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Walt Whitman - Leaves of Grass - The Moving Elegies For Abraham Lincoln

Published: Nov. 27, 2021, 6 a.m.

I\\u2019m Christy Shriver and we\\u2019re here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.\\xa0

And I am Garry Shriver.\\xa0 This is the How to Love Lit Podcast.\\xa0This is our second\\xa0episode\\xa0discussing\\xa0the bard of democracy, the great Walt Whitman.\\xa0 Today we will feature\\xa0one of his\\xa0four poems\\xa0honoring President Abraham Lincoln, but in order to understand why Whitman and many of us admire this great man,\\xa0we want to revisit\\xa0the\\xa0\\xa0original\\xa01855 edition\\xa0of\\xa0Leaves of Grass\\xa0and listen to some of Whitman\\u2019s\\xa0observations\\xa0of\\xa0African Americans and slavery.\\xa0 Christy,\\xa0let\\u2019s\\xa0start this episode by\\xa0reading\\xa0and discussing\\xa0two\\xa0extracts\\xa0from \\u201cI sing the Body Electric\\u201d\\xa0,\\xa0the ones\\xa0where Whitman describes\\xa0an\\xa0African man and then an African woman at auction.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

A man\\u2019s body at auction,\\xa0(For before the war I often go to the slave-mart and watch the sale,)\\xa0I help the auctioneer, the sloven does not half know his business.\\xa0\\xa0Gentlemen look on this wonder,\\xa0Whatever the bids of the bidders they cannot be high enough for it,\\xa0For it the globe lay preparing quintillions of years without one animal or plant,\\xa0For it the revolving cycles truly and steadily\\xa0roll\\u2019d.\\xa0

In this head the all-baffling brain,\\xa0In it and below it the makings of heroes.\\xa0

Examine these limbs, red, black, or white, they are cunning in tendon and nerve,\\xa0They shall be\\xa0stript\\xa0that you may see them.\\xa0Exquisite senses, life-lit eyes, pluck, volition,\\xa0Flakes of breast-muscle, pliant backbone and neck, flesh not flabby, good-sized\\xa0arms\\xa0and legs,\\xa0And wonders within there yet.\\xa0

Within\\xa0there\\xa0runs blood,\\xa0The same old blood! the same red-running blood!\\xa0There swells and jets a heart, there all passions, desires,\\xa0reachings, aspirations,\\xa0(Do you think they are not there because they are not\\xa0express\\u2019d\\xa0in parlors and lecture-rooms?)\\xa0

This is not only one man, this the father of those who shall be fathers in their turns,\\xa0In him the start of populous states and rich republics,\\xa0Of him countless immortal lives with countless embodiments and enjoyments.\\xa0

How do you know who shall come from the offspring of his offspring through the centuries?\\xa0(Who might you find you have come from yourself, if you could trace back through the centuries?)\\xa0

\\xa08\\xa0

\\xa0A woman\\u2019s body at auction,\\xa0She too is not only herself,\\xa0she is\\xa0the teeming mother of mothers,\\xa0She is the bearer of them that shall grow and be mates to the mothers.\\xa0

Have you ever loved the body of a woman?\\xa0Have you ever loved the body of a man?\\xa0Do you not see that these are\\xa0exactly the same\\xa0to all in all nations and times all over the earth?\\xa0

If\\xa0any thing\\xa0is sacred the human body is sacred,\\xa0And the glory and sweet of a man is the token of manhood untainted,\\xa0And in man or woman a clean, strong, firm-fibred body, is more beautiful than the most beautiful face.\\xa0Have you seen the fool that corrupted his own live body? or the fool that corrupted her own live body?\\xa0For they do not conceal themselves, and cannot conceal themselves.\\xa0

Whitman was raised a New York democrat, but his sympathies were with the\\xa0Free Soil\\xa0party that condemned the extension of slavery as a sin against God and a crime against man.\\xa0 The Republican party would not exist until 1854, and Lincoln would be their presidential candidate in the election of 1860.\\xa0 Of course, bear in mind, that the issues of those days are different than the issues of today, so the party names shouldn\\u2019t be taken to represent modern day politics.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0For Whitman it was undeniable\\xa0for anyone with eyeballs\\xa0that all men\\xa0are\\xa0born\\xa0human\\xa0and that implies certain things regardless if they are\\xa0born\\xa0 free\\xa0or slave- of any race, creed or gender.\\xa0\\xa0It is obvious\\xa0to a man so aware of the physical body, that\\xa0we\\xa0are of the same atom-\\xa0\\xa0the\\xa0magnificence\\xa0of the body proclaims our humanity- and\\xa0ironically\\xa0where\\xa0on\\xa0earth could this\\xa0magnificence\\xa0be most easily seen\\xa0than at\\xa0a slave auction\\xa0like what he witnessed during his\\xa0New Orleans\\xa0days. In\\xa0all of\\xa0its ruthless\\xa0degradation\\xa0it ironically showcased\\xa0the\\xa0magnificence of the human body.\\xa0 It\\u2019s why Whitman could say, almost sarcastically- I am a better salesman of slaves than the\\xa0auctioneer-I know and understand the beauty and value\\xa0of what you are\\xa0selling\\xa0and you don\\u2019t- you fool.\\xa0\\xa0 Whitman was the poet of the democratic soul- we are after all leaves of grass, but he was also the poet of the body- that physical form we are all chained to.\\xa0 For Whitman, to be a human was to understand and be okay with one\\u2019s\\xa0physical\\xa0body- and it is a holy thing.\\xa0Our souls\\xa0inhabit a\\xa0sanctified space on earth- that\\xa0of the body- be it man or woman-\\xa0the\\xa0pigmentation\\xa0of flesh\\xa0was just one of many individual and unique features- for Whitman\\xa0our bodies\\xa0is\\xa0the starting point for equality- we are all wedded to one.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

