Journal: Walt Whitman

My favorite poem by Walt Whitman is To a Stranger. This poem is short but includes elaborate ideas about Walt Whitman's belief of self.
In his poem To a Stranger, Walt Whitman talks about brief encounters that he has with people and how they can create a relationship. He wrote about how strangers have the opportunity to become good friends. The narrator can create a past with a stranger with his or her imagination. The narrator imagines having a past relationship with people and creates opportunities with them of the future. He imagines enjoying things with them romantically. Walt Whitman believes strongly that strangers can only look at each other and act on their impulses. He writes with the hope that you never know when the next stranger you meet might be your soul mate.
I find this poem very interesting. I am always thinking about strangers and how they could influence my life. When you think about it, all of your friends were once strangers. Your best friend who influenced you to do something could have changed your life forever. All of this from a stranger. From this poem I assume that Walt Whitman met many strangers and tried to create relationships with them.
Passing by people in a bookstore, I always smile. You never know when the stranger you are just meeting could become a life long friend. Just by smiling, you create a friendly environment that may draw some one to be interested in you.
I find that a lot of people are interested in how a stranger could affect your life, but never really talk about it because it may seem a bit creepy or desperate. Keeping this urge to talk to strangers when you find them interesting is something that is best kept private with one's self. I think that this is part of the magic and the mystery of strangers. You never know when a stranger you meet could possibly become a lifelong friend, or in Walt Whitman's case, a lover.

Whitman, Walt. "To A Stranger." Love Poem. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. <http://www.thedatingadvisor.com/love-poem-to-a-stranger.html>.

Reflection: Chanting the Square Deific

Chanting the Square Deific was written by Walt Whitman in 1865 (Oliver). It was part of his book of poetry called Leaves of Grass.
In this poem, Walt Whitman wrote about God not being a trinity as the Christian Church accepted, but being a quanternity (Oliver). A trinity is a union of three people, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Trinity). Whitman went against the church in this poem and said he had four different sides. Each stanza in this poem represents one of the sides.
In the first stanza, God describes himself at "Jehovah," "Old Brahm," "Saturnuis," and "Kronos" (Whitman). All of these are  a religious king in other religions. Also in the first stanza, God describes himself as merciless.(Oliver). For example, he writes "

Relentless I forgive no man—whoever sins dies—I will have           that man's life"

(Whitman). He is a very harsh man.

In the second stanza, the side of Christ is the topic.This side seems to be a lot nicer than God. He calls himself the "mightier God" (Whitman). I think that this side of God is too nice while the first side is way too harsh. Christ takes all the burdens of sin while God does not accept any of them (Oliver).
Satan is the topic in the third stanza. He is "the brother of slaves" and yet at the same time he is a criminal (Whitman). He claims that nothing will change him. He also has a "soft heart" for the "downtrodden" (Oliver).  Satan is the least important side of the four. There is already an accepting character, Christ, the mean one, God, and the most powerful one who is kind of a wild card, Satana Spirita.
In the last stanza, the last side of God is shown according to Whitman's beliefs. The last side is "santa spirita" (Whitman).The last character is the spirit of the universe. It is on the opposite of Christ in the square of four. This last character includes all of the other three sides inside of it at the same time. Whitman writes in the last stanza "

Here the square finishing, the solid, I the most solid,

Breathe my breath also through these songs."

 On Charles Oliver's literary criticism, he ends with an interesting point. He believes that the last line of the poem suggests that the author is Satana Spirita. Charles Oliver believes that he is not only singing to the people in this poem, but to all the stories in Leaves of Grass (Oliver). That is a very deep point which seems to be true. The last line makes this poem kind of an intro to all the other stories and connects them together.
(Whitman).These two lines sum up Satana Spirita. He describes himself as lighter than the light. He is obviously the most powerful of the three sides. He is very powerful because he somehow contains all three other parts and yet is still opposite to the side of Christ.

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.

Whitman, Walt. "The Walt Whitman Archive." CHANTING THE SQUARE DEIFIC. 


"Trinity." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 03 Apr. 2012. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trinity?s=t>.

Journal 29

My transcendentalism self is who I am, not what I do. It is not what I do on the outside, but it is who I am and what I define myself as on the inside.
I think my transcendentalist self is mostly what everyone else see's of me on the outside. I do not put on an act and fool people from seeing who I am on the inside. There are a few things that I do not show to everyone on the outside, though. How I act definitely changes from the people I am around. When I'm with my friends who obsess over music, I talk a lot more about the art and the emotional side of life. When I'm with my other friends who focus on humor, I am more of a listener and just have the goal of laughing and having a good time. When I am with my family, I let out all the bad because I do not really care what they think of me. I sometimes am cranky because of how everything else happens throughout the day and take it out on them. i think I take it out on them because I know they will accept me regardless. I am more comfortable around some than others. Around my coworkers, I am more mature and do not really let them see the real me. I feel that unless they are going to be friends with me, I do not need to let them know what is going on in my life. I have made friendships with some of my coworkers, which changes the way I act around them. I am more open around them because they have become friends of mine.

Finding the inner you is something that is really hard to do. It is also really hard to think about. Whitman probably found this difficult as well, although I think he definitely did a better job than I did. I understand why he kept editing it for a long time. He probably was still learning about all the changes in his life. I think that it is a really hard thing to do. Defining yourself always changes because you always change as a person, either for better or for worse.