1855 Destruction of Classes.

In reading the songs of occupations, it brought forward ideas of class struggles that are reiterated through it history from serfdom, to slavery, to children in the industrial revolution to now. What is the now? To me, the struggle is not so much rich between poor because whether or not he has a dollar more then me, there will always be a difference in wealth. The struggle i see, remains between the citizens of our country and those in politics and they main use the conflict or idea of classes to promote a party system. Party system in place, the striving for equilibrium creates a hierarchy of people with not only wealth, but power to manipulate the laws to their own benefit. And that my friends is everyone who works in washington.

More so, that bullshit aside, Whitman is preaching more so about tearing down all walls and picket fences that separate one neighbor from another and this fence can most easily identified as a class struggle, though any difference whether it by style of clothing, to occupation, anything that creates a niche or club or group, that is what he is trying to bring forth.

"Were all educations practical and ornamental well displayed out of me, what would it amount to?
Were I as the head teacher or charitable proprietor or wise statesman, what would it amount to?
Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that satisfy you"

These lines say what the hell does it matter what i do or you do or how smart you are compared to me, (because this man was obviously brilliant and divine.) He is trying to break down these invisible walls so we can all hug and smoke a cigarette together and shoot the shit. And most importantly not shooting the shit against anyone.

In comparison, to various iterations of this poem:

Workmen and Workwomen!

Were all educations, practical and ornamental, well          displayed out of me, what would it amount to?

Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor,
         wise statesman, what would it amount to? 

Besides evolving elipses to dashes and lines to verses with enumeration, his vision evolves with the zietgeist of the times. Versions tend to include the struggles of those that are becoming more apparent more rejected. Whether it be women or native americans or immigrants, he includes these in revisions so that they encompass all. Kind of like building a wiki up more as things are brought to light. yeah. like that. 

Watching over Ancestors.

Its very interesting how the tracing of certain routes or streets or restaurants bring back memories of an old girlfriend, a great day, a bad day, a day where great food followed great sex and so forth. Standing over the land of his forefathers, he is standing on them, probably the remaining legacy of his family. (i might be wrong, eddie) I thought to myself: i have no ancestors, no family graves to visit, nothing.

What does that make me? Most importantly, Whitman is returning to a  land where he was born and raised. I have experienced these changes, visiting parks i was taken too, houses that i lived in, and now as a young adult i appreciate them and draw the ties as they lie buried in their locations and there comes the warmth of the familiar, though forgotten. He is not just overlooking his father's land, he's scoping the land where three centuries of his family have been buried, all the way down to the first settlers.

In old, he's not drawing upon 22 years of memories, he is pulling from himself 62 years of memories and experiences that have shaped him into the man he is today. And he knows it, and whether he looks at the land with compassion and love i don't know, he most likely respected it.

1855 v 1860

Reading the analysis of both versions, the history behind them is what fascinated me. The first version and printing is considered very rare and valuable given the personal work and correcting that was done towards them. Misspellings, minor line changing. Whitman encountered various nuisances that he changed mid printing and these various printings made the first edition super valuable given their imperfections. he never thought they would garner such much scrutiny and appraisal and he was flustered when he learned that the manuscript could fetch so much money. (money he could have used for his sick brother eddy.)

Whitman was never content with his masterwork, hashing and rehashing, shifting lines and altering the overall presentation of leave's of grass. the first edition however, would be consider the ultimate expression of his, work, covered in cloth with green grass and bold gold printing of LEAVES OF GRASS.

however, the 1960 edition introduces something very important.

For one, her formats the text in a biblical fashion mirroring the holy scripture while also expressing what the text really means, the representation of democracy and freedom and the triumph of religion. Whitman's religion.

I also noticed that he changed breeding in the original version to sex. Maybe the word sex was a little to intense. He added a ton of new poetry including calamus which is considered an important piece and recognized not only as an amazing political power, but represents male yearning, unattested love and manly love. It is a small glance of Whitman's personal life.

Geneology

It was impressive reading the amount of work Whitman put into finding out the origin of his family and surname. I believe he went as far back as english roots on his father side, dating nearly three centuries. What most impressive were the tools he used to find this information, almost none. He referenced an old geneology dictionaryy, but most of the information he acquired must have required serious detective work and investigation.

