I Sing the Body Electric

For me, it is difficult to understand poetry without prior research. The language feels so abstract to me that even after reading over it a couple of times, I don’t really understand it. Particularly the poems that I find difficult are the ones depict images or capture a fleeting moment. Perhaps this is because I am always looking for a storyline. That is why I looked up some stuff about Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass, before I actually read the poems. I knew I would be able to appreciate them better if I knew what I was reading and looking for beforehand. What I found interesting in my research was that Whitman praised the body and the material world in a time when such appreciation was frowned upon. I decided to look for such signs when reading his poetry.

I found the poem I Sing the Body Electric really interesting. Nowadays, it isn’t difficult to find poems that describe and worship the human body. However, I can imagine why such a poem would be new and shocking at Whitman’s time.

“And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul? And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?” The connections Whitman drew between body and soul must have been revolutionary. He brought into the contemporary society the idea that body and soul are connected. In this particular poem, he goes a step further and equates the body to the soul and his focus in the poem is praise of the body.

He is also upfront about sexual desires, which were oppressed at the time. When describing women’s physicality he states: “Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs, negligent falling hands all diffused, mine too diffused, Ebb stung by the flow and flow stung by the ebb, love-flesh swelling and deliciously aching, Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous, quivering jelly of love, white-blow and delirious nice…” Maybe the language seems not at all explicit to us, but at the time it must have been considered obscene. I’m not surprised that there were some people who attempted to censor Whitman’s work. They were not ready to accept such an honest depiction of human nature and physicality.

I am still not sure if I truly enjoy reading poetry, but I do find it interesting to see the ideas that the pieces conveyed and how the contemporary audience responded to them. Also, I like seeing how Whitman uses language so deliberately. I feel that I have been able to learn a lot through his work.