Comments on Leaves of Grass 1 Before I read Leaves of Grass, I didn't know how people in other countries understood "patriotism". As we all know, China people have a deep patriotic complex. From ancient times to the present, we can find many traces in various ancient poems. Ancestors have already planted patriotic seeds for us, and now they have already flowed in the blood of Chinese people and become an indelible mark of life. Reading Leaves of Grass is the first time for me to understand the nationals of western countries whose capitalist system is completely different from that of China, and to interpret their "patriotism". The so-called "one side of the soil and water supports one side of the people" can be seen everywhere in Leaves of Grass, which is of great significance for human beings to break through the double shackles of feudal ideas and autocratic oppression and strive for a better future.
Although Leaves of Grass looks just, if you are willing to analyze it carefully, you will find it full of surprises and extremely subtle emotions. It brings together Whitman's scattered thoughts in the form of small poems. The ambition of a century-old poet is still cherished by us today.
"There is no victim of freedom in a grave who does not plant the seeds of freedom, and the seeds will inevitably bear seeds. Spring breeze will take them far away to sow seeds, and rain and snow will nourish them. No soul released from the shell will be scared away by the tyrant's weapon. It will go around the earth invisibly, whispering, discussing and admonishing. Freedom, let others let you down-I will never be disappointed in you. "
The pursuit and worship of freedom has always been a bright spot in American culture. One of the most popular "life is precious, love is more expensive, if it is free, both can be thrown away" is a perfect interpretation of this idea. It not only reminds me of ancient China, but also many poems with such values above all else: "No one has died since ancient times, and it has been remembered by history." Petofi can give up everything for freedom, and Wen Tianxiang can give up everything for integrity. Although they represent different cultures, they can also make the greatest sacrifice for the values they have recognized all their lives. The same is true of Whitman, who has been in the shadow of liberalism for a long time, sowing the seeds of freedom to the earth, and the seeds that have experienced four seasons will inevitably be sown on the earth with another tall trend in the spring breeze, nourished and given by the spring breeze, rain, snow and frost, with invincible resistance. That's just freedom to fight cruelty and cruelty. It ran into the chest of radicals, and it flowed in the blood of those who called for democracy. Adhering to freedom means being willing to gamble on all the beliefs and pursuits of a person's life.
"Where there is soil, there is water, and there is grass."
I can't help but think of the hard years before the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Red Army fought north and south, braving bullets and fighting for independence for the people of China, laying a solid foundation. At that time, in addition to the Red Army, thousands of young people spontaneously became peasant soldiers and joined the anti-Japanese war. What motivates them to keep fighting in the fire? I think it is the people's eager eyes for peace, and the people's spiritual and material support that makes the PLA, which only has millet and rifles, cast a new Great Wall with blood and meat. I think what Whitman wants to express is such a strong love for the country. We are the most tenacious grass. As long as our soil is there, our foundation is there, the source of our life is there, and the soul is with the motherland. Without war, few countries are independent. If you can't be a striker on the battlefield, the soul vows to live and die with the motherland.
Don't ask me where to go, my heart depends on you; Don't ask me where I'm going, my feelings lead you. No matter which cloud I stop in, my eyes will always be on you. If I sing in the wind, it's for you. I am your green leaf, and my roots are in your soil. This is the feeling of green leaves to roots.
No matter what kind of soil, what kind of people are bred, the same feelings of home and country, and the same spirit of fighting for freedom, Leaves of Grass is a classic example of praise. In a few words, I can express the affection of green leaves to roots.
After watching Leaves of Grass 2. When I got this Leaves of Grass, I liked it very much, especially its cover! With green as the keynote, there are trees, grass, lakes, hidden animals, fuzzy characters, no gender, abstract and poetic. This book is exquisite, and there is a classic collection of poems by Whitman.