It doesn\\u2019t seem radical to us now, but\\xa0at that time in history-\\xa0even talking about the body like that\\xa0was revolutionary-\\xa0almost vulgar-\\xa0Whitman\\xa0democratically equates the man with the woman with the black with the white.\\xa0\\xa0In 1855, this was not self-evident\\xa0anywhere else in the United States of America\\xa0or\\xa0really anywhere\\xa0on planet earth.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

By\\xa01855, Walt Whitman knew his country was falling apart.\\xa0 He understood that the ideals on which the\\xa0great American\\xa0experiment were\\xa0founded\\xa0were being overwhelmed by\\xa0all kinds of forces, not least of which was plain ordinary\\xa0corruption.\\xa0 In his mind, what the world needed was repentance-\\xa0a total course correction-\\xa0a return to the original ideals and this was going to happen through conversion\\xa0to a different set of moral ideals-\\xa0he wanted to convince America\\xa0to\\xa0revisit and\\xa0embrace\\xa0all these\\xa0original self-evident democratic\\xa0ideals\\xa0by reading and absorbing\\xa0Leaves of Grass.\\xa0 He really truly believed if people would just read his book, they would stop hating each other.\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, it\\u2019s a nice thought,\\xa0however slightly unrealistic\\u2026especially\\xa0in light of\\xa0the single digit sales of that first edition.\\xa0 But even\\xa0if he had gotten everyone to read his book, it was a tall order.\\xa0 By\\xa01860,\\xa0any kind of\\xa0peaceful coming together\\xa0seemed unrealistic.\\xa0\\xa0America was on the brink of war and violence was springing up.\\xa0\\xa0John Brown\\xa0is one notable\\xa0example;\\xa0in an attempt to free slaves through violence\\xa0he and a small gang\\xa0stormed Harper\\u2019s Ferry.\\xa0 They were\\xa0captured,\\xa0tried\\xa0and condemned to death,\\xa0but\\xa0this event\\xa0inflamed\\xa0the country and raised the stakes for the\\xa0upcoming presidential\\xa0election.\\xa0 A few months after\\xa0Brown\\xa0was executed, the democratic party,\\xa0split between pro and- anti- slavery factions,\\xa0was\\xa0to confront a new\\xa0political\\xa0party- one that had never existed before, the Republican party.\\xa0It\\xa0had nominated a\\xa0Southern\\xa0born anti-slavery\\xa0man\\xa0from Illinois,\\xa0a lawyer\\xa0who had never attended school\\xa0but who\\xa0was known as honest Abe.\\xa0\\xa0A newspaper in South Carolina put it this way \\u201cthe irrepressible conflict is about to be vised upon us through the Black Republican nominee and his fanatical diabolical Republican party.\\u201d\\xa0

\\xa0

Walt Whitman did not see Lincoln as an instigator of a conflict.\\xa0 Whitman saw him almost as an extension of himself- a mediator.\\xa0 He really believed\\xa0Lincoln\\xa0was going to\\xa0bring\\xa0healing\\xa0\\xa0and\\xa0unity\\xa0through politics\\xa0something he had tried and failed to do through poetry.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

I\\u2019m not sure which\\xa0is\\xa0the greater\\xa0challenge= trying to\\xa0unify\\xa0\\xa0a\\xa0group of people\\xa0through poetry or politics!!\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Ha!\\xa0True but Whitman was paying attention\\xa0to what Lincoln was saying\\xa0and\\xa0he\\xa0identified with\\xa0him.\\xa0\\xa0He saw himself in Lincoln.\\xa0\\xa0They both came from poor families. Neither had formal education.\\xa0\\xa0One thing that is interesting,\\xa0Lincoln was from the West,\\xa0and Whitman believed the hope of America was in the West.\\xa0\\xa0Both\\xa0men\\xa0believed in democracy to the core, but also- both believed in unity.\\xa0 Whitman saw Lincoln as America\\u2019s hope.\\xa0

