Flowing and Swelling

Welcome to Celebrate Creativity - My name is George Bartley and this is episode 432 - Flowing and Swelling

This episode is the second in a series of podcast episodes about Walt Whitman’s unique approach to free verse.

Now a good example of Walt Whitman's free verse - one that celebrates the messy, vibrant, and expansive reality of the modern world is from "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." In this poem, he captures the sensory experience of a daily commute, blending the sublime with the mundane.

"Flowing and swelling, swelling and flowing,"
"The current rushes on, the men and women crowd the deck,"
"The flags and pennants, the masts, the white gulls, the dark water,"
"The fine-pointed towers of the new city rise to the sky,"
"The steam-boats passing, the bell-tolls, the cries of the men, the girls' laughter."

This passage is a prime example of his free verse. It lacks a consistent meter or rhyme scheme. Instead, the lines flow with a natural, organic rhythm, much like the ferry's movement. He uses a long, sprawling line to fit in a multitude of images: the natural current, the diverse crowd, the man-made "towers," and the cacophony of modern city life. Whitman's democratic vision is also at play here, as he places the "men and women" alongside the "gulls" and "steam-boats," giving each element equal importance in this vibrant, modern scene.

Walt Whitman often blended everyday language with elevated language, creating a style that was both democratic and epic. This elevated language drew inspiration from sources such as the Bible, opera, and classical literature, giving his poems a sense of grandeur and timelessness. He used these high-flown words and phrases to elevate the common person and everyday American life to a heroic, almost spiritual, level.

Transcript

Welcome to Celebrate Creativity - My name is George Bartley and this is episode 432 - Flowing and Swelling

This episode is the second in a series of podcast episodes about Walt Whitman’s unique approach to free verse.

Now a good example of Walt Whitman's free verse - one that celebrates the messy, vibrant, and expansive reality of the modern world is from "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry." In this poem, he captures the sensory experience of a daily commute, blending the sublime with the mundane.

"Flowing and swelling, swelling and flowing,"
"The current rushes on, the men and women crowd the deck,"
"The flags and pennants, the masts, the white gulls, the dark water,"
"The fine-pointed towers of the new city rise to the sky,"
"The steam-boats passing, the bell-tolls, the cries of the men, the girls' laughter."

This passage is a prime example of his free verse. It lacks a consistent meter or rhyme scheme. Instead, the lines flow with a natural, organic rhythm, much like the ferry's movement. He uses a long, sprawling line to fit in a multitude of images: the natural current, the diverse crowd, the man-made "towers," and the cacophony of modern city life. Whitman's democratic vision is also at play here, as he places the "men and women" alongside the "gulls" and "steam-boats," giving each element equal importance in this vibrant, modern scene.

Walt Whitman often blended everyday language with elevated language, creating a style that was both democratic and epic. This elevated language drew inspiration from sources such as the Bible, opera, and classical literature, giving his poems a sense of grandeur and timelessness. He used these high-flown words and phrases to elevate the common person and everyday American life to a heroic, almost spiritual, level.

Whitman's poems are full of language reminiscent of the King James Bible, with its long lines and repetitive rhythms. This gives his work a prophetic and spiritual tone.

In "Song of Myself," he famously declares, "I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." The word "yawp" is a rough, earthy term, but by placing it in a grand, sweeping statement, he elevates it to a powerful, defiant cry.

He frequently uses the word "behold" as a command to the reader, a word that often appears in biblical texts to draw attention to a significant moment or vision. For example, he writes, "Behold, the body includes and is the soul."

Let's take another look at the poem - a noiseless patient spider. In the poem "A Noiseless Patient Spider"  Whitman uses the phrase "O my soul, where you stand," a direct address to his own spirit that evokes the elevated language of psalms and hymns.

Now. ”A Noiseless Patient Spider" is a short yet profound poem by Walt Whitman that uses the image of a spider to explore the nature of the human soul. The poem is a brilliant example of a conceit, or an extended metaphor, where the spider's actions mirror the soul's quest for connection and purpose.

The Spider and the Soul
The poem is divided into two stanzas, each focusing on a distinct but parallel subject.

The first stanza is

A noiseless patient spider,
I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

In the first stanza, Whitman describes a spider "isolated" on a small promontory. The spider is "noiseless" and "patient," a quiet observer in a "vacant vast surrounding." Its act of "launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself" is a physical attempt to connect with its surroundings. The repetition of "filament" emphasizes the tireless and methodical nature of this effort. The spider's action is an act of creation and reaching out, an instinctive response to its isolation.

The second stanza deal specifically with the soul

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul

The second stanza directly addresses the human soul, drawing a clear parallel to the spider. The speaker turns to "O my soul where you stand," placing the soul in a similar state of isolation, "surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space." The soul's actions are then described using the same metaphor as the spider's: "Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them." This mirrors the spider's launch of filaments. The soul's "gossamer thread" is its thoughts, ideas, and desires, which it "flings" out into the world in search of something to hold on to.

