Sing+the+Body+Electric

I really did not like this poem. For one thing, it made me feel a bit uncormfortable because he was describing the act of being gay (or so it seemed) as well as the body parts of both males and females. It even mentions sexual acts. I think Whitman was trying to praise the human body, which he did manage in this poem, but went a little to far in doing so. I thought that it was unheard of to describe the body parts of a male or female, especially the sexual ones. How did Whiman manage to do that in this poem. I knwo that he had free speech guarenteed by the Constitution, but could he have shown some decency? This poem, like the other Whitman poems we have read, did not seem like a poem at all. The was no rhyme scheme and I did not find any rhythm either. If anyone else did see the rhythm in this poem let me know in your post so I can see if I can find that same rhythm. Sop overall, I really did not like this poem. It was confusing and made me feel a bit uncomfortable. 1200006397

The poem does NOT describe "the act of being gay". It really doesn't. You are correct in seeing that Whitman is praising the human body. Whitman is no more explicit about the body than your average high school anatomy textbook would be, is he? 1200014765

I, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind this poem. I actually somewhat enjoyed it just because of how bizarre Whitman's writing was. This poem was something that I could relate to because it talked about men and women and their characteristics, however I think Whitman got a little carried away with some lines. An example of this behavior is on page 15 section 5, "Ebb stung by the flow and flow stung by the ebb, love-flesh swelling and deliciously aching, Limitless limpid jets of love hot and enormous, quivering jelly of love, white-blow and delirious juice," Now I don't know if I am comprehending this correctly, but it seems like Whitman is describing sex and the bodies activitise that go along with that. My mouth literally dropped when I read these lines.

One part I did not understand in this poem was towards the end of page 19 when it says. "The thin red jellies within you or within me, the bones and the marrow in the bones." What are thin red jellies supposed to represent? At first I thought maybe red blood cells? Hah.

Brother Tom said that Whitman's writing is no more explicit about the human body than an anatomy book. This statment is true, but why does Whitman have to be so direct about it in his poem? Just like PSa, I felt a little uncomfortable reading this poem, although, it did grab my attention. 1200020939KCa

I agree with Kristina although this poem had those moments where Whitman went too far, I didn't seem to mind it. I like what Br. Tom said during class which was Whitman refused to stop writing about sexual things because if he did, it would propose the fact that these things were "nasty", and I totally agree with that statement. If Whitman ignored these things he would be portraying sex as being wrong, which it really isn't, its meant for two people who love eachother. Although, like I said I was also uncomfortable but not nearly as much as my classmates, It was entertaining in a way how Whitman went too far, sort of like he was the only poet during that time willing to do this, and I bet that took courage. 1200090476

I also didn't seem to mind this peom. I mean Whitman took a large risk writing this poem in his time, even in out time. This poem shows a graphic image of the human body and a image of sex. I believe that at our age we have to be comfortable with the acts of sex and that we have to accept it. I think that our society is becoming more open to sex and its our generation it is directing it to. Many of our parents keep sex a closed thing because we are still young and not mature to deal with it but we shouldn't have to be uncomfortable with the poem because it describes something REAL AND TRUE.

I am shocked we read this poem in class because of the words it uses to describe the body. I agree with Kristina that my jaw dropped while i was reading this poem, but then again it is a fact of life that is meant to be beautiful and loving. We shouldn't try to hide that.

1200258494 epa1

I agree with epa. Many of us were not comfortable reading this poem but that's because we are not use to reading something like this about sex and human body. Like epa said, most of our parents try to keep us illinformed about sex because we are not mature enough to deal with it yet. As the result of that, many of us see sex in negative way or are afraid of mentioning it. I just see this poem as Whitman's perspective on human body and sex. He sees human body and sex as something that is very beautiful. Some of us may have different ideas about sex and human body but we can't say Whitman is wrong because his perspective is just as important as ours.

1200260670

//Yeah I agree on the topic that it was kind of weird to be reading literature like this, in school, in front of a teacher. But we all know that sex is just a part of life that we have to go through. But besides that point I think that Walt Whitman was a very brave man. Just writing a work of literature like what he did is brave. But what really mad him writing this poem was the time that he did it in. In todays society sex is out there everywhere, theres even a saying that sex sells. But in his society they viewed sex as something that nobody should talk about. And that it all should be kept private. It was also kind of weird about how Whitman described the human body. And I agree with epa that its a part of life thats supposed to be beautiful in a way, so we shouldnt hide it. And Walt Whitman must have believed that as well.