\\xa0

Although, he was likely the most hated man of his age in some corners, but the only hope of America in others.\\xa0 Lincoln wanted first and foremost to be a unifier.\\xa0 He had been elected with only around 40% of the popular vote, although he did get\\xa0a majority of\\xa0the electoral college votes.\\xa0 There was no question America was deeply divided.\\xa0 He wanted not just to save the physical boundaries of America, but he wanted to heal the wounds that were making people hate each other.\\xa0\\xa0Lincoln\\u2019s father was\\xa0anti-slavery and raised\\xa0in an anti-slavery Baptist congregation.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0Lincoln\\xa0But\\xa0his mother was from\\xa0a\\xa0Kentucky\\xa0slaveholding family.\\xa0\\xa0Lincoln later recalled that the reason his father left Kentucky and the South because of\\xa0his strong\\xa0feelings about slavery. Lincoln himself saw many cruel things while visiting his grandparents, not the least of these being once when an\\xa0African-American\\xa0family was separated on a boat and sold to different owners.\\xa0\\xa0He later recalled that \\u2018the sight was a continual torment to me\\u2026having the power of making me miserable.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0However, Lincoln\\u2019s mother\\u2019s family\\xa0were people he knew intimately, and\\xa0somehow\\xa0he\\xa0understood how someone could support slavery and not be an evil person.\\xa0 This sounds crazy to us and difficult to understand, but\\xa0Lincoln\\xa0expressed\\xa0on more than one occasion to men\\xa0across the North that if they\\xa0had been born in those circumstances in that place and in that world,\\xa0they likely\\xa0would have\\xa0had\\xa0those same views.\\xa0 This way of seeing one\\u2019s fellow man is more radical than most of us can even comprehend.\\xa0 It\\u2019s a strange idea to assert that a person could\\xa0believe something is morally wrong so strongly that\\xa0he\\xa0would be\\xa0willing to\\xa0lead a nation to war to end it, but\\xa0simultaneously\\xa0judge the\\xa0perpetrators of this evil\\xa0redeemable\\xa0human beings.\\xa0 95% of humans today can\\u2019t think like that-\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Well,\\xa0it\\u2019s something Whitman could do as well.\\xa0\\xa0Whitman didn\\u2019t fight in the Civil War, but his brother George did.\\xa0\\xa0His brother fought for the Union.\\xa0 Whitman\\u2019s significant other fought for the Confederacy at one point.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

The first shots of the Civil\\xa0War were fired by the South on Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC, in April of 1861.\\xa0 Lincoln had been president for just a few weeks.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0In December of 1862,\\xa0Whitman\\xa0saw his brother\\u2019s name on a list of\\xa0casualities.\\xa0\\xa0He got on a train and headed\\xa0South\\xa0to\\xa0look for him. He\\xa0ended\\xa0up in Fredericksburg.\\xa0\\xa0The good news was\\xa0his brother had only suffered a flesh wound.\\xa0\\xa0But outside the hospital\\xa0Whitman\\xa0saw something that struck horror and terror into his being.\\xa0 Let me read his words\\xa0after he came to the building being used as a hospital, he saw, \\u201ca heap of amputated feet, legs, arms, hands,\\xa0etc\\u2026.a\\xa0full load for a one-horse cart\\u2026human fragments, cut bloody, black and blue, swelled and sickening\\u2026nearby were several dead\\xa0bodes\\xa0each covered with its brown woolen blanket.\\u201d\\xa0 Now you\\xa0have to\\xa0remember, think about\\xa0Leaves of Grass\\xa0and \\u201cI sing the Body Electric\\u201d.\\xa0 This is a man who had been trying to convince America to celebrate our\\xa0bodies-\\xa0all of our bodies- we read just the\\xa0excert\\xa0about\\xa0African-Americans, but he celebrated\\xa0all bodies and wanted us\\xa0to see ourselves in other people\\u2019s bodies-\\xa0to recognize the sanctity in all bodies-\\xa0and here\\xa0he\\u2019s staring at\\xa0these body parts scattered around,\\xa0cut off and thrown into piles.\\xa0 I can\\u2019t even imagine how things would smell.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Whitman\\u2019s reaction to what he saw on the battlefields\\xa0and field hospitals\\xa0of\\xa0Frederickburg, led him to a\\xa0decision that altered the course of his life.\\xa0\\xa0It would lead him to move to\\xa0Washington DC\\xa0and honestly, his war actions\\xa0to me make him something of a saint.\\xa0 Just in\\xa0Frederickburg, he stuck around\\xa0to visit and help bury the dead of the over 18,000 dead soldiers\\xa0that were\\xa0just lying on the ground.\\xa0\\xa0But,\\xa0then he\\xa0started visiting hospitals.\\xa0\\xa0These visits deeply affected him.\\xa0\\xa0He had planned on going back to New York after he found his brother, but he\\xa0couldn\\u2019t do that anymore.\\xa0\\xa0Instead\\xa0he changed courses and went\\xa0to\\xa0Washington DC.\\xa0 He got a job as a clerk where he would work\\xa0during the day, but then he\\xa0would spend the rest of his time\\xa0in\\xa0the hospitals.\\xa0 And he would just sit with soldiers.\\xa0 He didn\\u2019t care if they were union of confederate.\\xa0 He\\xa0brought\\xa0\\xa0with\\xa0him\\xa0bags of candy.\\xa0 He wrote letters to their parents.\\xa0\\xa0He played twenty questions.\\xa0\\xa0If they wanted him to read the Bible, he read the Bible.\\xa0 If they wanted a cigarette, he\\u2019d scrounge up a cigarette.\\xa0Many of them were teenagers.\\xa0\\xa0He\\xa0kissed\\xa0 and\\xa0hugged them; he\\xa0parented them\\xa0in their final moments of life.\\xa0 For many, he was the last tender face they would see on this earth.\\xa0 The numbers range, but\\xa0documentation reveals he\\xa0visited and helped anywhere from 80-100,000 soldiers.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Let me interrupt you for a second to highlight how bad it was to be in a hospital during this\\xa0time period.\\xa0\\xa0No one at this time\\xa0understood\\xa0the importance of\\xa0anticeptics\\xa0or\\xa0the need to be clean.\\xa0 The Union Army lost 300,000 lives in combat.\\xa0\\xa0But,\\xa0they experienced an estimated 6,400,000 cases of illnesses, wound and injuries.\\xa0 Hospitals were filthy and dangerous places.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