Reading this book, I didn't read it slowly on my desk; I didn't lie in bed and watch lazily; Not to mention, because I have my own recitation CD, I'm too lazy to watch it and listen with my eyes closed. In this sunny afternoon, I choose to move a chair on the balcony, take a comfortable cushion, take a black gel pen and pour a simple cup of boiling water (in fact, there are chrysanthemum tea, lemon slices, aloe vera, rose tea, fine black tea and Longfeng, honey grapefruit tea, coffee, honeysuckle dew, red wine and dark beer in the refrigerator. I have read all these, but I still think Whitman's poems should be mixed with white water. It's tasteless when it's complicated. ), choose a place where you can bathe in the warm sunshine and sit down and have a look. Although it has few pages, it makes me feel sacred and heavy. It has a strong sense of closeness to nature, which completely freed me from being a skeleton and despising myself. It has supreme tolerance and endurance, and can accommodate any new or lost power! I want my soul to enter every character, go deep into every corner of every page, touch them, hug them and walk side by side. ...
Autumn. The sunshine in autumn is really good! Lying directly in it doesn't feel manic. They are soft and humble, mixed with the breeze blowing through my hair. I'm finished. I'm going to indulge in it. It feels so unreal. On the opposite roof, there are women drying bedding. There are many tall buildings in the community. Although there are grass, trees, courtyards and ponds downstairs, it is an artificial landscape after all. Not far away, two buildings under construction, Tintin Mao Mao, are endless. In this way, I started my journey in a dream and waking …
I read the whole book with my mouth. In other words, I eat with my eyes, pass through my body, and burp out of my mouth when I am full. I didn't miss a word. I read aloud in a low voice. I heard you. Every time I read a sentence, it has an answer! This makes me very happy. I study harder! I don't want others to hear me, but I like reading. Sound is an inexplicable magnetic field, which makes the grass so close to me, so close! I finally know what a poem is. At best, the nonsense I wrote before was just boring venting, simple recording or prolonged nagging. /kloc-Whitman, an American poet in the 0 th and 9 th centuries, can make my heart so peaceful and humble. These are all born naturally from reading his poems, and there is no effort to understand or deliberate. His poems involve life and death, body and soul, man and woman, nature and universe. I read it in worship like a hymn, masculine and masculine; At the same time, I also like to whisper into it. It is gentle and affectionate.
I especially like his My Own Song. This poem is his most representative long poem, which almost covers the main ideas of the author's life and is one of the most important poems of the author. Among them, such a passage made me like a greedy butterfly and found delicious honey:
"I am a poet of the body and a poet of the soul.
I enjoy the happiness of heaven and endure the suffering of hell.
I transplant happiness to me and let it thrive; I translated suffering into a new language. "
Once upon a time, we complained, hurt, scolded and lamented. And fate is fair to everyone. He will share the sandwich biscuits of happiness and pain with everyone. The difference is that some people have many tastes, while others have few. Some people stammer that they are happy and smiling, while others stammer that they are miserable and heartbroken. Some people swallow dates and the pain is unbearable. Some people taste and chew a new life. But Whitman's verve is really amazing. "I transplant happiness to me and let it thrive;" I translated suffering into a new language. "He is his own filter, he is the filter of human beings, he is the filter of poetry-he lets the laws of nature follow into everyone's heart.
"I believe that a grass project will not be less than the stars.
An ant, a grain of sand and an emu egg are all perfect.
Rain frog is the greatest masterpiece,
Creeping blackberries can decorate palaces in the sky,
The smallest joint in my hand is enough to dwarf all the machines.
Cows bow their heads and graze more than any sculpture.
The mystery of a mouse is enough to surprise thousands of pagans in Qian Qian.
……"
I have to admit, his poems, and then I got angry! In fact, nature is so close to us, but we often ignore it, neglect it and destroy it because of the pursuit of so-called material desire, appetite and sexual desire. After reading Whitman's poems, I realized that all these flowers, trees, insects and grass are powerful driving forces to accompany and inspire us! If there is no nature and universe in a person's eyes, and she lives in her own world forever, feeling sorry for herself or cheering, then she will always be extremely small, sad and lose herself. The highest state of love is to love the nature and universe that breeds all things, and dare to dig out your heart deeply to be moved and grateful. Then what you get is the perfect and supreme masterpiece described by Whitman-and you are the participant and creator of this masterpiece.
