comic.

First post, test.

Yo, it's just a test.