Question: Discuss Walt Whitman as a mystic poet.
Introduction
Mysticism is an experience that can be achieved by a spiritual journey from the immortal human soul to the divine spirit. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “it is a belief that knowledge of God and of real truth can be found through prayer and meditation rather than through reason and senses”. A strong note of mysticism runs through the bulk of Whitman’s poetry.
Whitman sees mysticism from a wide perspective
Walt Whitman in his famous poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” reveals his mystic attitude which is different from that of any other poet of the same creed. His mysticism has a number of characteristics mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs. This one of the most celebrated aspects of literature is more striking and paradoxical than those of his predecessors.
The mystic union between individual soul and body
According to eastern mysticism, the body is a hindrance in the way of mystic union between the individual soul and God. But Whitman has a different view as to the relationship between body and soul. He regards and realizes that physicals, as well as the spiritual, are the aspects of the divine. He says that the soul is not more than the body to make the union of body and soul indifferent for good. Because if there is nobody, there is no existence of the soul and there is no soul in the body, there is no aliveness of the body. So, they are tied with each other so strongly. He declares in the poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”;
“Lo, body and soul- this land,
My own Manhattan with spires………”
The mystic concept of things and beings
Whitman asserts that though all things and beings are separate and discrete in appearance, they are actually joined together into one unified existence. Some critics have called it his sense of “oneness” of all and some others have called that it is his “cosmic consciousness”. in the poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” we find his best expression in the following lines:
“The impalpable sustenance of me from all things all hours of the day
The simple compact, well join’d scheme, myself disintegrated, everyone disintegrated
Yet part of the scheme”
The poet considers that outwardly all things and beings seem to be separated but mystically they are a joined scheme. In “Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, the idea of the trinity gives us a hint of the relationship of all things,
“Ever returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,
Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,
And thought of him I love.”
Deep depiction of death
In the poems of Whitman such as “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” and “O Captain! My Captain!”, the death and mourning of the assimilation of the 16th president of the USA, Abraham Lincoln, has been limned in an extraordinarily mystic way. Death is not regarded as the dreadful to be feared but something like a mother who relieves every creature from earthly sufferings and tribulations. Thus, the poet means to say that his father, Abraham Lincoln, is now free from all kinds of tension and hatred.
Mystic lover of nature
Whitman is mystic from the perspective of his love of nature. He depicts when he mourns for the death of his beloved leader, the objects of nature join with him. The song of the hermit thrush mourns the death of the great leader. The bird’s song resembles the poet’s grief. The lilacs are the symbol of love for the dead leader. Such an invisible depiction of nature is certainly a transcendental mystery.
Conclusion
Whitman is truly a mystic poet. Mysticism is one of the prominent aspects of his poetry and he is a celebrated devotee of this creed. He has very beautifully expressed his mystic view in a number of his poems.
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