Loafing in the Woods

I choose to read the section “Loafing in the Woods” from Specimen Days mostly because I enjoyed our discussion of the word “loafe” in class last week. This process of loafing and the resulting clarity that is derived from this disposition is clearly an important one for Whitman – so much so that he captures this theme in the first several lines of the poem (“I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease…”). What I also love about this theme of loafing are the implications to Whitman’s reader. Whitman immediately sets a tone of comfort in Song of Myself which makes his poem more inviting to his reader. Whitman boldly tells his reader that what he is sharing is “the origin of all poems” and that whoever reads and understands him will “possess the good of the earth and the sun” – not light topics to say the least. This concept of loafing helps to mitigate the concerns that might come with reading something that promises such lofty ambitions. Whitman is in effect telling his reader that what he is saying is important but that you don’t need a suit and tie and a litany of academic degrees to understand it.

The other thing that sticks out to me from this particular passage in Specimen Days is that Whitman truly lived what he wrote. He loved to be outdoors, he loved the impact the outdoors has on his senses, and he seems to ruminate most effectively on the issues of life while “seated on a log in the woods,” as opposed to seated on the wood chair of an office or classroom. The reader’s sense of his sincerity is critical to the efficacy of Whitman’s writing. You may choose to disagree with him but it is not because you doubt his own belief in what he is writing. In fact, Whitman’s sincerity and confidence may be at the top of the list in terms of the most affecting aspects of his writing.