Journal 1: Walt Whitman-He or She?

Allister Lo
English 48B
January 11, 2008
Journal #1 Walt Whitman

Quote: "She hides handsome and richly drest aft the blinds of the of the window/Which of the young men does she like the best?/Ah the homeliest of them is beautiful to her./Where are you off to, lady? for I see you./You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room" (37).

Summary: Taken at face value, these lines would seem to indicate a woman looking outside her house, "checking out" some men who are bathing outside her women. She seems to eye one specifically. It seems as if someone is watching the young lady as he or she sees the young lady, and her longing to go outside and play in the water with the young men.

Response: We discussed this passage in class, and it received a lot of different interpretations, so I wanted to add my own interpretation on this passage. At first, I took this passage at its literal value, and just assumed that it was indeed a lady simply being a "peeping tom" and checking out some guys bathing. However, as the class discussion on this topic increased, I looked closer at the language that Whitman used in this passage. After taking a 2nd look, I came to the conclusion that Whitman used the "lady" as a persona of himself.

Looking at the passage I chose, I thought it was interesting that Whitman would describe the lady as hiding “handsome” as handsome is generally a term that is used to describe men. Furthermore, when he states “I see you,” in my opinion, it does not seem likely that he would be watching a lady look out the window, who in turn is watching men play in the water outside. Rather, he is able to see “her” because he is her. I believe Whitman used his poetry as a means to express his desires, as he writes that the lady would love to go and play with the men, yet stays in her room. Whitman could mean this literally or he could be wanting to let other people know about his sexual orientation, yet he does not tell anyone and stays within his safety bounds.

Furthermore, as discussed in class, during this time period, it was uncommon and looked down upon for people to be of a homosexual nature. Since Walt Whitman highly aspired to be one of the greatest poets of his time, it is not out of the question that he would choose to hide his true identity. Even today, some people have a hard time announcing to people that they are gay, but think of the uproar it would have caused back in Whitman’s time.