Barnum's Amercian Museum was a museum in "Whitman's New York." He was recorded as going there at least a couple times and he even interviewed Mr. Barnum himself whose vision of the museum was to show what life is. He is quoted as saying, "here it is life" (240). I feel like Whitman would be intrigued with the attractions of the museum. There was a Lecture Room, wax museum, zoo, and theatre. All attractions that have to do with the arts, with the art of imagination and nature.
I see Whitman going here to experience the quirkiness of life. There were such things as a mummified monkey and exotic animals. The types of people going here would be an eclectic mix as well since the items in the attractions were probably not part of the social norm. It seems that Whitman is very conscious of the people around him which could mean that he would be the type to enjoy people watching. In an excerpt from Specimen Days, Broadway Sights, he describes Edgar Allan Poe. "I have a distinct and pleasing remembrance of his looks, voice, manner and matter; very kindly human, but subdued, perhaps a little jaded. For another of my reminiscences..a bent feeble but stout-built very old man, bearded, swathed in rich furs, with a great ermine cap on his head..." His descriptions are so specific.
Unfortunately, Barnum's American Museum burned down in 1865.
No comments:
Post a Comment