When I first read Whitman I really enjoyed his poetry. This is my first time examining poetry critically instead of just reading it for myself. I am unsure how this will go as this is my first poetry class but I am going to try my best.
In class we discussed how Whitman is very high and mighty with his writing which I can see but I do not like to think about his poetry like that. He is speaking to the reader and talking directly to the reader and I really like that. He is that American voice that I think the nation was searching for at the time, the strong type that is going to say what is on his mind and it is a little jumbled up at times it is truth in his mind. It is bold and courageous to say what is on your mind some people get hung and cucified for saying what is on their mind. In class during our disccussion on Whitman a few people in class seemed to chastize him for talking down to the reader but I admired it.
In "Cavalry Crossing a Ford" he is speaking to us telling us what is going on. He TELLS us about "each group, each person a picture, the negligent rest on the saddles". I see this poem as someone starting out on a journey or test of some sort. The part about "some emerge on the opposite bank, others are just entering the ford." I see this as a light at the end of the tunnel that this water and strong current they are enterintg does have an end but you have to want to get there.
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Good general commentary here, again, Luke. I'd still like to see you get intimate with a poem than try to summarize a poet's entire corpus in a couple of paragraphs. That's an approach reserved for fiction/drama. Poetry responses should be longer than the poems themselves, not an attempt to condense them, okay? I like this line: "He is that American voice that I think the nation was searching for at the time, the strong type"
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