Walt Whitman Lecture: 'You May Contribute a Verse'

Today we are appreciating a curation of poetic masterworks from Walt Whitman: 'Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking,' 'When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd,' and 'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.'  

We'll also bring our deep appreciation to its end with a discussion about the film Dead Poets Society, which I think beautifully captures the essence of Walt Whitman's life-affirming poetry.

We're talking the birth of the poet, death of the past self, how to charge language with meaning, how poets are translators, pastoral elegies, contributing a verse, sucking the marrow out of life, carpe diem, conformity vs self-reliance, making life worth living, and much more. 

Timestamps:

• 0:00 ‘Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking’
• 2:00 death of the self & birth of the poet
• 5:00 Whitman’s metaphorical prowess
• 7:00 overcoming the difficulties of Whitman
• 9:00 the poet sings a reminiscence
• 10:00 how birdsong awakens the poet
• 12:00 how to charge language with meaning
• 14:00 musical poet becomes a painter
• 15:00 how great poets are translators
• 17:00 finding your feelings in nature
• 20:00 mockingbird mourns his lost love
• 24:00 ‘my love soothe not me, not me’
• 26:00 the birth of the nation’s bard
• 28:00 the sea whispers the word death
• 30:00 ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d’
• 33:00 the death of President Abraham Lincoln
• 35:00 symbolism in Whitman’s pastoral elegy
• 37:00 when Whitman first heard the news
• 39:00 mourning with ever-returning spring
• 41:00 great star drooping in the western sky
• 43:00 ‘song of the bleeding throat…’
• 45:00 ‘night and day journeys a coffin’
• 47:00 how should we sing for our lost loves?
• 49:00 singing a joyful night carol to death
• 53:00 ‘Crossing Brooklyn Ferry’
• 55:00 I considered you before you were born
• 58:00 contributing a part on the world’s stage
• 1:00:00 ‘it avails not, time nor place…’
• 1:01:00 ‘just as you feel, so I felt…’
• 1:04:00 dark patches don’t fall on you alone
• 1:07:00 on the roles we play in our lives
• 1:09:00 appreciating Dead Poets Society
• 1:10:00 sucking the marrow out of life
• 1:11:00 what makes an inspirational teacher?
• 1:15:00 ‘gather ye rosebuds while ye may’
• 1:17:00 carpe diem, seize the day
• 1:19:00 ‘and you may contribute a verse’
• 1:21:00 sustaining life vs making it worth living
• 1:23:00 literature developed in order to woo
• 1:25:00 the adventure of life should be terrifying
• 1:27:00 on conformity vs self-reliance
• 1:28:00 the painful process of maturation
• 1:30:00 how great teachers save lives
• 1:32:00 ‘O Captain! My Captain!’
• 1:33:00 what we have learnt from Whitman
• 1:36:00 what did you make of these poems?

Resources to Explore:

• Dead Poets Deep Dive: You might enjoy spending time with some of the poems that make it into the film. Robert Herrick's 'To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time', Robert Frost's 'The Road Not Taken', Tennyson's 'Ulysses', Lord Byron's 'She Walks in Beauty', Shakespeare's eighteenth sonnet, Whitman's 'O Me! O Life!', 'O Captain! My Captain!', and 'Song of Myself'. If you appreciated the Lilacs elegy, you may also like Milton's Lycidas and Shelley's Adonais. 
• Walden: You might find it interesting to move from Whitman into Thoreau by reading his reflections from his life in the woods here. 'I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived... I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.'
• The Ode Less Travelled: It's been wonderful to see many readers are finding Stephen Fry's guide to metre and form so valuable. This is one of my most reread books of all time. If you want to understand poetic form in a really clear and fun way, this book is highly recommended. It is also filled with exercises to get you writing your own poetry.
• ABC of Reading: We mention Ezra Pound's three methods of charging language with meaning frequently. If you find this interesting, you might wish to read his aesthetic theory here. This book has some interesting reading exercises and some reflections on the poetry of Walt Whitman, amongst many other poets.
• Celebrating Whitman: If you would like to listen to a wonderful appreciation of Whitman's poetry, I recommend this interview with Allen Ginsberg, Sharon Olds, and Galway Kinnell on the Charlie Rose Show.

Questions to Consider:

1) What ideas from Whitman's poetry resonated the most with you?

2) How can we translate our soul into words? 

3) What is the verse you will contribute?

And please do share with us your favourite lines, images, and ideas you've discovered from your reading of these powerful poems.

Happy reading, everybody!