Diaries of a Wimpy Whitman #14

 My title reference joke : )

First thing noticeable about  his journal that it is written in cursive. During that time cursive was much more valued than it is now (not sure why).  The writing "two platforms" had a very symbolic meaning. This almost represents the people that were pro-slavery and were against it but describing them as "platforms". The word platform could mean that a person is standing on an object above the rest of the objects in the room. Or that the platform is the way a person reveals their stance on certain subjects (not sure where I was going with this one). "I shall see the crash" could mean a lot. It could mean the crash of the flawed government system. The crash could represent how opposing view points on slavery or other relevant topics during this time fight so much over what they believe that it causes violence.  "And you" is symbolic in a way that Whitman spends a lot of time creating poems that are open ended or refereeing to "you". The use of this pronoun allows more of a personal feel as if its a directed conversation between you and him but so broad that all types of people could experience this conversation through the use of this pronoun. From reading a little in the journal I can see that he was a man for all types of human rights. With him being against slavery, for women's rights, experiencing feelings for the same sex, he was aware of  different types of oppression. He was the definition of what DIFFERENT  really meant during that time. If you were against the common views then you were looked at different. What makes him special is that he didn't care about people thought of him. He had a greater message the would impacted future generations. 

 Two platforms: Was about the conversation between Whitman and Lincoln. Whitman was talking about the festering of the civil war and how it would continue to peak as time went on. 

 The crash: Definitely talks bout the fall of the union. Whitman got saucy and decided to tap into his Spanish and use the word libertad. Freedom was not limited to the inside borders. He wanted freedom literally for all types of people. Inside and outside the US. 

 And you: Describes the demise of the Union and its contribution to a screwed historical cycle. 

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 15, 2018 at 4:45 PM

    I really found your analysis of platform amazing because of the hidden meanings behind it. At first I wasn't really sure what platforms were but your explanations seem very spot on. I also really liked how you chose phrases that stuck out to you and looked at those specifically. I also noticed how
    Whitman kind of tends to use words from other languages such as 'Libertad' and 'Allons' (french) from Song of an Open Road, Whitman is very purposeful with his word choices. #MultilingualWhitman

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  2. UnknownApril 15, 2018 at 4:50 PM

    I like how you talk about the different platforms because it does shape how he wrote his journal. I like how you say the two platforms because he had a phenomenon with war and ideas similar to Lincoln even though they had never met. Next, I like how you talk about the personal level his journal brings. I think that it allows for a personal connection when reading because you can relate to what he feels. Lastly, I think its cool that what he wrote in his journal is a parallel to how the word is now. It is crazy that the past really did shape how the world is. As far as like you said different and what/how it is defined now.

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