THESE, I, singing in spring, collect for lovers,
(For who but I should understand lovers, and all their sorrow and
joy?
And who but I should be the poet of comrades?)
Collecting, I traverse the garden, the world--but soon I pass the
gates,
Now along the pond-side--now wading in a little, fearing not the wet,
Now by the post-and-rail fences, where the old stones thrown there,
pick'd from the fields, have accumulated,
(Wild-flowers and vines and weeds come up through the stones, and
partly cover them--Beyond these I pass,)
Far, far in the forest, before I think where I go,
Solitary, smelling the earthy smell, stopping now and then in the
silence,
Alone I had thought--yet soon a troop gathers around me,
Some walk by my side, and some behind, and some embrace my arms or
neck,
They, the spirits of dear friends, dead or alive--thicker they come,
a great crowd, and I in the middle,
Collecting, dispensing, singing in spring, there I wander with them,
Plucking something for tokens--tossing toward whoever is near me;
Here! lilac, with a branch of pine,
Here, out of my pocket, some moss which I pull'd off a live-oak in
Florida, as it hung trailing down,
Here, some pinks and laurel leaves, and a handful of sage,
And here what I now draw from the water, wading in the pondside,
(O here I last saw him that tenderly loves me--and returns again,
never to separate from me,
And this, O this shall henceforth be the token of comrades--this
Calamus-root shall,
Interchange it, youths, with each other! Let none render it back!)
And twigs of maple, and a bunch of wild orange, and chestnut,
And stems of currants, and plum-blows, and the aromatic cedar:
These, I, compass'd around by a thick cloud of spirits,
Wandering, point to, or touch as I pass, or throw them loosely from
me,
Indicating to each one what he shall have--giving something to each;
But what I drew from the water by the pond-side, that I reserve,
I will give of it--but only to them that love, as I myself am capable
of loving.
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Walt Whitman talks about love in this poem. One symbol depicts this is spring, when everybody is full of energy and plants are growing and birds are being born. Whitman or the character wants to include himself in the poem by putting “I” in the beginning of the poem. He talks about how they are different types of relationships and how some are close and others are far away. He says how season of spring is very relaxing and makes the readers contemplate over season and the time of relationship society has. He says he is “capable of loving” and wonders how love is personified.
ReplyDeleteI think that this poem is about what he has been through with love. He is saying that there are people walking by dead or alive which i think he is talking about how even if he is not together with the person he still feels the same feeling that he had for them. He is talking about how the season is one of the things that changes everything in the relationship between him and his lover. When he says "fearing not the wet" i think he means that he doesn't want to get to close to her because she might hurt him and just doesn't even get a little close to it. But even though he still wants to because he says that he is capable of loving and doesn't matter what he fears inside.
ReplyDeleteThe setting in Whitman's poem "These, I, Singing in Spring" is during spring. Spring is known for the love season. When most animals mate, and when babies are born. The way Whitman chose to set up this poem in spring makes sense because the poem also talks about love.
ReplyDeleteThe author at first talks about "lovers, and all their sorrow and joy" though at first it seems like the author is speaking of someone else, I realized that maybe the author is talking about his own experience. Maybe he experienced love full of sorrow and joy.
In the end Whitman emphasizes that love can only be his when he is capable of loving himself. "I myself am capable of loving".
I believe that tis poem is about life and the different experiences you face in order to really find what love is. The poets use of the different plants is a way to symbolize different experiences and advice given and taken. Spirits mentioned in the poem are there for support, just like you family always supports you through life. through all the challenges or different people or things you encounter you will find love. And the use of love here i think is not the romantic version of love. it is just love like you would have to youre mother. And the end of the poem it gives some sort of a moral. It is when you find love, guard it. and if you are to share it make should it will be to a person who will be able to pass it on just as you have. Love is something very precious and hard to find. So when you have spread it around. It is kind of like keeping the cycle of love going, and since the author uses spring it is like keeping the life cycle going.
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