Thursday, July 9, 2020

Walt Whitman, "O Captain Kirk!"

Steve at Shadows & Light is reading/writing about making sense of Walt Whitman, so I thought I'd repost again my take on the guy:
my slide-show mashup of Whitman & Captain Kirk,
Star Trek TOS: I Sing the Captain Electric. (1:38 min.)
(Wow--I posted it ten years ago, almost to the day: July 8, 2010.)

My description on youtube:
"Whitman's hymn to the male body in 'I Sing the Body Electric' could've been written with Kirk in mind ('O Captain, my Captain!'). All lines here are from the poem, though not in the original order.
And Aaron Copland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man' seems tailor made for our boy too."


 I'm not a huge Whitman fan (a bit overblown for me), but I do like him. I'd made this image macro after Trump was "elected" in 2016.
(Real book cover, I added SAYS and the quote.)
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4 comments:

  1. Linda SueJuly 9, 2020 at 9:56 AM

    Brilliant, oh yes, the "naked meat of the body"...laughable , you know...brilliantly put together.Resist much, obey little, thank you, clever woman! LOVE

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  2. FrescaJuly 9, 2020 at 9:59 AM

    LINDA SUE: "laughable" yes! I find Whitman sort of cringe-making. And yet... I do also love his unabashed adoration of The Body. Heck! Why not? GO FOR IT, WALT!

    Resist much, obey little--and don't stop!

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  3. Steve ReedJuly 9, 2020 at 12:20 PM

    Well, that is quite a provocative poem, isn't it? "And thence downward..." LOL!

    I've tried and tried to appreciate Whitman -- I feel like it's my duty as a gay man! -- but that appreciation has so far eluded me. His writing seems dense and..."overblown," as you said. I'm trying.

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  4. RiverJuly 12, 2020 at 12:15 AM

    Walt Whitman is too literary for me, I prefer to read was is known as "pop" fiction, mass produced murder&mayhem mysteries, some historical romance stories, almost anything that features witches, wizards and magic.

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