Walt Whitman and Transcendentalism
Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking and the Nature of Humanity
Drawing from the Transcendental belief in the divine potential of nature and humanity, Walt Whitman’s poem Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking introduces the reader to the observations of a child, who witnesses the loss of love and life through the plight of two birds who inevitably became only one. During this event, the child becomes the man, who eventually becomes the poet.
Childhood Memories on Paumanok
The poem focuses on the man recalling a childhood memory of time spent on Paumanok. Shifting from adult remembrance to childhood experience, the reader is introduced to the child’s ability to observe the flight and play of two birds, as well as his ability to hear and understand the songs these two birds sing to each. Listening, the young boy experiences the heartache of love’s loss as he recognizes the sorrowful calls of one bird following the death of his mate.
The boy recalls how “the solitary guest from Alabama” cried out “blow! blow! blow! / Blow up, sea winds, along Paumanok’s shore! / I wait and I wait, til you blow my mate to me.” The bird, crying for its lost mate, requests the return of life from the ocean. In this narrative, Whitman introduces nature’s reverence towards the ocean power and it’s perceived ability to bestow the gifts of life and death.
The transition from child narrator back to adult narrator occurs as the young boy listens to the bird’s pleas. Through the eyes of the adult narrator remembering the child’s feelings, we become aware of the narrative return to maturity as the man remembers the bird’s lament “pour’d forth the meanings which I, of all men, know. / Yes my brother, I know; / The rest might not – but I have treasured every note.”
Imagery of Life
Furthering Whitman’s vision of the interconnectivity between man, beast and the elements, the ocean is given the representative power of life and death, while the boy/man and bird become brothers in the shared pain of human loss. By introducing the reader to the image of man’s journey “out of the cradle endlessly rocking.” The cradle represents the beginning of life for all.
Metaphors of Life and Death
Similar to the use of the cradle metaphor, Whitman utilizes the ocean as another force of life’s energy, death and birth. The adult narrator makes this connection as he asks, “O give me the clew! (it lurks in the night here somewhere;) / O if I am to have so much, let me have more! / A word then, (for I will conquer it,) / The word final superior to all, / subtle, sent up – what is it? – I listen; / Are you whispering it, and have been all the time, you sea-waves? / Is that it from your liquid rims and wet sand?.” The adult narrator has realized the power of life and death rolling through the sea, as it’s waves briefly touch the sand only to disappear into the powerful depths of it’s own being.
By acknowledging this power, Whitman provides the reader with a poetic resolution to the question of life and death. Life’s forces and energies do not rely on one, they permeate through all, and for the narrator the ocean holds this particular answer for this specific situation. And in this instance, the ocean whispers death.
Sources
Allen, Gay Wilson, A Reader’s Guide to Walt Whitman, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1970
Whitman, Walt, Whitman Poetry and Prose, New York: Literary Classics of the United States, 1996
Walt Whitman
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