Since I have decided to pursue the changes Walt has changed throughout the different editions of Leaves of Grass, I'm going to have to do more research. I've decided to stick with the poem Song for Occupations since I am familiar with that, and I also really liked it. Some questions that I have in mind that I would like to find the answer to, how much influence did publishers have on Walt? Did he really want to make all those changes? And for what purposes were those changes made? There will never be a set answer just because I can't ask Walt himself, unless a Oiji board really does work and will allow for a long explanation. But I think the research would be quite interesting. I would obviously read more Specimen Days posts as well as do more research on America at that time and the publishers. I'm sure Walt did what he wanted with his poems but at the same time you can't help but think his readers influenced him somewhat.
Now, the main question. How am I going to present this?! There are two ways that I was thinking about, a story or a set of poems.
For the story, I was going to write a narrative with either a reader during Walt's time or a publisher. If these people read Leaves of Grass in the 1860's and saw the changes right then and there, what was their reaction and even interaction with other people and Walt himself! That is more of a creative writing assignment, one in which fiction would come into play.
The second being a set of poems. I'm not much of a poem writer but have been writing silly ones with a friend of mine. I thought that maybe I could do the opposite of Walt. He was so into free verse, no constraints! I could present evidence through poems with some sort of rhyme and meter. I have never really done anything like this before, unless you consider rhyming cat and hat and bat and mat in high school.
In one of my posts I talked about how Song for Occupations was probably influenced by the revolts in factories and labor unions in the 1870's and 1880's, maybe this can help with your research on American events that may have influenced Whitman. Sounds like an interesting project, Song for Occupations is definitely a good poem to go explore ;)
ReplyDeleteI like the story idea.
ReplyDeleteAlthough you could do it from the perspective of someone close by to Whitman, I think it would be interesting as well if you take on Whitman's point of view. Although it's impossible to know what is going on inside his head, it is fiction and educated guesses are expected.
Lot's of fertile ground to work with here. Possibly one thing to consider is the changing landscape of the American workforce from Agrarian to Industrial and how that evolution can seen throughout Whitman's take on "Song of Occupation". Another aspect to look into may be the movement from small shops to mass production.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
Some really good comments here! What about pursuing those comments a bit further - - e.g. how the poem seems to change "in tune" with certain social and cultural changes . . .I can see lots of pretty interesting ways of representing this "tallying" . . . from visually demonstrating it to all kinds of writing performances . .
ReplyDelete