Journal 3: Walt Whitman

Michelle Romero
Eng. 48B
Dr. Scott Lankford


"Leaves of Grass[Song of Myself]" pg. 43

"The young men float on their backs, their white bellies swell to the sun....
they do not ask who seizes fast to them,
They do not know who puffs and declines with pendant and bending arch,
They do not think whom they souse with spray."

In this scene there are 28 young men floating and bathing in the shore. The water in this scene represents sexual desire or need. Many of Whitman's poems have similar themes in fact. For example, in "From Pent-up Aching Rivers" he depicts the ache and desire of a man for a woman, his penis for her vagina and their need for procreation. Likewise, in this quote, he explores a woman's sexual desire for a man and her physical reactions to him. He uses specific words to suggest this, such as "puffs and declines," "pendant and bending arch," "souse with spray."

This piece in "Leaves of Grass" exposes sexuality in women, desire and lust in women. For his time, it was radical to suggest that a woman would have sexual needs and desires, or that she would fantasize about him the way he does over her. Women were typically more conservatively dressed and expected to be well-mannered according to the Anglo-Saxon customs of the predominantly white society. This extreme description of lust and possibly even self-arousal as she thinks of the men she's watching from her window is quite interesting to see from a male poet.

In another portion of this scene, the speaker reveals that of all 28 men, it is the homeliest that she desires. I think this bit is profound in describing that the primping and grooming is not what matters, but rather that raw attraction between a man and a woman which causes them both to be drawn to each other like a magnet. His expressions of raw, passionate, poetic sexuality are beautiful.

On the other hand, the way he describes the woman "hiding" in her room, and watching these men seems devious to say the least. Her physical stimulation from them in secret makes her look like a dirty whore. After all, "they do not know who they souse with spray." I prefer "From Pent-up Aching Rivers" because I feel it portrays the raw, natural desire of a man to be consumed in a woman and her in him in a beautiful, artistic way. It describes every detail from arousal to procreation while still preserving the sanctity of sexual union. This poem does not.