Spontaenous Me

Habibat Oguntade
Ap English III
9//09
Spontaneous Me
With the use of his writing style, Whitman conveys his opinion about nature. He uses imagery to describe the things that fascinate him in nature. He makes use of various things in the environment, that has a certain type of connection to himself, or human beings as a whole. While reading the poem, it might seem capricious to the readers, due to the fact that Whitman maneuvers from one point to another, with the use of different examples and scenarios. This makes readers wonder what Whitman’s main point is, right from the beginning of the poem. On the other hand, if readers continue reading and get an in-depth understanding of the poem, they will be able to realize how Whitman has used nature as a camouflage to conceal his conception of sexuality. He did this in an excellent way, that readers will be able to see that nature has a connection with human sexuality.
Looking at the word “ Spontaneous” it means something that results from a natural impulse or tendency, and due to the fact that Whitman qualifies himself with the word spontaneous, it can be said that is point of view about things, is that most things occur naturally and unpremeditated. In the beginning of the poem, Whitman displays a tone of acknowledgment, by giving some examples of things he appreciates in nature. “ The rich coverlet of the grass, animals and birds, the private untrimm’d bank, the primitive apples, the pebble stones” . These are lots of things that are engulfed by nature, when readers look at these things, they see how significant they are and also start realizing Whitman’s point of view, as to how most things are naturally occurring.
Whitman then moves on to bring up a new idea which can also be connected to his opinion of how things occur unpremeditatedly. After giving an example of few things nature consists of, Whitman then relates the poem to humanity. This might become confusing as the poem suddenly changes from the use of in-human characters to human ones. “The body of my love, the body of the woman I love, the body of the man ……two sleepers at night lying close together as they sleep, one with an arm slanting down across and below the waist of each other”. This quote construes how Whitman tries to convey message that even the sexual desires that occur between human beings, as all been derived from nature. He believes that these sexual desires come unplanned, and they always occur without any anticipations.
In order not to draw readers attention all the way into the whole issue of how sexual desires are derived from nature, Whitman goes back to his in-humane characters and then goes in details to explain them. He incorporates different human and in-human objects and actions together, just to let people understand that most things in life occurs naturally, without being pushed. If readers can pay attention to Whitman’s details, imageries and explanations, maybe it will let them realize his idea of how both Inhuman and human circumstances occur under nature’s control.