America's Characteristic Landscape

This Specimen Days post has the word LOAFER written all over it!  He calls great sights such as Yosemite, Niagara falls, and Yellowstone "great natural shows."  They aren't just landscapes, they are shows.  They provide entertainment to see.  An individual could just stare out into the landscape and experience something.  I think that is a big part of loafing, experiencing your surroundings without having to do anything but relax and watch.

I think he says that the landscape is changing, that the future destiny of these landscapes are for farms, they will no longer have the scenery of Yosemite or Yellowstone.  They will be taken over by "maize, wool, flax, coal, iron..."  At the end of the post he says that the prairies will remain with him. Maybe it is that he will forever remember their beauty and that farms cannot destroy his image of the beautiful scenery.  Either way, I think he is talking about the changes in America, the way it is becoming more materialistic.  He is talking about people's need for "things" but he will not forget that "their simplest statistics are sublime."

Growth Health Work

In Walt's Speciman Days post called "Growth -- Health -- Work", he talks about how he grew into a strong young man, maybe too quickly, but as time went on found the things he loved and began writing.  He writes about how he worked as a compositor in printing offices in New York.

Having just read his poem, "A Song for Occupations", I wonder how much of his work in New York relates to that poem.  In his Specimen Days post he says, "This latter I consider one of my best experiences and deepest lessons in human nature behind the scenes, and in the masses."  I think this speaks a lot to the poem.  The poem was not about the work that was being done, the manual labor, but the experience you get from it and how that makes you grow as an individual. In "A Song for Occupations" he says, "I bring not money or amours or dress or eating....but I bring as good; And send no agent or medium...and offer no representative of value - but offer the value itself."  In the poem and the Specimen Days post he believes that if you do good work, you will learn from it.

Hot Weather New York

As the temperature rises it seems that people's focus gets lost.  The focus to work gets lost daydreaming about frolicking about outdoors in the beautiful weather.  In "Hot Weather New York", Whitman describes a hot day in New York.  His description of the city and the people around him make it seem like life stops when it is nice outside, when the weather is perfect and all you want to do is enjoy the sun.

This speaks to Whitman's loaferness.  People don't need to sit in their cubicles, they shouldn't be cooped up indoors when it is beautiful outside.  He says, "I linger long, enjoying the sundown, the glow, the streak'd sky, the heights, distances, shadows."  I really like this sentence mostly because of the first part, "I linger long."  I picture Whitman by the shore, wandering about as if he has no where to go.  He is just taking in his environment, the sun, the shadows, and everything around him.  He has nothing of much importance to do at that time, the only pertinent matter is to be there, where he is.

This reminds me of a guy I used to work with.  I work in downtown San Francisco, next to Yerba Buena Gardens.  It was a beautiful summer day so sitting at a desk, staring at a computer was not someone's ideal situation for the day, particularly this gentleman at work.  At 12:30pm, He decided to walk two blocks down to the gardens to have lunch.  Two hours later, my boss is walking around asking where Ted is.  All we know is that he went to lunch.  It wasn't until about 3:30pm that Ted comes running back into the office profusely apologizing that he was so late.  I asked Ted why he was so late.  His response, "It is such a beautiful day outside, I went to Yerba Buena to enjoy the sun.  I closed my eyes and lost track of time." 

Alcohol Free Happy Hour

One would think that the title "Happy Hour's Command" would mean that there would be some story about how Walt had one too many pints and got lost on his way home.  I guess the term happy hour means something completely different now.  When I think happy hour, I think what is the drink special?  When Walt thinks happy hour, he thinks, "what an hour just passing! the luxury of riant grass and blowing breeze, with all the shows of sun and sky and perfect temperature, never before so filling me body and soul."  Walt isn't having a drink!  Instead, he is relaxing, which is what happy hour is really about.  It seems that he is using this hour to write, be productive, and let his surroundings be his guide for his book.  There is a similarity to these two types of happy hours.  Both are a way to relax, both have very positive connotations.  While one might have cheaper drinks than the other, or drinks at all, the end result is the same.  People go to happy hour to relax and get away from the day's work.

Specimen Days: Ferries

"MY PASSION FOR FERRIES"

After scrolling, this entry seemed the most interesting especially since I too enjoy a nice ferry ride.  It seems though not as much as Mr. Whitman.  The one thing I noticed was the lists.  This entry is a list of things: scenery, people, and images.  The people he knew, the things he saw while on the sea, his reasons for loving ferries, etc.  He just continues to list out everything.  I noticed he does that in "Song of Myself" as well.  The list there is more descriptive.  Take for example at the top of page 18 when he says, "If I worship any particular thing it shall be some of the spread of my body."  After that, he lists of parts of his body in great detail, one line being, "You my rich blood  your milky stream pale strippings of my life."

This is what Whitman is talking about when he suggests that people shouldn't be couped up indoors and that they need to go out an explore.  One doesn't need to be in the woods to have an adventure and explore.  All he did was go on a ferry and he was about to hear "the majestic sounds boats" and see friends.  The fact that this is one of his passions also goes to show you that Whitman is a man of pleasure.  He knows what he likes he goes for it and enjoys it.