Response to Briana

Hey Briana, first up: Is Romanticism a trend? Yeah, it was a wave of insight and elements that gained momentum for a time like all movements and we got a lot out of it, as we’re learning in class it was a movement that will later lose momentum in America as the Realism movement starts. During last class I really got to see during the exercise where we labeled Whitman and Dickinson, that both writers are in the transition of movements and that Romanticism starts to fade and Realist writing starts to catch on because the American civil war is so sobering. But just like Realism was a reaction to state of things at the time, I learned from my Brit lit class about the Romanticism movement and how it was a reaction against the industrial revolution; in an age that seemed to treat more and more as objective romanticism played with the subjective. So I think you are definitely right to think that Romanticism seems like an escape and overly dramatic, when the movement started people at that time were seeing more machines and expanding cities and so they sought out nature and tranquility. As for your search for the essence of Romanticism, I can only offer what I think the movement would offer as it's main statement if it were a person, something along the lines of: "Hey, this advancing society isn't all that it's being portrayed as, maybe we're losing track of who we are, let's get back to basics and stop acting like we have all the answers." Hope this was some sort of help.

Confessions, connections, and a free book.

Well ENGL 278, I have to confess that I’ve dodged Walt Whitman for quite some time even though he has conveniently resided only feet away from where I sleep.  Yes, at the bottom of my bookshelf (solely dedicated to books unread or given up on) shoved between The Boys From Brazil and The Jungle is a collection of Walt’s poems and not one but two copies of Leaves of Grass. To be even more honest, I think I've avoided Whitman because I have already carved him out in my mind as a writer that is probably profound and yet immensely boring and hard to grasp. I do realize that this is unfair seeing as though I haven’t read much to base this off and now after reading his work from the packet I find myself wanting more. The questions I have come from Whitman’s “Song of Myself” specifically lines 515 through 523. 

I do not press my fingers across my mouth, I keep as delicate around the bowels as around the head and heart, Copulation is no more rank to me than death is. 
I believe in the flesh and the appetites, Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a miracle. 
Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch'd from, The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer, This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds. 
If I worship one thing more than another it shall be the spread of my own body, or any part of it,  

While reading I made an unexpected and strange connection, for these lines seemed to remind me of certain passages from Anton Lavey’s The Satanic Bible, which highlight praising one’s own body, senses, and appetites as if they were sacred in a way. It wasn’t just the concept that seemed similar but the way it was presented as well, so much so that I can only guess Lavey drew inspiration from Whitman.  This now has me wondering: What is Whitman trying to accomplish with these lines/piece? Is he being genuine or possibly trying to provoke some sort of response from his reader? If someone from my group chooses to respond to this post then I would also like to ask you: what tone(s) did you pick up when reading the portions “Song of Myself” from the packet?


*Also, if anyone in class would like a copy of Leaves of Grass, I’d be happy to give it to you.