Walt's (changing) Times

Throughout "A Song for Occupations" (1855), Walt's view of work is not what work is being done but what the result of the work is and how the individual goes about it.  He really hones in on equality in the workplace as well as at home, "If you bestow gifts on your brother or dearest friend, I demand as good as your brother or dearest friend."  That might seem like it is Walt asking for more, but throughout the poem he makes it clear that everyone should be looked at and treated equally.  He has a couple lines on page 46 of the 1855 edition that state, "Not only the free Utahan, Kansian, or Arkansian....not only the free Cuban....not merely the slave....not the Mexican native, or Flatfoot, or negro from Africa...Grown, half-grown and babe - of this country and every country, indoors and outdoors I see....and all else is behind or through them."  He describes people of all walks of life and begins the stanza by saying, "I see not merely that you are polite or whiteface..."  He doesn't care about what you look like or where you come from.  He sees further than that and I think that speaks to equality in not just the workplace but in society as well.

Through the six editions of Leave of Grass, Walt makes A LOT of significant changes that when reading through each, it gives the poem a different meaning.  By the 1891 edition, I didn't feel like he was addressing the public as a whole.  Instead I feel like he was addressing more upper class, scholarly individuals.  Take for example the lines I used in the above paragraph where he mentions the Cubans, Mexicans, slaves, and Native Americans.  He removes that entire part in the 1860 edition and never adds it back in.

In the 1856 edition, he titles the poem, "Poem of the Daily Work of the Workmen and Workwomen of These States."  He removes ellipses, semi colons, and dashes to replace them with commas.  He hyphenates words such as ship-carpentering, glass-blowing, and iron-works when they were once just one word.  He added the line about coal-mines, oakum, brewing, cheap literature, and coins and medals.  With these additions, Walt may have been catering to his audience as a whole society, upper and lower class combined, more than the 1855 edition since there were more additions than subtractions.

In the 1860 edition, he titles the poem, "CHANTS DEMOCRATIC 3."  I find it appropriate that he uses the word democracy since he has a line in the poem that goes, "The president is up there in the White House for you....it is not you who are here for him."  The land is a democracy.  He also addresses America as a whole by adding "Male and Female!", "American masses!", and "Workmen and Workwomen!" in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th stanzas.  As mentioned this edition is where he removes the lines about the Native Americans, slaves, negros from Africa, etc.  Basically he removes all lines about equality to people who are not of a European decent.  That's putting it nicely.  Real talk, he takes out the lines about people of color! Instead he adds, "Eminent in some profession, a lady or gentleman in a parlor, or dressed in the jail uniform, or pulpit uniform."  What?  Did Walt mean to replace one line with the other?  Let us hope not because that would mean he thinks people of color should be dressed in jail uniforms!!! Stereotypes, Walt, stereotypes.  Anyways.  Who knows why he did that.  Oh, he also changes the word SATURDAY to Seventh Day night which is interesting because that a very Protestant move since the Saturday is the seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week.

In the 1867 edition, he titles the poem, "TO WORKINGMEN."  Here Walt moves the poem from the beginning of Leaves of Grass to the middle.  In previous editions it was always in the beginning.  He gets all fancy with his grammar by saying learn'd instead of learned and adds the line, "List close, my scholars dear!"  Now that might mean he is targeting scholars or that he believes ALL people who read are scholars.  He does more removal of lines, one to notice is the description of the ankle chain slave which after reading the poems, no longer addresses people of color.  What does that say about his target audience OR the publishers?  Maybe the publishers are telling him to remove all of that!  A significant change in this poem is that he moves the last stanza that starts with "When the psalm sings instead of the singer..." to the middle of the poem.  In all other editions it was at the end, which I have to say, I think it flowed better and gave the poem a nice summary.

In the 1871 edition, he calls the poem, "CAROL OF OCCUPATIONS."  Very little is done to this edition compared to the last.

In the 1881 edition, he goes back to the original title, "A SONG FOR OCCUPATIONS."  He even calls it a song in the poem.  He changes the entire first stanza and no longer addresses the people as "lovers" advising them to come in and listen to him.  Instead he is boring!  He just says, "this is what I have found."  It is more of a poem of what he has found than a poem of what he KNOWS!  But most importantly, he moves the stanza that begins with "When the palm sings instead of the singer..." back to the end of the poem and personally I think to it's rightful place.

I found no significant changes made to the 1891 edition. He obviously felt it was fine just the way it was in 1881.

I think by 1891 Walt sold out!  His poem wasn't for the people anymore. While reading through each edition, I began to feel like it was more for the people in offices rather than the actual workmen and workwomen.  His first edition was all about the people, doing this in THEIR time.  There is one line that stays throughout the editions, "In folks nearest to you finding also the sweetest and strongest and lovingest, Happiness not in another place, but this place..not for another hour, but this hour..."  Not only did this remind me of the movie, "The Goonies", but his idea of "this place" changes as he revises the poem.  But then again, maybe that was just America changing and Walt was changing with it.

Speaking of "The Goonies", I leave you with this!!!