Journal 2: Walt Whitman

Michelle Romero
Eng. 48B
Dr. Scott Lankford


“Leaves of Grass [Song of Myself],” pg. 37

“Houses and rooms are full of perfumes….the shelves are crowded with perfumes,
I breathe the fragrance myself, and know it and like it,
The distillation would intoxicate me also, but I shall not let it.
The atmosphere is not a perfume….it has no taste of the distillation….it is odorless.”

In this quote, the speaker uses imagery to describe how societal rules are often suffocating and also intoxicating. For example, the contrast between a house being filled with the smell of perfume and the atmosphere being pure and odorless, suggests that the natural is freeing, allowing your nose to breathe; after all, perfume is man made and its purpose is to alter the natural scent of man. A house as a structure on the other hand, which is man made as well, is intoxicating with perfume. The word intoxicate here describes a substance that would stupefy or even poison a person.

Furthermore, the word distillation is a process of separating or purifying a liquid before later condensing the vapor which suggests the perfume may in fact have been intended to have this effect. Cross-referenced with an image soon after which illustrates: “I have heard what the talkers were talking…the talk of the beginning and the end,” suggests there may be a religious aspect to factor in. “The talkers” may be preachers, door to door Bible thumpers, or any other conservative Christians since the religion is well known for its concepts on the beginning and end of humanity. Therefore, the speaker is likely speaking to the “purifying” way of the conservatives in their perfuming of houses, and consequently intoxicating or poisoning its inhabitants.

Another quote which supports this interpretation says: “And leaves for me baskets covered with white towels bulging the house with their plenty.” Again, leaves being green and a plant, would represent life, a life which is being covered by the white towels. Towels of course, are an ordinary household item and their color suggests a pure, possibly religious undertone. The basket, which is woven, is constant with the theme of a knit society, woven together of old and new, dead and alive. Therefore, the pure white conservatives who make up society’s majority, like the perfume, cover or poison the life within.

It is no wonder that the mainstream society in Whitman’s time was taken back at his poem. Aside from the unordinary form and sexual language, it was largely critical of their social values and threatened their nice, tea-party way of life. I feel this poem is a master of rhetoric if ever there were any. The speaker is able to hint at multiple themes and criticize everything known to man without actually saying it. At times he is more obvious while in other lines, the suggestion is so subtle it might easily be passed over. In fact, there is so much being said in the text as a whole that just when it seems the speaker has moved on to a different topic, a familiar thread is revealed, leading the reader back to the beginning. Truly, I am entertained at his cleverness already.