It is no accident that Whitman is a poet praising himself. Leaves of Grass is a collection of poems praising himself. In The Poet, Emerson designed the ideal image of an American poet, and in The American Scholar, he encouraged American poets to get rid of the influence of the old European tradition and find another way. Whitman's poems enthusiastically responded to Emerson's appeal. Whitman realized that in order to create a new territory of American poetry, we must first make clear the connotation of self in the context of American democratic society in the content of poetry. He sees himself as a dual structure, both material and spiritual, both microscopic and macroscopic. His poems explore the meaning of self from multiple dimensions, especially the relationship between self and human beings, time, nature and God.
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When Emerson said that "the universe is composed of nature and soul", he drew an equal sign between soul and self. His views reflect the traditional attitude of belittling the body. Due to the emphasis of Christian culture on the kingdom of heaven and the close relationship between the body and people's low-level instinct, the body has long been regarded as one of the sources of evil and an obstacle to spiritual purification.
Therefore, Whitman's self-definition of "soul+body" is not only an expansion of Emerson's concept, but also a challenge to the rigid concept of belittling the body. Whitman was the first "body" poet. He believes that the body is not only full of vitality of life, but also does not lack the nobility possessed by the soul. In the poem "I sing a charged body", he enthusiastically praised:
If there is holiness, then the human body is sacred.
The glory and sweetness of human beings is a sign that human nature is not polluted.
Whether men or women, a clean, strong and tough body is more beautiful than the most beautiful face.
He even declared: "Ah! These are not only body parts and poems, but also soul parts. /ah! These are the souls themselves! " However, we should not understand him completely literally. His shocking praise for the body, from a historical point of view, is a deliberate rebellion against praising the soul and belittling the body tradition. Moreover, if we look at his poems as a whole, we will find that he maintains a very good balance between soul and body.
Fundamentally speaking, Whitman believes that soul and body are inseparable and equal. In my own song, he said:
If one is missing, two are missing, and the visible proves the invisible.
Until the visible becomes invisible, in turn, accept the other party's proof.
I believe in you, my soul, and the rest of me should not be worse than you.
You shouldn't be worse than other parts.
In the fifth part of this poem, the poet compares the harmonious relationship between the two to the combination of sex. Whitman is very sensitive to keeping the balance between the two. In the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth parts of the poem, the soul seems to be in danger of being submerged by the body, but the lyric hero quickly recovers and stops the imbalance.
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For Whitman, the most urgent need of self is to establish emotional connection with others. The relationship with people is the foundation of self-existence. Although God may not be just a symbol in Whitman's ideological system, but an entity, Whitman's worldview is obviously people-centered. It is his concern for people that makes him a great poet who sings the spirit of deep fraternity.
The closest and warmest love exists between lovers. Sex is the perfect expression of this kind of love. When it is integrated with sincere love, sex is both a fusion of body and spirit. The love between two people is the epitome of human love for the world. As Whitman wrote in A Woman Waiting for Me:
I can't let you go, I'll be nice to you,
I do it for you and you do it for me, not only for ourselves, but also for ourselves.
For others,
Your dreams are full of heroes and poets greater than me,
No man's touch can wake them up except me.
In this poem, the lyric hero and his lover became the embodiment of all people in history. In this way, the communication between them has universal significance. The importance of sex also comes from its reproductive function, which embodies the creativity of nature. Whitman's bold description of sexual scenes is sometimes shocking, but just as he challenges the traditional view of body, he is also rebellious against the traditional practice of avoiding sexual description in serious literature. Since sex is a key part of human life, since Whitman has decided to "not hinder the initial vitality" when praising the universe, he has no reason to hide it.
In addition to lovers' love, Whitman also found spiritual strength in other relationships. His love for fellow human beings transcends the differences of race, class, religion, education and nationality. He believes that fraternity is the source of all great philosophies and religions:
Today, in the Greek and Germanic systems, I see
I see it in all philosophies, in Christian churches and in teachings.
I saw Socrates, I saw the holy Jesus,
People's deep love for their peers, the attraction between friends,
Attraction between loving couples, attraction between parents and children,
Attraction among cities, land and land.