For many of those young men,\\xa0Whitman\\xa0was the last touch of kindness they would ever experience on this earth.\\xa0\\xa0He said later that those years of hospital service were and I quote, \\u201cthe greatest privilege and\\xa0satisfaction..and, of course, the most profound lesson of my life.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0He usually left the hospital at night and slept in a room he rented but if a soldier needed him or asked him to stay, he would often stay up all night with wounded and dying men and then head from the hospital to the office.\\xa0\\xa0Here are his words\\xa0"While I was with wounded and sick in thousands of cases from the New England States, and from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and from Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and all the Western States, I was with\\xa0more or less from\\xa0all the States, North and South, without exception\\u2026\\xa0"I was with many rebel officers and men among our wounded, and gave them always what I had, and tried to cheer them the same as any. . . .\\xa0Among the black soldiers, wounded or sick, and in the contraband camps, I also took my way whenever in their neighborhood, and did what I could for them.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, let me also say that Washington DC was a nasty place to be living at that time.\\xa0 Physically, it was a construction zone, nothing like the beautiful collection of buildings and streets designed by the French architect Pierre L Enfant that we see today.\\xa0\\xa0 It was muddy; it noisy; it was full of the noises of building and killing.\\xa0 It was political.\\xa0 Abraham Lincoln stated that during those days, \\u201cIf there is a worse place than Hell, I am in it.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Dang, because DC,\\xa0the city,\\xa0was so bad?\\xa0

\\xa0

Because being\\xa0president\\xa0in the Civil War was so bad.\\xa0\\xa0Lincoln had a different view of\\xa0his role of leadership than most people today understand.\\xa0 And we need to go back to when he was elected in 1860.\\xa0 The country was divided- and even if you didn\\u2019t believe in slavery, the question of how to get rid of it wasn\\u2019t something people agreed on.\\xa0\\xa0Many thought it should just be abolished. Others thought you should just keep it from expanding and let it die slowly.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0Lincoln\\xa0was surrounded by people on all sides who\\xa0all\\xa0wanted\\xa0him to\\xa0have \\u201cbold leadership\\u201d-\\xa0do radical things-\\xa0whatever those were to them-\\xa0but Lincoln\\xa0liked to\\xa0respond\\xa0to his critics\\xa0by referencing an entertainer\\xa0who was known for\\xa0tight walking over\\xa0water.\\xa0\\xa0Sometimes,\\xa0he even\\xa0would push a wheelbarrow\\xa0across these ropes;\\xa0one time he\\xa0stopped\\xa0in the middle\\xa0of the river\\xa0to eat an\\xa0omelete\\xa0on his tightrope, sometimes he\\u2019d\\xa0carry someone on his back- all crazy stunts that didn\\u2019t seem survivable.\\xa0 Lincoln had seen him perform walking a tight rope across\\xa0Niagara falls\\xa0and he thought it was a perfect metaphor for how he saw himself.\\xa0 Let me quote Lincoln here- the artist went by the name\\xa0Blondin.\\xa0Suppose,\\u201d Lincoln said, \\u201cthat all the material values in this great country of ours, from the Atlantic to the Pacific\\u2014its wealth, its prosperity, its achievements in the present and its hopes for the future\\u2014could all have been concentrated and given to\\xa0Blondin\\xa0to carry over that awful crossing.\\u201d Suppose \\u201cyou had been standing upon the shore as he was going over, as he was carefully feeling his way along and balancing his pole with all his most delicate skill over the thundering cataract. Would you have shouted at him, \\u2018Blondin, a step to the right!\\u2019 \\u2018Blondin, a step to the left!\\u2019 or would you have stood there speechless and held your breath and prayed to the Almighty to guide and help him safely through the trial?\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0 Lincoln\\xa0saw himself on a tight rope and going too far one way or the other would make the entire thing collapse.\\xa0 He\\xa0wasn\\u2019t trying to\\xa0crush\\xa0and\\xa0destroy\\xa0his fellow man,\\xa0even his Southern\\xa0brother,\\xa0\\xa0although\\xa0he was trying to win the war and emancipate the slaves, which he did\\xa0do.\\xa0 He was trying to heal a nation- to bring brother back to brother.\\xa0 And we must never forget that brothers WERE literally killing their brothers.\\xa0 Uniting and building a country that was this morally divided\\xa0was\\xa0a seemingly\\xa0impossible task- and he could see from his perch in Washington that this was hell.\\xa0

