Disparate Objects in Walt Whitmans Leaves of Grass Essay -- Walt Whit

Reconciling Disparate Objects in Walt Whitmans Leaves of colaWalt Whitman begins this unpack from Leaves of Grass by describing an elusive this This is the meal pleasantly restrict . . . . this is the meat and drink for natural hunger. These two clauses that are set attached to each other describe this as very different things. A meal pleasantly set, evokes a quiet table in a genteel household. In contrast, the meat and drink for natural hunger, recalls a much rugged table at which the food will be consumed after strenuous activity. How can one thing--this--have such opposing properties? The entire excerpt is defined by the outward contradictions such as this one. Whitmans poetic rhetoric, however, attempts to bring in an internal unity from the contradictions. By unifying things that seem diametrically contrasted Whitman emphasizes the possibility for reconciliation between disparate objects. Whitman places two contrasting ideas nigh to each other at all aims of the excerpt . The most prominent level at which he does this is in the images, as in the first line. H...