Thoreau and Whitman: Part I

In Walter Harding’s biography The Days of Henry Thoreau, Thoreau’s relationship with the Romantic poet Walt Whitman is explored. As we discussed this companionship in Harding’s work during class, we were surprised to learn that it is a unity of two seemingly opposing minds. According to Harding, while Thoreau and Whitman differ in their views of the “common man,” Whitman also notices the “egotistic” nature and occasional “sever[ity]” of Thoreau’s opinions (Harding 374). I was interested in this juxtaposition of personality that blended with the two writers’ friendship, and I sought to discover possible similarities that existed between their most prominent works. While reading Thoreau’s Walden and the 1892 version of Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself,” included in his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, a likeness emerged between both writers’ examination of nature. Overall, Walden and “Song of Myself” share notions of the natural world as a universal, ethereal existence and the observant individual within it as a beholder of truth.

Both Thoreau and Whitman capture the essence of living beings within the natural world, as well as the importance of their unity with the environment. For instance, in Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” the lines, “And limitless are leaves… / And brown ants in the little wells beneath them” (96-97) draw attention to the significance of even the smallest organisms. In particular, Whitman’s reference to the ant as a creature of vibrancy and capability beyond normal conceptions mirrors Thoreau’s own examination of ants in Walden. Throughout the chapter “Brute Neighbors,” Thoreau metaphorically links a battle between ants to the massive Trojan War, pairing the small insects with the strength of Achilles (156). Evidently, both Thoreau and Whitman beautify the seemingly minuscule forms of life through connections to infinite ability, placing them on an equal level of purpose with humanity. Moreover, “Song of Myself” and Walden venerate those who ground their lifestyles and occupations in the natural landscape. Within Whitman’s poem, the persona declares, “I am enamour’d of… / men that live among cattle or taste of the ocean or woods” (255-256). While Whitman encapsulates all entities in existence as his identity, through these specific lines, he reveals a genuineness in acquiring sustenance from the wilderness. Thoreau illustrates this ideal in Walden through his allusion to the Greek myth of Romulus and Remus: “Better if [people] had been born in the open pastured and suckled by a wolf, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in” (6). Through this reference, Thoreau appears to condemn the boundaries of industrial society as a hindrance to one’s natural, physical, and moral purposes. Undoubtedly, both Whitman and Thoreau admire the universality of nature that enlivens instincts worn away within the boundaries of civilization.

Similar to their praise for humankind’s unity with nature, Whitman and Thoreau express the importance of extracting wisdom from the world through sensory interactions with its elements. Primarily, although it is deemed unproductive by many, observant idleness is favored by both writers as a chance to obtain knowledge that can only be drawn from the wilderness in solitude. In “Song of Myself,” Whitman includes the alliterative lines, “I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass” (5). This verse highlights the persona’s growth in perception and peace through visual consumption of the environment, linking directly with Walden‘s theme of the solitary wanderer in nature. For instance, Thoreau declares, “When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence” (5). This particular quote complements Whitman’s portrayal of stoicism, arguing for a sense of spirit and intellect derived from paying attention to the universe beyond routine, industrialized tasks.

Building off the preceding ideology of wisdom through nature, Whitman and Thoreau appeal to auditory imagery in elaborations of the independent figure’s worldly observations. For instance, the persona of “Song of Myself” absorbs his entire surroundings in the lines, “Now I will do nothing but listen” (Whitman 582). With a sensitive utilization of sound, the persona opens himself to the various languages, silences, and occurrences of the world in its purest form. Thus, Whitman’s verse becomes parallel with the chapter entitled “Sounds” in Thoreau’s essay. This section of Walden reveals Thoreau’s worship of the animal “howlings” and “meloncholy… choir[s]” as representations of the innate sentiments and essence of the human soul itself (89). Evidently, both Whitman and Thoreau’s works appear to meld the origins of humanity and nature through the perceptive mind of the individual. Ultimately, Whitman’s lines, “I harbor for good or bad… / Nature without check with original energy” (12-13) express an innate freedom of the individual who seeks to combine both positive and negative aspects of life to define truth. This mental indulgence in turn coincides with one of Thoreau’s quintessential statements in Walden. Addressing the purpose of his solitude at Walden Pond, Thoreau writes, “I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts… I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life… to give a true account of it” (65). Connecting with the persona in “Song of Myself,” who embraces the light and darkness of the world’s natural order, Thoreau, too, seeks to experience all that life has to offer to the individual soul.

Beyond physical interaction with nature, Whitman and Thoreau hold complimentary views that the independent mind is limitless, and should not be constricted by civil guidelines of thought. Right from the beginning of “Song of Myself,” the persona proclaims, “I celebrate myself” (Whitman 1), embracing the unique sentiments and creative capacity of the individual. Through this declarative line, Whitman extracts a single being from a mass of assimilated thought, and praises the differences in theories and the subjective nature of each person’s reality. Correspondingly, Thoreau puts forth in Walden his notion, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer” (219). Thoreau’s statement addresses the beauty of following one’s own path through life, defining variances in talents and aspirations among people. Essentially, Thoreau argues that because each person holds his own definition of success, humankind must not bind its dreams to fabricated laws of society. Therefore, both Thoreau and Whitman challenge contemporary notions of civil conformity through ideals of self-identification as the foundation of intellectual and moral potential.

Furthermore, the Romantic and Transcendental elements of Whitman and Thoreau’s writings, respectively, deem the solitary outlook on life to be the ultimate path to truth in life. Within “Song of Myself,” for instance, Whitman includes the lines, “You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me, / You shall listen to all sides and filter them for your self” (36-37). These lines serve as a declaration for every individual to discover his own destiny in the end, regardless of the impact of others’ beliefs and desires. Likewise, Whitman’s preceding verse correlates with one of Thoreau’s primary intentions for publicly sharing Walden. To introduce his essay, Thoreau exemplifies the ideal of individualism through the statement: “I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning… if only to wake my neighbors up” (5). Through this expression, Thoreau openly embraces the ideal of following personal aspirations to achieve an identity more wholesome than one crafted under the influence of others.

Works Cited
Harding, Walter. The Days of Henry Thoreau: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Print.

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Other Writings. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Print.

Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself (1892 Version).” Poetry Foundation. n.p. n.d. Web. 14 November 2014. .