This kind of brings me shame because given the technology we have today, i can only go as far back as 4 generations, which isnt much, the rest of my family becomes clouded with illegitamate children and wild affairs.

How does geneology correlate with LoG?

Whitmans writings are what i would consider a serious process of molding and manipulation to arrive at the core of LoG. Now this sounds like bullshit(and it might be.) And maybe im just stating my analysis in an awkward fashion, but his LoG is a culmination of his life experiences compressed and broken down into a genuine perspective of what life is and what life has become within are society. He longs to go back to time where loafing in the woods wasn't such a travesty. But most importantly he wants to return and have bring us with him to time when we werent so caught up in the flow of advancing technology and dwindling social interactions.

Whitman would probably die from the smell of all this plastic that encases us and the melt from the LEDs that would blast upon him. More so, he would be disappointed by the lack of social interaction that technology has propogated(sic?)  He wants to go back to a time when we were more one one ourselves and those around us, but i am sure he would want us to take advantage of technology to exploit the power of mass communication to reach others and the deepest parts of ourselves.

Oneida and Whitman.

The Oneida Community was a relgious movement which belived that Jesus had already returned in the year 70 and that heaven could be expierenced on earth. A communist group, they shared everything including responsiblities and work which allowed them to have thriving business in silk, leather fronds and silverware. The practiced a form of polygamy which allowed them to have various closed marriages.(to avoid sti) They also practiced a form of eugenics in an attempt to breed perfection children.

It could be said that the Oneida community practiced a nearly perfected for of communism since all resources and responsibilites were shared evenly and the open criticism was practiced and appreciated by all especially Noyes who was subject to criticism as well. The community fragmented when Noyes attempted to transfer power to Theodre Noyes. (Grandson?) Who was agnostic and not a thourough follower in the community and when Noyes fled to avoid charges of statutory rape. This move convinced him to suggest traditional marriages within the community which had already become a growing movement.

Whitman used to be a nieghbor of Noyes when Noyes fled his circle for a brief period at the hieght of his messianic leadership.

It could be understood why Whitman would acknowledge and even appreciate the Oneida movement as it promoted a higher sense of living and a formal criticism of self while sharing resources and responsivilities. No one was greater then the other and most importantly, the community helped one another in terms of a raising children and caring for family. The oneida community was also open to mixed sexuallity within their closed marriages which might have been a first for any religious groups.

Burnt to the Ground

Barnums Museum was once considered the nations number one attraction. Containing a wax museum, various animal exhibits, circus side shows and freak shows, Barnum represented the American fascination with the strange and fantastical. Before mysteriously burning to the ground, the barnum museum would attract tens of thousands of visitors daily for a quarter. At the end of its run, it had attracted almost 35 million, when the american population was only at 22 million. The museum had also solicited various celebrities including the great walt whitman who wanted to become Americas scribe.

Whitman had found enjoyment in the museum and could you blame him? It housed various artifacts of the strange, human irregularities and strange science that could not be explaing in that era. It was the first amusement park, a disneyland and whitman was thouroughly impressed hoping to preserve a part of his legacy within the museum.

Answer to an Insisting Friend, Specimen

It seems someone was interested about Whitman's upbringing and family ancestry and how it correlates to leaves of grass. He seems to go backwards rather quickly, mentioning facets of his family identity which might be considered important to most, which he treats indifferently. During a time of sickness, he compiled this information for someone else that was interested, and has now presented this info to someone else who required it.

People ask the wrong questions, sometimes. And sometimes we give them the wrong answer. When a person asks me a question out of curiosity, that i find quite irritating, i give them a stupid answer or even an answer that can be as far off from the truth as possible. But what does that say about my history with questions? The probing can be bothersome, but the memories and answers that gag up and get caught in my throat, maybe theyre are to intimate or worrisome to disclose. Pain, though experienced by all can be quite personal. Consider the questions a child will ask and the answers we give them.. we don't dig deep to satiate their curiosity, we give them enough.

Leaves of Grass attempts to push all that intellectual nonsense behind. We might be from different places and stock and raised in different ways in similar places, but location and heritage can only mean so much...

After all two siblings eventually become individuals with their own ambitions and goals. Whitman is not one to deny a request, especially by a friend, but i can sense that what he is trying to convey through leaves of grass is not so much his past and heritage and even upbringing, but mostly what he has learned and the means of which to learn what he has through this process.