1200261376//

This poetry was discussed on friday was very strange and weird. I have absolutley no intrest in poetry what so ever and this poem was very vivid in detail about the love for anther person. This is perhaps one of the many poems that I hate because poetry serves no purpose in my life. Poetry is pointless along with this story of the love for another person. You could just say that you love someone and just leave it at that, there is no need for detail about your love for someone else. I think sex is private and should not be publicly exposed through poetry. Sex is good an all but please refrain from giving me detialed images and descriptions of someone you love, you can simply keep them in your head. I respect this man for his love for one another but I just dont like the detail. I live more in the early ages and beleive sex is private and no on else should no about it. Thats just how I feel. 1200323719Ale2

I Sing The Body Electric was a really intense poem. At first, I didn't realize that the poem was about sex. For that time it was a big deal to be so descriptive on that subject in writing. The poem shows that Whitman wasn't afraid to be honest about the human body and write about it in his poems. This poem is very descriptive by using metaphors, so it's not as out there. His choice of using metaphors are better to use than to say everything as it is. His audience would probably have been disturbed to read everything as is without the metaphors. The poem was a bit racey for the time, but he is talking about something serious, which is good for yound audienced today. 1200325928

I don't hate this poem, but it makes me a little uncomfortable. It's not that I'm not mature enough to handle the topic...but it's so different than any kind of language we would use today. Yes, we talk about the body and sex in this society. But it's different, like we don't talk about it in the same way. We don't say how beautiful it is and how the body is so perfect, all written in poetic form. I don't really know how to explain it. I respect the poem, and the fact that Whitman wasn't afriad to write like this in a time that didn't accept it, but it's not really my type of writing that I would just pick up and read. Other than the topic, I like the flow of the poem. It's not like your traditional rhythm and rhyme scheme, and I like it. It diesn't even rhyme, but it flows better than most poems. Overall, I like the poem, but it's a little different for me. 1200325439

I think this poem was very interesting and grabbed my attention in many ways possible. I didn’t enjoy it too much because of the content contained inside. The poem was very graphic and made me and others feel quite uncomfortable. As a class, once we started reading the first few lines of the poem, I could already tell what material might be covered within this writing. I think Whitman tried to convey such nasty and unspoken things, to show people that they have a greater and deeper meaning. Perhaps he was trying to show us the beauty itself, which could be part of our human body and it’s actions. Things that we rarely talk about were brought up in this poem. And, even though we all felt uncomfortable with the material, we all eventually opened up to it and accepted it.

__1201113879__

The poem __I Sing the Body Electric__ can in fact be a very controversial poem. However, the controversial topics in this poem seem to be written in a very entriguing way in order to portray to the reader the point of Whitman's poem. Some people found the use of language very inappropriate and they felt they were put into an uncomfortable situation. Personally, i feel that the use of language and the thoughts inside the writing had a deep message that Whitman was truly trying to convey. He explained the body of both a man and women to be a beautiful thing, and that each characteristic involved with the man or women's body was a prized possesion to be respected and worshiped. This poem was also very vivid in detail with the explanation of a love of another person. Although Whitman may have gone a little extreme with explaining the sexual relationship between a couple, he described sex as a beautiful thing primarily meant to be shared between a male and a female. All in all, this poem was very well written. I feel that this poem would be a good example for other poets to look at and take notes on how to explain in **//vivid detail//** about something trying to be portrayed to the reader. - [| mje1] Jan 14, 2008 9:57 am

I agree with epa. I was shocked when we started reading this in class. I thought that it was good for the class though. While readign this in class, many people laughed while words were read that we didn't want to say in class. But the reality of it is that we talk about sex and bodies outside of class like it's a joke. I think that Walt Whitman wasn't afraid to be out of the crowd by writing different types of poems like this. I really respect him for this beause many people have different ideas about things but don't say them because they are afraid of what other people would think of them. The responce of reading this poem and being embarred to talk about it is a sign of embarressment towards ourselves. We all have bodies and different parts so if everyone has it, why should be afraid to open up on that topic?

 - ape2  Jan 14, 2008 9:02 am ape2