\\xa0

Whitman would stop to see him going in and out of the White House.\\xa0 This was in the days when you could\\xa0do that.\\xa0\\xa0They didn\\u2019t even have secret service for the president.\\xa0Whitman\\xa0looked at\\xa0Lincoln\\xa0and saw sadness in his eyes.\\xa0 But Whitman always believed Lincoln was the right man.\\xa0 If anyone could bring America together, it was Lincoln. Lincoln didn\\u2019t hate his enemy.\\xa0 He loved his enemy.\\xa0\\xa0Just like Whitman.\\xa0\\xa0This was the attitude where Whitman saw hope and a future\\xa0as he sat with both confederate and Union soldier, black\\xa0soldiers\\xa0and white soldiers,\\xa0mending their wounds, writing their final farewells.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

But make no mistake, Lincoln was committed to\\xa0emancipation and as the war came to\\xa0the\\xa0end and reconstruction was in sight, he was preparing America to grant full citizenship that included\\xa0voting rights to\\xa0All American males- including African-American ones.\\xa0\\xa0In\\xa0one\\xa0letter\\xa0he said, \\u201cI am naturally anti-slavery.\\xa0\\xa0If slavery is not wrong; nothing is\\xa0wrong.\\xa0 I cannot remember when I did not\\xa0think\\xa0so, and\\xa0feel\\xa0so\\u201d.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

And yet this is the same man who could say during his second inaugural address, one month before General Lee will surrender\\xa0at\\xa0Appomatox\\xa0and 41 days before he will be murdered\\u2026\\xa0

\\xa0\\xa0

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation\'s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan --\\u202fto achieve and cherish a lasting peace among ourselves and with the world.\\u202fto do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with\\u202fthe world.\\u202fall nations.\\xa0

\\xa0

There was one man in the crowd that day, who was\\xa0actually so\\xa0close to Lincoln he shows up in the\\xa0inauguaration\\xa0picture.\\xa0 This man\\xa0heard those words and was committed to stopping Lincoln from fulfilling this pledge.\\xa0 John Wilkes Booth was standing not far from Lincoln that day.\\xa0\\xa0On April 11, what\\xa0we\\xa0now know was to be\\xa0his\\xa0last speech,\\xa0Lincoln\\xa0called for black suffrage.\\xa0\\xa0Booth was in the audience that day as well, after hearing Lincoln make that statement Booth is known to have said,\\xa0\\u201cthat is the last speech he will ever make.\\u201d\\xa0

\\xa0

On that fateful day, April 15,\\xa01865\\xa0Whitman was visiting his family.\\xa0 However, his\\xa0significant other, Peter Doyle was in Washington DC and heard that the president was going to Ford\\u2019s theater to see a performance of\\xa0the comedy\\xa0\\u201cMy American Cousin.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0It was\\xa0Good Friday, the sacred day where Christians celebrate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.\\xa0\\xa0This is what Peter\\xa0Doyle\\xa0 said\\xa0later about what happened\\xa0that evening.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

