20:03 – 20:54
This was my favorite interpretation I have seen of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” for two reasons. I think it depicts the scenes with amazing imagery that really shows what Whitman was trying to say. This particular section of the video is of Section number 12 which is also my favorite part in this piece of literature. This is particularly my favorite because this summer my boss was giving a speech to us and one of the things he said was how there are three things in the world that you can watch forever. Water, Fire, and someone else working, and this clearly represents that, where Whitman is displaying how he was transfixed by the butcher and the blacksmith’s working and that reminded me of that speech that my boss had given me and my peers. And this video shows that in an amazing way, the hammer forging something on the anvil. All of the sparks flying from the blow of the hammer, the man holding the hammer in front of the flames, you can clearly see how anyone could become easily transfixed by that work, and it really brought that speech that I experienced to life.
All of the words really flowed exceptionally from the woman’s voice, into your ears and were truly being enhanced by the imagery. As she reads the line, “there is a great heat in the fire” you are stuck transfixed on a picture of a red hot glowing piece of steel which really brings that to life, you can see the heat that is coming off of that piece of steel, and you can see exactly what Whitman must have been seeing at the time and everything is brought to life.