Whitman's Mental Map

Whitman’s Mental Map

Driving has varying meanings- boring, long, work, helpful-but in regard to Walt Whitman, it is poetry. Whitman drove his mind's course. He controlled the wheel on all of his mental paths toward great discovery. Simple as it may sound, in his poetry, Walt Whitman drove through and analyzed his mind and put his mental map on paper. Whitman has strong themes embodied in his writing-three of those being discovering one’s “self,” individualism, and exploring new ideas. In “Song of Myself,” readers see a relation to each of these points in the different cantos. Driving symbolically connects to all of these themes.

Discovering one’s true “self” is an extreme challenge. People dedicate their whole lives to finding it. Walt Whitman embodies this task in much of his poetry. “Song of Myself” focuses on individuality in Canto 1. Here, Whitman explores his self by absorbing memories or ideas from his past, and then brings them back to his “self.” He discovered he could powerfully connect back to his roots, which influenced his later experiences. Through this he was learning how to understand the self and where it originated.“I loafe and invite my soul / I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass / My tongue, every atom of my blood, form'd from this soil, this air / Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same” (canto 1). Whitman, thinking of the land he grew up in and of his ancestors, realizes that every leaf of grass is a sign of translation.Whitman recognizes the grass growing from the ground he stood as the spirits reaching to him from his ancestors below. Through taking time to personally analyze them, these signals help Whitman fully discover and understand his past. This writing and idea of the “self” relates to driving because through driving one can discover her “self.” One has ample time to sit and think when she is alone in the car to analyze her “self,” just like Whitman did. In canto 1 Whitman explains a need to analyze one’s “self” to understand it.

Transitionally, once one starts to understand her “self,” and what she is made of, she is able to focus on her true goals and ideals and deviate from the norm. Individualism is another theme embodied by Whitman’s poetry. Song of myself relates to individualism in canto 4, where Whitman analyzes how people in today’s society are absorbed by news and outside forces, but instead they need to focus on their own ideas what personally matters to them:

“People I meet, the effect upon me of my early life or the ward / and city I live in, or the nation / The latest dates, discoveries, inventions, societies, authors old / and new /...Battles, the horrors of fratricidal war, the fever of doubtful / news, the fitful events / These come to me days and nights and go from me again / But they are not the Me myself,” (canto 4).

Whitman analyzes how everyone around him is constantly absorbed in outside distractions such as the news. However, he explains how these are not one’s “self.” ”Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and contenders, I have no mockings or arguments, I witness and wait,” (canto 4). Here, Whitman portrays that one’s “self” does not consist of beliefs from other people, instead it watches and thinks for himself. This practice is similar to sitting in one’s car, where are no outside distractions. Individualism, or thinking for oneself, is key as portrayed by Whitman, because people need to find their own beliefs-not follow others. This idea of individualism relates because when driving, one goes past exploring her “self,” but after that she can explore what she truly wants. While sitting alone in a car, one can think about her own opinions without being distracted by others. Therefore one is able to develop individual characteristics.

Accordingly, after people learn to deviate from the norm, they are able to “take their wheel” and explore new ideas because they have developed their own opinions and ideas what they want to do with their lives. “Song of Myself” relates to exploring new ideas in canto 11, where Whitman explores an unknown road. In this time period, men would usually watch naked women for erotic pleasure; however, Whitman reverses these roles and portrays a woman secretly watching naked men a finding a pleasure from it, and she even joined the men in the water presumably portraying sexual activity. “Dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather,  The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them...An unseen hand also pass'd over their bodies, It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs,” (canto 11). The woman’s pleasure and attraction is proved with the words “love” and the woman’s active pursuit to physically be with the men. This poem was an extreme deviation from the norm; it was not common at this time to portray women as acceptable sexual creatures like men. However, this piece portrayed the pleasure gained from the action-effectively portraying it as acceptable. Branching away from typical society beliefs relates to driving because it gives the ability to do the action that deviates from the norm. Once one has interpreted her “self,” and aimed for individualism, she will know what she wants to do, for herself, not for society. All she needs to do is get in the driver’s seat and follow her mental map.

Walt Whitman not only drove but he discovered. Through exploring what one’s “self” means, investigating individualism, and promoting expanding from society’s norms, Whitmans mental map hit many locations other poets has not touched. Walt Whitman’s writing embodied the action of driving.