WALT WHITMAN
The Isolation Blues;
reflections during covid-19
The past and present wilt—I have fill'd them, emptied them. And proceed to fill my next fold of the future. Listener up there! what have you to confide to me? Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening, (Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.) Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Walt Whitman Song of Myself, #51
Today, tomorrow, and yesterday, too The flowers are dying’ like all things do… I’m just like Anne Frank, like Indiana Jones And them British bad boys, The Rolling Stones I go right to the edge, I go right to the end I go right where all things lost are made good again I sing the songs of experience like William Blake I have no apologies to make Everything’s flowing all at the same time I live on the boulevard of crime I drive fast cars, and I eat fast foods I contain multitudes You greedy old wolf, I’ll show you my heart But not all of it, only the hateful part I’ll sell you down the river, I’ll put a price on your head What more can I tell you? I’ll sleep with life and death in the same bed I’ll keep the path open, the path in my mind I’ll see to it that there’s no love left behind I’ll play Beethoven’s sonatas, and Chopin’s preludes I contain multitudes Bob Dylan excerpt from “I contain Multitudes"
Bob Dylan released a second song during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic a couple of weeks ago titled “I Contain Multitudes” which you may recognize as a famous line from a Walt Whitman poem. Whitman, like Dylan is known for his prolific and voluminous free-verse writing style. “Song of Myself,” for example, consists of 52 sections and over 82 pages as it appeared in the “Death-Bed Edition” of Leaves of Grass. Fortunately, Dylan’s version of “I Contain Multitudes” comes in at under 5 minutes (instead of the 17-minute MMF release) and the laid-back musical approach with sparse instrumentation lends itself well to his spoken-song-poem style. At this point in his career Dylan seems comfortable with no apologies for anything. His prodigious body of work stands on its own; personal contradictions, inconsistencies and bad reviews alike.
Whitman was influenced by the New England Transcendentalist movement and his poetry explores many of the themes found in their writings such as soul, solitude, nature and transcendence.
I celebrate myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. In all people I see myself, And the good or bad I say of myself I say of them. I exist as I am, that is enough, If no other in the world be aware I sit content, And if each and all be aware I sit content. One world is aware and by far the largest to me, and that is myself, And whether I come to my own to-day or in ten thousand or ten million years, I can cheerfully take it now, or with equal cheerfulness I can wait. I know the amplitude of time.
In the same way that Emerson’s famous essay “Self-Reliance” is often misunderstood as encouraging unbridled individuality, Whitman’s “Song of Myself” is not ego-centric self absorption but a celebration of connecting with all humanity (and nature). The Transcendentalists challenged the individual to withdraw from distractions and practice self-inquiry; to investigate the nature of awareness and to ascertain what is important or meaningful in life. Emerson saw the individual soul expanding to include the universal soul (Oversoul) while Whitman recognized that his song of myself is actually the song of everyone. Both negative and positive traits are valued as a vital part of the human experience. Integrating the two is what makes us fully human (even if it does make for contradictions). What is essentially true for me is also essentially true for you. We share more in common and are more closely related than we might originally think. The phrase “I contain multitudes” is a statement of basic solidarity with our self, each other, the planet and the vast expanse of the universe.
As the coronavirus pandemic extends into its third month many of us are starting to wonder how long is this going to last?! The uncertainty lends itself to anxiety, frustration, fear and a good case of the heebee jeebies. Since it looks like there is no way to avoid the crisis, perhaps placing our self right in the middle of it in some productive way is the best thing we can do. Whitman enlisted as a volunteer in the US Army hospital in Washington DC during the Civil War where he hoped to ease human suffering. Dylan has already served as spokesperson for a generation once before (though he said he was only a song and dance man) and here he is doing it again. Ain’t no easy job, but then again somebody has to do it…
Find your place in the world and then get on with the work.
In the woods,
Dave
May21, 2020