I heard that the President and his wife would be present and made up my mind to go. There was a great crowd in the building. I got into the second gallery. There was nothing extraordinary in the performance. I saw everything on the stage and was in a good position to see the President\'s box. I heard the pistol shot. I had no idea what it was, what it meant\\u2014it was sort of muffled. I really knew nothing of what had occurred until Mrs. Lincoln leaned out of the box and cried, "The President is shot!" I needn\'t tell you what I felt\\xa0then, or\\xa0saw. It is all put down in Walt\'s piece\\u2014that piece is exactly right. I saw Booth on the cushion of the box, saw him jump over, saw him catch his foot, which turned, saw him fall on the stage. He got up on his feet, cried out something which I could not hear for the hub-hub and disappeared. I suppose I lingered almost the last person. A soldier came into the gallery, saw me still there, called to me: "Get out of here! we\'re going to burn this damned building down!" I said: "If that is so I\'ll get out!"\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Whitman used Doyle\\u2019s account to help pen the only poem that I know of\\xa0where\\xa0Whitman\\xa0 used\\xa0traditional\\xa0poetic forms.\\xa0\\xa0It is an\\xa0Elegy for the death of Abraham Lincoln, titled \\u201cO Captain My Captain\\u201d.\\xa0 He\\xa0actually wrote\\xa0two\\xa0elegies- one speaking for the nation- in the voice of a common sailor-\\xa0it he wrote\\xa0in a formal style of poetry acceptable to the people of his day.\\xa0 The second,\\xa0in some ways more personal\\xa0because it is\\xa0in a style\\xa0similar to\\xa0what we see in the rest\\xa0of\\xa0Leaves of Grass.\\xa0 The second poem, When Lilacs \\u2026\\u201dis often thought be\\xa0be\\xa0written after O Captain\\u201d Although I\\u2019m not sure it is.\\xa0 It is more epic\\xa0in its feeling- it uses symbols that are more archetypal\\xa0and timeless- although that term wasn\\u2019t invented in his day.\\xa0 In\\xa0O Captain my Captain, Whitman\\xa0takes on the persona of a soldier, a sailor.\\xa0 In the second, he uses his own voice- that universal \\u201cI\\u201d like we see in Song of Myself.\\xa0 We don\\u2019t have time to read the entirely of \\u201cO Lilacs\\xa0When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom\\u2019\\xa0,\\xa0it has over 200 lines,\\xa0but we can Read a little bit of it.\\xa0\\xa0Instead\\xa0we\\xa0will focus on the only poem anthologized\\xa0during Whitman\\u2019s lifetime- O Captain my Captain.\\xa0

\\xa0

The one I know from that famous scene in\\xa0Dead Poet\\u2019s Society\\xa0where the students stand for their fallen teacher,\\xa0John Keating, immortalized by Robin Williams.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Agreed- I can\\u2019t read this poem without thinking of Robin Williams, but\\xa0we should probably try since we spent quite a bit of time setting up the image of Lincoln.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,\\xa0

The ship has\\xa0weather\\u2019d\\xa0every rack, the prize we sought is won,\\xa0

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,\\xa0

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and\\xa0daring;\\xa0

\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f But O heart! heart! heart!\\xa0

\\xa0

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the\\xa0bells;\\xa0

Rise up\\u2014for you the flag is flung\\u2014for you the bugle trills,\\xa0

For\\xa0you\\xa0bouquets and\\xa0ribbon\\u2019d\\xa0wreaths\\u2014for you the shores a-crowding,\\xa0

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces\\xa0turning;\\xa0

\\xa0

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,\\xa0

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,\\xa0

The ship is\\xa0anchor\\u2019d\\xa0safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,\\xa0

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object\\xa0won;\\xa0

\\xa0

As we have clearly expressed, Whitman the defender of the common man, does not usually elevate one person over another- but\\xa0For Lincoln he makes a notable exception.\\xa0\\xa0O Captain my Captain\\xa0is written from the point of view\\xa0of an insider.\\xa0We can imagine a young soldier, a sailor.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0He\\u2019s on the ship-\\xa0Of course, the captain is President Lincoln- the ship is the country.\\xa0\\xa0The tone is one of\\xa0exultation\\xa0then\\xa0distress.\\xa0 We had finished- the fearful trip was done!!!\\xa0 We had made it then\\u2026.\\xa0