Core Themes and Analysis
The poem's power lies in its succinct exploration of several key themes:

Isolation and Connection: Both the spider and the soul are fundamentally alone. The entire struggle of the poem is their attempt to overcome this isolation by reaching out and forming connections.

Creation and Purpose: The spider's weaving of its web and the soul's "musing" and "venturing" are acts of creation. This creative impulse is what gives both beings purpose in their vast and seemingly empty surroundings.

Patience and Hope: The "patient" nature of the spider is mirrored in the soul's "ceaseless" effort. The poem ends on a note of hope, with the final lines expressing a yearning for the "gossamer thread" to "catch somewhere," implying that the effort, no matter how daunting, is worthwhile.
The poem is a beautiful example of Whitman's ability to use a simple, natural image to convey a profound and universal human experience.

A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

Now, I’d like to look at another technique that Walt Whitman uses a great deal in his poetry - and that is listing, also referred to as cataloging.

Whitman's use of catalogues, or long lists of people, places, and things, is a form of elevated language in itself. By listing such a vast and diverse array of subjects, he transforms the commonplace into the subject of a grand, sweeping epic, similar to Homer's Iliad or Virgil's Aeneid.

In "Song of Myself," he famously catalogues the people of America: "The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, / The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, / The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck..." By placing these working-class people into a long, rhythmic list, he turns their everyday labor into a heroic and unified song.

He frequently uses words like "kosmos" (cosmos) and "en-masse" (in a mass or together), borrowed from Greek and French, to describe the universe and the collective American people. These foreign terms add a sense of intellectual and universal scope to his democratic themes.

This blending of the elevated and the everyday is what makes Whitman's style so unique and radical. He took the high language of epic and prophecy and applied it to the gritty, diverse reality of 19th-century America, giving the lives of ordinary people a profound and spiritual significance.

But one of the most important aspects of Walt Whitman's verse - and I can't stress this enough - is that it broke from poetic tradition.  In other words, Walt Whitman's verse broke from poetic tradition by abandoning the conventional rules of meter and rhyme in favor of free verse. This radical departure allowed him to create a new kind of poetry that mirrored the rhythms of natural speech and celebrated the vast, democratic spirit of America.

And I don't want you to get the idea that Walt Whitman totally dismissed literary ideas from the past.  He may have had a revolutionary style, but he did not forget rhetorical devices - such as literary techniques that William Shakespeare learned in school and used in his works.

For example. To create rhythm and structure in the absence of meter, Whitman relied heavily on anaphora (the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses) and parallelism (the use of similar grammatical structures). These techniques created a powerful rhythm - almost as though the poet is uttering an incantation.

Let me take a little detour here to review the meaning of anaphora and parallelism.

Anaphora and parallelism are both rhetorical devices that use repetition to create rhythm and emphasis. Parallelism is a broad term for using a similar grammatical structure to link related ideas. Anaphora is a specific type of parallelism where a word or phrase is repeated at the beginning of successive clauses or sentences.

Examples of Anaphora
Anaphora is a powerful tool often used in speeches and poetry to build an emotional or dramatic effect. Here are some classic examples:

Martin Luther King Jr., "I Have a Dream" speech:

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed..."
"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood..."
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character..."

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."

Psalm 23:

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
"He leadeth me beside the still waters..."

Examples of Parallelism
Parallelism, in its broader sense, can be seen in many forms, from simple lists to complex sentences. The key is the repetition of a grammatical structure.

Simple Parallelism:

"I like to run, to swim, and to cycle." (The infinitive verb phrase is repeated.)
"The students were asked to write a report, to conduct an interview, and to present their findings."

Antithetical Parallelism (using parallel structure to present contrasting ideas):

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." (John F. Kennedy)
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." (Shakespeare) 
and Shakespeare's famous line to be or not to be, that is the question

Parallelism in a list:

"The car was sleek, powerful, and expensive." (The list uses parallel adjectives.)
"He came, he saw, he conquered." (Julius Caesar) (The list uses parallel subject-verb clauses.)

These examples show how both devices create a satisfying rhythm and make ideas more memorable and impactful for the reader or listener.

Now getting back to Whitman

Walt Whitman’s rejection of traditional poetic forms wasn't just a stylistic choice; it was a fundamental shift in how poetry was constructed and what it could represent.

The most significant break was his complete dismissal of iambic pentameter and other fixed metrical patterns, as well as regular rhyme schemes. Traditional English poetry, from Shakespeare to Tennyson, relied on these structures to create musicality and order. Whitman, instead, used long, flowing lines and an organic, sometimes sprawling, rhythm.

While traditional poetry often used elevated or archaic language, Whitman blended the common, everyday speech of ordinary Americans with more spiritual and epic language. He included slang, technical terms, and foreign words alongside biblical and formal diction, making his poetry feel both accessible and grand.

