This diary entry of Whitman is fascinating because, speaking of himself as a
young boy, we witness many of the traits that will develop into his subsequent
identity. It anticipates his
penchant for travel and the outdoors. Perhaps, the constant movement of his
formative years bred this comfort, providing the initial experiences for what
he would eventually term in “Song of Myself,” “his place late at night in the
crow’s nest.” For comfort, he would eventually look both “on” and “outside of
pavement or land.”
His “omnivorous” reading habit, cultivated from youth, also
proved useful, in that it gave him the requisite tools to articulate his
philosophy. Even though his thought and prescriptions are based in the
experiential, visceral, and communal, (and decidedly populist/non-intellectual)
he would not be able to articulate as eloquently without a history of study. He,
in time, respects this learning, but subordinates it to essentially human,
visceral, touch-specific experiences: “Have you felt so proud to get at the
meaning of poems? Stop this day and night with me, and you shall possess the
origins of all poems…”
Whitman also worked odd jobs (compositor, teacher in various
counties) at a young age, which may have contributed to his later attitude of
respect toward the working individual, and his perception of himself as
embedded within the working community. In “Song of Myself” he declares, after
listing a series of jobs, “and of these one and all I weave the song of
myself.”
Collectively, this diary entry underscores and possibly
provides the source for dynamic, essential aspects of Whitman’s character.
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