\\xa0

Christy, and it\\u2019s important to note that it WAS done.\\xa0\\xa0Lincoln did bring that ship to harbor.\\xa0\\xa0On April 2,\\xa0right before he died on the\\xa011th\\xa0The confederacy vacated Richmond.\\xa0 On April 4, President Lincoln\\xa0together with\\xa0his\\xa0ten year old\\xa0son Tad\\xa0walked through the streets\\xa0and into Jefferson Davis\\u2019 office.\\xa0 \\u201cAdmiral\\xa0Porter who was with him\\xa0had this to say, \\u201cNo electric wire could have carried the news of the President\\u2019s arrival sooner than it was circulated through Richmond.\\xa0 As far as the eye could see the streets were alive\\xa0with negroes and poor whites rushing in our direction, and the crowd increased so fast that I had to surround the President with sailors with fixed bayonets to keep them off.\\xa0 They all wanted to shake hand with Mr. Lincoln or his coat tail or even to kneel and kiss his boots.\\u201d\\xa0 Later\\xa0on\\xa0Admiral Porter\\xa0said this, \\u201cI should have preferred to see the President of the United States entering the subjugated stronghold of the rebel\\xa0with an escort more befitting his high station, yet that would have looked as if he came as a conqueror to exult over a brave but fallen enemy.\\xa0 He came instead as a peacemaker, his hand extended to all who desired to take it.\\u201d\\xa0 Christy, at one point, it is said that an older African American gentleman bowed before Lincoln and\\xa0Lincoln\\xa0went to the man, took him by the hand and raised him up and told him he\\xa0didn\\u2019t need to kneel to anyone, he was a free man.\\xa0 I cannot imagine the emotion.\\xa0

\\xa0

And\\xa0so\\xa0we\\xa0try to\\xa0imagine the emotion \\u2013 after so much carnage, who could walk the\\xa0tightright\\xa0and\\xa0heal the utter hatred still inherent in the heart of both victor and defeated.\\xa0 Notice\\xa0there is meter,\\xa0each stanza is composed of iambs which may or may not mean anything to you.\\xa0 It just means there\\u2019s a beat-\\xa0like a drum beat, like a\\xa0heart beat-\\xa0\\u201cThe ship has\\xa0wethered\\xa0every rack, the prize we sought is won.\\xa0\\xa0The people are exalting.\\xa0

\\xa0

But then he dies\\u2026in the first two stanzas, the boy addresses the captain as someone still alive, but by the third stanza he has accepted the reality.\\xa0 And of course, this is exactly\\xa0has\\xa0grief strikes.\\xa0 We never accept it initially, at least I have that problem.\\xa0 I\\u2019ll share my personal experiences in a different episode, but it\\u2019s natural.\\xa0\\xa0He says, \\u201cRise up, Father.\\u201d\\xa0 We feel a sense of desperation- the idea- of =\\xa0no,\\xa0 no, no, this can\\u2019t be happening.\\xa0 It\\u2019s not possible.\\xa0 Not now. Not after all of this.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0But by\\xa0the third stanza, the sailor unwillingly switches to the third person.\\xa0 My captain\\xa0does not answer, his lips are pale and still.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0There is a sense of intimacy, \\u201cMY\\xa0father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will\\u201d.\\xa0 We also see that that formality of the meter\\xa0breaks down in that last line, \\u201cFallen cold and dead\\u201d.\\xa0 The sailor\\xa0has broken down.\\xa0\\xa0 America is not just devastated because their leader is dead, but they are now vulnerable- what\\u2019s going to happen to us.\\xa0\\xa0Who can lead us?\\xa0 Who can walk the tightrope?\\xa0

\\xa0

And that of course, is the ultimate tragedy.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0We will never know what might have been had he lived to complete his second term, but one statesman grasped fully the tragedy when he predicted\\xa0that \\u201cthe development of things will teach us to mourn him doubly.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0And of course he was right, even\\xa0Jefferson Davis, the\\xa0leader\\xa0of the\\xa0conferederacy, although I point out that Lincoln never one time acknowledged him as\\xa0preside,\\xa0\\xa0bemoaned\\xa0Lincoln\\u2019s death after losing the war\\xa0and for good reason.\\xa0\\xa0After\\xa0Lincoln\\u2019\\u2019s\\xa0death, profiteers,\\xa0corruption\\xa0and\\xa0all kinds of chaos\\xa0descended on America.\\xa0 Grant, who was\\xa0a sincere\\xa0and an incredible advocate for African Americans, was\\xa0able to defeat the confederate armies but\\xa0not able to contain the host of corruption that plagued our nation\\xa0during reconstruction.\\xa0

\\xa0

And\\xa0so\\xa0we end with Whitman\\u2019s final poem- his most personal tribute to Lincoln and the one that\\xa0many\\xa0consider the better if less famous work, \\u201cWhen Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom\\u201d.\\xa0 In this poem,\\xa0Whitman\\xa0reverts\\xa0to his usual style of free verse and\\xa0strong\\xa0metaphors.\\xa0 It\\u2019s beautiful and for me, it\\u2019s where we see the universal truth\\xa0of lost moral leadership and grief\\xa0emerge-\\xa0he expresses\\xa0loss\\xa0well beyond the moment of Lincoln.\\xa0 Let\\u2019s read just the first little bit.\\xa0 It\\u2019s\\xa0long,\\xa0and\\xa0references\\xa0the journey of Lincoln\\u2019s casket to its final resting place without ever mentioning Lincoln\\u2019s name.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

When lilacs last in the dooryard\\xa0bloom\\u2019d,\\xa0

And the great star early\\xa0droop\\u2019d\\xa0in the western sky in the night,\\xa0