(the foundation of all metaphysics)
Belief in human love is the cornerstone of Whitman's whole spiritual building. When he is in a low state full of doubts, he often feels that everything is an illusion and all thoughts are illusions. However, when he thought of the love of his lover and friends, all his doubts were swept away. Whitman believes that whether these doubts are justified or not has nothing to do with his ultimate happiness (terrible doubts about appearance).
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The core of human love is "empathy"-the ability to put yourself in others' shoes and experience others' experiences in imagination. Through the function of "ecstasy", the self can break through the specific time and space restrictions, go back to the past, or project itself into the future.
In the thirty-third part of My Own Song, the lyric hero travels around the world in imagination, plays various roles and relives the past. Whitman said through his mouth, "I am the man, I was there, and I suffered." In the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth parts, the narrator unexpectedly and naturally replaced his grandfather's role when describing his grandfather's memories of a naval battle. His description of the war scene is so vivid that he seems to be a direct witness himself. In this way, Whitman revived the past and integrated it into the present.
Facing the future, Whitman showed extraordinary confidence. Few poets have dedicated so many poems to future readers like him. Crossing the Brooklyn Ferry is a poem dedicated to the future. For Whitman, the immortality behind him is not just a personal reputation, as many artists think. He believes that he is immortal, because he believes that his poems contain his indelible love for future people, which will attract them, and in turn they will revive themselves spiritually through the power of "ecstasy". It is based on this belief that he challenged the tyranny of time in this poem:
So, what is the gap between us?
What are hundreds or thousands of years between us?
Self can transcend the time limit by "entering the heart", but its "entering the heart" ability is the most active and effective in its specific space-time position. Therefore, Whitman now emphasizes:
There will never be a beginning unless now,
There will never be youth or old age except now.
There will never be perfection, except now,
There will never be a heaven or a place except now.
("My own song")
Now is the intersection of the past and the future, and it is the climax of the transformation of possibility into reality. Only now can we let ourselves actively enter life, actively engage in economic, political, social and cultural activities, and experience human love to the fullest and strongest. The Collection of Bars and Drums is the representative work of Whitman's "Now" poetry. Emerson suggested that poets participate in social life, mainly to create better art, while Whitman regarded full social participation as an indispensable condition for self-development.
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In Emerson's view, nature is the medium to feel the existence of God. When he walks alone in the forest, he often feels that "oversoul current circulates all over his body" and he becomes "an indispensable part of God" (naturally). When Whitman faced nature, he felt his desire for human love more strongly. For example, in the poem "I see an oak tree growing in Louisiana", the lonely oak tree is still happy, in sharp contrast to the poet's own dependence on friendship. In Whitman's value system, the meaning of nature to self is mainly reflected in four aspects.
First of all, love for nature is an extension of human love. Whitman loves animals as much as he loves others. The intimate emotional communication between the poet and the stallion described in the thirty-second part of My Own Song is as touching as any kind of interpersonal relationship. In the poem Beyond the Cradle of Forever Trembling, Whitman even walked into the heart of a bird and "translated" its affectionate song into human language. Although from a certain point of view, this can be regarded as a rhetorical device, but it is also the embodiment that the self can "enter" the inhuman world.
Emerson believes that "nature is the symbol of spirit" (nature), and Whitman also believes that nature contains the human value of self-pursuit. The omnipresent freedom, vitality and creativity of nature inspire his body and mind, and he envies the animal's peace of mind and spiritual independence (my own song). More importantly, he found the image of the soul's unremitting pursuit of divinity in nature. In a silent and patient spider, he found the similarities between * * * soul and spider:
A silent and patient spider,
I noticed that it stood alone on a small cape.
Notice how it looks at the emptiness around it,
It shoots silk, silk, silk, from its own small,
Silk blooms from the yarn and speeds up tirelessly.
And you-my soul, where are you standing,
Surrounded and isolated in the ocean of infinite space,
Constantly thinking, exploring, projecting, looking for places to connect,
Until you build the bridge you need, until you persevere,
Until the hairspring you throw is caught somewhere, my heart!
