51
The past and present wilt—I have fill’d them, emptied them,
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.
Listener up there! what have you to confide to me?
Look in my face while I snuff the sidle of evening,
(Talk honestly, no one else hears you, and I stay only a minute longer.)
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
I concentrate toward them that are nigh, I wait on the door-slab.
Who has done his day’s work? who will soonest be through with his supper?
Who wishes to walk with me?
Will you speak before I am gone? will you prove already too late?
This section of the Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself expresses the idea that we must learn to cultivate the self-awareness and openness to contradict the self that existed in the past and present and accept or welcome the unheard future.
In the first two lines, he symbolized the “past and present” as wilt plant and book pages that are emptied and fold over. The once vital and fulfilling elements of life have emptied and proceed to fill the future. Whitman then images the future as “sidle of evening” and “door-slab”, which present the tranquility in the merge of presence and future, the ease of the unknown encounters.
Then he brings up the famous lines “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.) Although Whitman uses “I” in the poem Song of Myself, he is speaking in the presence of the majority. We experience the constant changes, new people, new technology, new ideas, new objects regularly brought us to new experiences, in those, we might found conflicts and discrepancy within ourselves. However, opposing to the consistency that society has taught us to be, Whitman says it’s okay to contradict the past and the present to welcome the future.
Whitman presents us the transcendentalism aesthetics through his poem, fetches the individualism within a person through peaceful and elegant dialogue between himself and the readers. “Who wishes to walk with me? Will you speak before I am gone?” Whitman’s simple and effective invitation encourage the readers to speak to him while we are still able to.
The reason I choose this video, not merely because it helps me to understand this stanza of the poem better, but also due to the audio reading of the verse (0:28 – 1:24) I enjoy to listen over and over again. So for each time I listened to the audio, it helps to bring a deeper understanding of the words and the transmissional consciousness of Whitman.