I\\xa0mourn\\u2019d, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.\\xa0

\\xa0

Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,\\xa0

Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,\\xa0

And thought of him I love.\\xa0

\\xa0

2\\xa0

O powerful western fallen star!\\xa0

O shades of night\\u2014O moody, tearful night!\\xa0

O great star\\xa0disappear\\u2019d\\u2014O the black murk that hides the star!\\xa0

O cruel hands that hold me powerless\\u2014O helpless soul of me!\\xa0

O harsh surrounding cloud that will not free my soul.\\xa0

\\xa0

There are\\xa0three big symbols in this poem= the lilacs, the sun and then a bird.\\xa0 But since we read only the first two stanzas, I want to focus on those.\\xa0 Lilacs are flowers that have a strong smell and were blooming at the time of Lincoln\\u2019s death.\\xa0 They are beautiful, but they also return every spring.\\xa0 The star is an obvious symbol for Lincoln.\\xa0 I want to point out that Whitman never really used stars as positive images\\xa0for leaders\\xa0because he didn\\u2019t like the idea of\\xa0a ruler just hoarding over us- but again, in this case, he made an exception.\\xa0 Lincoln was the powerful star- and of course, we are left to answer, why would a man, so bent on equality of humans, elevate this one man- the only man he would elevate- it wasn\\u2019t just because he was the president.\\xa0 It was because he embodied what a great leader truly was- and this is the nice idea that I think resonates through the ages.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Agreed, average leaders and I will say most leaders\\xa0give lip service to serving\\xa0all\\xa0people, but we can see by their actions, that\\xa0a lot of that is propaganda.\\xa0\\xa0Most\\xa0are in it to win it.\\xa0\\xa0It\\u2019s easy to get to the top and\\xa0view\\xa0oneself\\xa0as better\\xa0than the rest of us.\\xa0\\xa0It\\u2019s just natural to\\xa0do what\\u2019s best for\\xa0me\\xa0or\\xa0my\\xa0team, so to speak.\\xa0\\xa0It\\u2019s natural to\\xa0want to put enemies in submission- prove\\xa0own\\xa0own\\xa0power\\xa0and greatness.\\xa0 But Lincoln was different- his compassion for his enemy, his\\xa0unwavering commitment to integrity, his ability to see beyond his current moment,\\xa0is a\\xa0star- something that outlasts us all.\\xa0 The South as well as the North mourned deeply\\xa0Lincoln\\u2019s\\xa0loss.\\xa0 The procession described in this poem where the casket was taken from Washington DC back to Illinois was something that had never happened in the history of the United States and has not happened since.\\xa0\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

It is a legacy of leadership that Whitman not only admired but also immortalized.\\xa0 It\\u2019s also a legacy that\\xa0I find inspiring no matter how great or small our little ships are, if we are ever called to be a captain.\\xa0\\xa0It\\u2019s something to\\xa0think about\\xa0when we smell\\xa0lilacs in the Spring.\\xa0\\xa0For Whitman every time we smelled those flowers, we grieve,\\xa0but\\xa0also\\xa0we remember- because just as lilacs return every Spring, so does a new opportunity- the end of the Lilac poem looks to the future.\\xa0\\xa0In another of Whitman\\u2019s great poems, \\u201cCrossing Brooklyn Ferry\\u201d he says this, \\u201cWe use you, and do not cast you aside-we plant you\\xa0\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f permanently within us,\\xa0\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f We fathom you not-we love you-there is perfection in\\xa0\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f you also,\\xa0\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f You furnish your parts toward eternity,\\xa0\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f\\u202f Great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul.\\u201d\\xa0

It\'s a nice idea,\\xa0Lincoln was a man, but\\xa0for Whitman\\xa0he embodied an ideal we can all aspire\\xa0to:\\xa0integrity, humility, compassion and grace-\\xa0in\\xa0defeat\\xa0and death\\xa0but also in victory.\\xa0\\xa0Whitman believed in those ideals in leadership-\\xa0leadership that embraces those things can lead a ship to harbor\\xa0in scary waters.\\xa0 Perhaps, when we smell the lilacs,\\xa0we\\xa0can be\\xa0reminded that those ideals are also\\xa0planted in us.\\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Thanks for listening.\\xa0 We hope you enjoyed our discussions of Walt Whitman.\\xa0 Next\\xa0episode, we will look farther into the American past to even deeper roots of democracy on the American continent, the Iroquois constitution.\\xa0 So, thanks for listening, as always\\xa0please share a link to our podcast to a friend or friends.\\xa0 Push it out on your social media platforms via twitter, Instagram,\\xa0facebook\\xa0or linked in.\\xa0 Text an episode to a friend, and if you are an educator, visit our website for instructional resources.\\xa0

Peace out.\\xa0

\\xa0

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