Walt Whitman also took the epic form, traditionally reserved for mythic heroes and gods, and applied it to the lives of ordinary people. His extensive catalogues of farmers, carpenters, and sailors elevated their daily experiences to a heroic, almost cosmic, scale, making the American working class the subject of his monumental work, Leaves of Grass.

All of this showed a great deal regarding creative courage on the part of Walt Whitman.
Whitman's break from poetic tradition shows that creative courage is the willingness to abandon established rules and norms to forge a new path. It’s a belief that one's own vision is valuable enough to defy convention, even in the face of potential criticism or rejection. This courage is not just about being different; it's about being authentic and trusting one's own voice.

In fact, Whitman's entire career is a testament to this kind of courage. He didn't just tweak the existing rules; he burned them down to create something entirely new, fueled by his conviction that a new nation needed a new kind of poetry.

The belief that Walt Whitman realized a new nation like the United States needed a new kind of poetry is a central and widely accepted idea in literary criticism. It's a key to understanding his work, particularly his development of free verse.

Whitman believed that the United States, as a vast, diverse, and democratic nation, was fundamentally different from the monarchies and structured societies of Europe. He felt that American literature should reflect this unique national identity.

For centuries, English poetry was defined by strict metrical rules, rhyme schemes, and classical themes. Whitman saw this as a relic of an old world and felt it was insufficient for capturing the energy and scale of America. His rejection of meter and rhyme was not just a stylistic choice but a political and cultural one—a declaration of independence for American literature.

Whitman's new kind of poetry was meant to be accessible to everyone, not just the educated elite. He celebrated the lives of ordinary people—farmers, mechanics, and laborers—making them the heroes of his work. His sprawling, catalog-like lines in poems such as "I Hear America Singing" are a poetic embodiment of democratic ideals, giving voice to a multitude of individual experiences.

Whitman's work also broke from the tradition of poetry that focused solely on the mind or spirit. He insisted that the body was just as sacred as the soul, and that the physical, sexual, and messy parts of human life were worthy of celebration. This was a radical idea that mirrored the raw, uninhibited spirit of a young and expanding nation.

In essence, Whitman's work was a deliberate and courageous attempt to create a poetry that was as big, as messy, and as democratic as America itself. He saw his role as a poet to not just write about the new nation, but to actively invent the literary form that could truly contain it.

Let me emphasize - His most fundamental act of courage was the creation of free verse. At a time when poets were expected to adhere to strict meters and rhyme schemes, Whitman's long, rambling, unrhymed lines were considered sloppy and formless. Critics initially dismissed his work, but he held fast to his belief that this form was essential to capturing the chaotic, democratic energy of America. This shows that creative courage often means enduring initial ridicule for the sake of a long-term vision.

Embracing Taboo Subjects: Whitman's courage also extended to his subject matter. In the 19th century, it was scandalous to write about the human body, sexuality, and the working class in a celebratory way. In poems like "I Sing the Body Electric," he glorifies the physical form, including its sexual aspects, with an almost religious fervor. This was a bold and risky move that challenged the Victorian sensibilities of his time. It demonstrates that creative courage is about pushing past social taboos to express a more complete and honest vision of humanity.

The Unabashedly American Voice: Before Whitman, American poets often imitated European styles and themes. Whitman's work, however, was defiantly and unapologetically American. He wrote about ferry rides in Brooklyn, factory workers, and the raw, untamed landscape of the continent. His use of colloquial language and his focus on the common person were acts of courage that asserted the cultural independence of the United States.

Whitman's courage wasn't just in his writing but in his actions. When he couldn't find a publisher for his first edition of Leaves of Grass, he published it himself. He continued to revise and expand the collection throughout his life, adding new poems and making changes, a bold move that shows he saw his work as a living, evolving project, rather than a fixed, final product. This reveals that creative courage is a continuous process of self-belief and refinement.

Ultimately, Whitman's work teaches us that creative courage is an act of defiance, a refusal to be constrained by the expectations of others. It's the conviction that one's unique voice and vision are worth the struggle and the risk, and that true innovation often comes from a willingness to break all the rules.

With his blank verse, Walt Whitman displayed a tremendous amount of creative courage.  Specifically, he was defying poetic structure. In "Song of Myself," Whitman's most famous poem, he writes long, unrhymed lines that mimic the expansive nature of the American landscape and the human spirit. A traditional poet would have used a tight, formal structure. Instead, Whitman starts with a powerful, unconventional opening: "I celebrate myself, and sing myself, / And what I assume you shall assume, / For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you." This wasn't just a stylistic choice; it was a defiant statement of artistic independence.

Sources include: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, the online Walt Whitman archive, the new Walt Whitman handbook, song about ourselves: Walt Whitman and the fight for democracy by Mark Edmondson, and Walt Whitman -  the making of the poet by Paul svig

Joint celebrate creativity for episode 433 cataloging the sensual

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