Uploaded April 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a virtual movie of the great Walt Whitman reading a selection of his observational of poems from his wonderful lifelong work of poetry "Leaves of Grass" - Sparkles from the Wheel - True Conquerors - I Sit and Look Out - The City Dead-House.
Sparkles from the Wheel - vibrantly depicts a knife-grinder sharpening his knife in the opening stanza of Sparkles from the Wheel. He vividly describes him diligently sharpening his knife as he holds the stone carefully, by foot and knee. Whitman brilliantly uses the description of the sharp blade swiftly slicing against the stone to create a fantastic image which essentially would lead to symbolism in the poem. The symbolism in the poem would indirectly symbolize the divinity of the nature of man. Man himself is not considered divine at any level, however Whitman while using an excellent technique of personification (giving life to inanimate objects) to give verve to the sparks that fly off of the man’s sharpened knife. Whitman uses images of divinity throughout the poem by referring to the copious golden jets which he uses to describe the sparks flying off the knife of the knife-grinder. The sparkles from the wheel represent the deeper meaning of what an everyday, average worker does and what meaning it gives to life. Divinity comes into play being that Whitman has given life to the sparkles from the wheel. His use of personification is meaningful because the knife-grinder is symbolized as a greater being other than him. Reference to God or Jesus is usually the idea when comparing one to divinity; however Whitman simply depicts the knife grinder as a higher power or essence. By his sparks causing the sparkles from the wheel would imply compare the ordinary knife grinder to a greater power such as God which would lead to the knife grinder creating a meaningful and influential entity out of something lifeless and dull.
True Conquerors - Celebrates the triumph of longevity and old age over mortality.
"I sit and look out" is a poem about modern society. The narrator is looking out of the window at life- and all that he sees is Sorrow, Suffering, Corruption and Degradation of society. The advent of capitalism and industrialization has had a tremendous impact on the moral values of the people who choose to be detailed observers, as echoed in the title. In this poem, Walt Whitman comments on various matters, but passes no judgement. He allows the readers to make their own interpretations without moral impositions. Whitman was a believer in Individiualism. He preferred to trust his own instincts on matters, which is why he leaves judgement to the readers of the poem. The last line of the poem conveys a helplessness and inability to adress these perennial issues. The poem calls for an awakening in the readers minds, so that they do not simply "Sit and Look Out" but take action and find solutions to society's demons (i.e. the problems mentioned in the poem), and to change the world. All the observations were made during the poets time, the 20th century, and sadly the world has not changed since then.
The City Dead-House - the speaker's love to life in all its manifestations, death included. Strikingly, he does not see primarily the corpse of a corrupt woman, but he imagines what this fellow being used to be when still alive.
The conclusion of the poem suggests that the speaker's celebration of the dead woman springs from what he imagines her to have been when she was alive, and not from her actual condition as a corpse. The speaker does not celebrate death, but rather what was once a representation of life.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2015
Here's a virtual movie of the great Walt Whitman reading a selection of his observational of poems from his wonderful lifelong work of poetry "Leaves of Grass" - Sparkles from the Wheel - True Conquerors - I Sit and Look Out - The City Dead-House.
Sparkles from the Wheel - vibrantly depicts a knife-grinder sharpening his knife in the opening stanza of Sparkles from the Wheel. He vividly describes him diligently sharpening his knife as he holds the stone carefully, by foot and knee. Whitman brilliantly uses the description of the sharp blade swiftly slicing against the stone to create a fantastic image which essentially would lead to symbolism in the poem. The symbolism in the poem would indirectly symbolize the divinity of the nature of man. Man himself is not considered divine at any level, however Whitman while using an excellent technique of personification (giving life to inanimate objects) to give verve to the sparks that fly off of the man’s sharpened knife. Whitman uses images of divinity throughout the poem by referring to the copious golden jets which he uses to describe the sparks flying off the knife of the knife-grinder. The sparkles from the wheel represent the deeper meaning of what an everyday, average worker does and what meaning it gives to life. Divinity comes into play being that Whitman has given life to the sparkles from the wheel. His use of personification is meaningful because the knife-grinder is symbolized as a greater being other than him. Reference to God or Jesus is usually the idea when comparing one to divinity; however Whitman simply depicts the knife grinder as a higher power or essence. By his sparks causing the sparkles from the wheel would imply compare the ordinary knife grinder to a greater power such as God which would lead to the knife grinder creating a meaningful and influential entity out of something lifeless and dull.
True Conquerors - Celebrates the triumph of longevity and old age over mortality.
"I sit and look out" is a poem about modern society. The narrator is looking out of the window at life- and all that he sees is Sorrow, Suffering, Corruption and Degradation of society. The advent of capitalism and industrialization has had a tremendous impact on the moral values of the people who choose to be detailed observers, as echoed in the title. In this poem, Walt Whitman comments on various matters, but passes no judgement. He allows the readers to make their own interpretations without moral impositions. Whitman was a believer in Individiualism. He preferred to trust his own instincts on matters, which is why he leaves judgement to the readers of the poem. The last line of the poem conveys a helplessness and inability to adress these perennial issues. The poem calls for an awakening in the readers minds, so that they do not simply "Sit and Look Out" but take action and find solutions to society's demons (i.e. the problems mentioned in the poem), and to change the world. All the observations were made during the poets time, the 20th century, and sadly the world has not changed since then.
The City Dead-House - the speaker's love to life in all its manifestations, death included. Strikingly, he does not see primarily the corpse of a corrupt woman, but he imagines what this fellow being used to be when still alive.
The conclusion of the poem suggests that the speaker's celebration of the dead woman springs from what he imagines her to have been when she was alive, and not from her actual condition as a corpse. The speaker does not celebrate death, but rather what was once a representation of life.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2015
