In addition to Longfellow’s The Village Blacksmith (“TVB”), I took a look at the poems of the other two “Fireside/Schoolhouse Poets” on our list: William Cullen Bryant’s Thanatopsis and John Greenleaf Whittier’s The Hunters of Men. While we spoke of a number of similarities and differences between Whitman and Longfellow in class last Thursday, I wanted to add one additional comparison with respect to the overall structure of TVB compared to Whitman’s Song of Myself (“SOM”). In TVB, Longfellow follows a fairly linear path with respect to the story line and the ultimate revelation of the poem. Longfellow sets the stage for the poem with his description of the blacksmith, his work, how he is viewed by the town and his lugubrious situation, and then neatly ends the poem with a comparison of the blacksmith and his work to life itself. Reading the poem is like unwrapping a pristinely wrapped package. There is clearly a beginning, middle and end to the poem and you always know where you are when reading. Whitman’s SOM could not be more different with respect to the overall structure. I would describe SOM as more circular in nature with the path the poem follows being significantly less clear to the reader as he winds his way through. SOM is my mind has no real beginning, middle or ending; you can pick it up and read from any point with the overall structure helping to reinforce Whitman’s message of the poem as a perpetual beginning rather than a reference to a fixed amount of time. It is probably a little unfair to draw too many hard conclusions with respect to structure when comparing a relatively short poem with that of a very long one, but these differences stood out to me nonetheless.
William Cullen Bryant’s Thanatopsis is a beautiful meditation on death that foreshadows a number of themes of SOM including merging with nature, meadows/grass as an adornment for one’s coffin, and a number of references to the ocean and water as a metaphor for life. Unlike Whitman, Thanatopsis takes a significantly more somber view of death and finishes with a nod to the theme of “carpe diem” so that the reader may be prepared to “join the innumerable caravan, which moves to that mysterious realm.” In short, Bryant seems to view death as more of an ending relative to Whitman who seems to have no fear of his own mortality. In addition, you can’t help but notice the difference in diction between Bryant and Whitman. Thanatopsis is filled with “thy’s” and “thee’s” and reads like a poem written by someone highly educated in the historical manner with which you write a great poem. Whittier’s poem The Hunters of Men is an anti-slavery statement that reminds me of certain passages of SOM including the sequence of the hunted slave who comes to Whitman’s home and stays for the week. Interestingly, both Whitman and Whittier seem to have somewhat similar points of view as it relates to slavery in the union – they are both against slavery, but not necessarily pro-abolition. The Hunters of Men ends with a foreshadowing of the slave hunters lost ambition as others turn away from the practice. In other words, it is not a formal act of government that will end the practice, but a more general shift of public opinion that will ultimately turn the tide. With respect to its form and structure, like TVB, The Hunters of Men is much more traditional in its structure with a fixed meter and rhyme.
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