(translated by Bai Fei)
In Emerson's philosophy, the self is combined with the souls of others through the belief in God. In Whitman's philosophy, human love replaced God. As the "minister" of this kind of love, it naturally provides material for the externalization of human love and communicates different time and space positions. People often project their feelings on external objects, and even if they are not present later, these objects themselves can convey their feelings. Works of art, ancient sites and places where great people live can lead us into the spiritual world of people in the past and have a dialogue with them across time.
The most important significance is that the immortality of the self is achieved through natural circulation. Body materials come from nature. When the body dies and decomposes, these substances return to nature and enter a new cycle. In this process, they will provide nutrients for new life. The core image "grass" in Whitman's poems is the symbol of this process. In the sixth part of My Own Song, Whitman compares grass to "beautiful uncut hair in a cemetery", which poetically reveals the immortality of life.
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We have realized that God does not occupy a central position in Whitman's world view, but the concept of God is still very important, because it is the end of Whitman's philosophy and poetics.
Emerson and Whitman's understanding of God is different from orthodox Christianity. They all expressed doubts about religion as a system and regarded religious spirit as personal belief. They don't believe in traditional concepts such as heaven, hell and original sin. In the poems of Adam's children, we can see that Adam is not a human ancestor who bears a felony, but a prophet who enthusiastically praises life, especially the body. Adam, Eve and their children are closely linked in the ecstasy full of infinite vitality (the world rises to the garden again).
Emerson is often confused because he can't prove the existence of God from his own experience, but Whitman often feels that there is no need to prove it at all. Even if God does not exist, human love is enough to make him feel perfect happiness. None of them want to define God. Whitman shows this attitude in the forty-eighth part of My Own Song:
I said to mankind, don't be curious about God,
Even I am curious about every universe, and I am not curious about God.
……
I hear and see God in everything, but I don't know him at all.
I don't know who is more wonderful than myself.
Both Emerson and Whitman have a pan-religious mood. If they believe in God, they may not necessarily believe in the Christian God. They can accept various religions. Whitman declared in "My Song" that "my belief is the greatest and the smallest,/it includes ancient and modern beliefs, and also includes the belief between ancient and present."
As a follower of Emerson's thought, Whitman also believes that the purpose of poetry is to awaken the hidden divinity in self. In the article "the prospect of democracy", he called on poets to write a new kind of poetry:
I hope we can create a poem commensurate with the immortal soul of mankind. When it absorbs all kinds of materials and shows its true nature, it can finally obtain a religious characteristic that liberates and expands the soul directly and indirectly. It shares the happiness of science, harvests the fruits of morality, stimulates the ambition of exploration and evokes meditation on the unknown.
Whitman believes that this pan-religious feeling is very important for self-improvement, and poetry should provide first-hand experience for the divinity hidden in the human soul. My own song is an exploration of this ideal. In the second part of the poem, he confidently declared:
Stop with me tonight, and you will have the source of all poems.
You will have the essence of the earth and the sun.
You won't accept second-hand and third-hand things, and you won't pass them on.
The eyes of the dead see the world, or are fed by ghosts in books,
You won't see the world through my eyes and you won't accept my things.
You will listen to voices from all directions and filter them yourself.
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After discussing the relationship between self and human beings, time, nature and God, we can understand Whitman's macro self-concept. Micro-ego consists of body and soul in a specific time and space, but Whitman thinks that there are still some infinite self in time and space, or macro-ego, which is realized through the eternal cycle of nature and the eternal flow of "ecstasy". Through the function of the former, personal material life can be integrated into the universal life of nature; With the help of the latter, the individual's spiritual life can be integrated into the whole human culture. In this way, whether physically or mentally, the self is immortal.
Because of this, compared with other poets, Whitman's attitude towards death is surprisingly calm. Unlike some poets' unhealthy death complex, Whitman reached a reconciliation with death through his own belief. Although death marks the end of the micro-self, it provides the opportunity to realize the macro-self to the greatest extent, because after getting rid of the material body, the self is no longer entangled in interests and has no real crime, so it is more pure. So, Whitman wrote in My Own Song:
Everything goes on, on, without any collapse,
Death is different from anyone's imagination and luckier.
I recommend it carefully.