Witty Whitman

Having looked through the document of the scanned pages of Whitman's notebook, there were several different things that really stood out to me visually. The first was his handwriting. Being a master poet and one of the most famous writers in history, I expected his handwriting to be neat, if not flowy due to the time period that he was writing in. However, it was the exact opposite. He kind of wrote wherever on the page he felt like and it was quite messy (no wonder there have been translation and publication errors). I also noticed in his language that he seems to respect, have a desire to visit, or is fascinated with foreign countries, possibly seeing in them what he wants to become a reality in America. He incorporates throughout his poems many words from foreign languages, especially French, and also in his notebook references the "Queen of Spain." He also references some of his interactions with Abraham Lincoln, as well has having drawn him several times at the end of the document. He acknowledges some of the different emotions that arose within the conversation and from Lincoln himself on some topics, possibly reflecting his presidency or what was to come of it.

The yellow notes help clarify some of the different sections of his notebook by revealing different opinions, events, or dealings that occurred at the time. They reveal Whitman's personal political positions and his opinions on society as he saw how divided it was over the topic of slavery. They show that he hated slavery, which follows his other standpoints as he was for equal rights between men, women, and all people, which also showed how much he liked Abraham Lincoln and his ideas as they aligned with each other. The notes also help show Whitman's respect for Lincoln as he compares him to the captain as a ship. This shows respect to both his rank, that he will follow what he says to do, but also that he knows Lincoln will go through tough times but come through. Or, in a more grim view, that he will go down fighting what he believes for as a captain is said to always go down with their ship.