As We Go Forth
There was a child went forth every day,I found this quotation from Whitman's poem in an editorial about our culture's impact on children.
And the first object he looked upon, that object he became.
And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,
Or for many years or stretching cycles of years.
(Walt Whitman, "There was a Child went Forth," Leaves of Grass)
In my curiousity, I looked up the rest of the poem, where Whitman continues describing the environment and people that eventually become part of this child. But I think the most interesting quality of Whitman's writing is his use of contrasting pairs--of the good and the bad.
The friendly boys, and the quarrelsome ones. The tidy children, and the barefoot ones. The mother with mild words, and the father--"strong, self-sufficient, manly, mean, anger'd, unjust." Schooner and rowboat; doubt and curiosity. All of these stay with the child.
Of course, the most obvious question revolves around the child's eventual growth: what impact did all of these images have? Whitman only says that this child "will always go forth every day." Yet isn't that a little comforting? Despite the "negative" images that became part of the child--the town drunkard, the poverty, the father's abuse--there still is a tomorrow for the child. He still goes forth.
I think we are like that child, taking in everything, all of it becoming part of us. And like that child, when adversity gathers around us, we still can go forth.
[See my other blog for another interpretation of this thought.]
