Song+of+the+Rolling+Earth

At first, this poem was really confuisng to me, but after rereading it, it a little more sense. At first glance, it seems like Whitman is praising the Earth, but that is not the main purpose of this poem. Whitman is actually trying to tell us that the human race is flawed and needs to fix these flaws if the human race is to survive. This portion of he poem clearly shows this:

"The earth does not argue, Is not pathetic, has no arrangments, Does not scream, haste, persuade, threaten, promise, Makes no discriminations, has no conceivable failures, Closes nothing, refuses nothing, shuts none out, Of all the powers, objects, states, it notifies, shuts one out."

All of the things listed here are human flaws. Whitman uses this stanza to show just a few of the many human flaws. Later in the poem, he even gives a few suggestions for improving the earth:

"There can be no theory of any account unless it corroborate the theory of the earth, No politics, song, religion, behavior, or what not, is of account, unless it compare with the amplitude of the earth."

Here, for example, he says that we should get rid of these rituals and practices. Overall, I did not like the poem. At first it confused, so I had to reread it. It still is a little confusing, so I had to make my best guess as to what he was trying to say. 1200440889

PSa, you show some very strong understanding of WW's point here. Good use of quoted lines. In those last lines you quote, I think he is saying that The Earth (Nature) must be the standard, the norm, for everything else that happens. I'm not sure what "rituals and practices" you're referring to ... unless it is the "practice " of unnatural theories. Good job. 1200452802

I think that Whitman is trying to tell the audience how words are used and that they have more meaning to them than it seems in his poem, __A Song of the Rolling Earth__. One of Whitman’s lines is, “The song is to the singer, and comes back most to him.” This means that the singer wrote the song for himself, so the song means the most to him. Other than that, I honestly have no idea what Whitman was trying to do in his poem, __A Song of the Rolling Earth__. He mixes up what he is talking about so much that I can’t keep track of where he is going with this poem. The first few lines of the poem are, “ A song of the rolling earth, and of words according, Were you thinking that those were the words, those upright lines? Those curves, angles, dots? No, those are not the words, the substantial words are in the ground and sea, They are in the air, they are in you.” Right of the bat, this made me confused about what “words’ he was talking about. He did not mean the words that we speak of in our languages. I think he meant something deeper, but I just don’t know what. What PSa said above does make sense though, that Whitman is telling people that the human race needs fixing. But I don't see how the human race ties into "words." I thought that is what the poem was supposed to be about? This poem just really confused me. I read it numerous times and I cannot seem to get the meaning of it. **KCa**

In class yesterday, I was in a group that read the poem “A Song of the Rolling Earth.” In the first lines of the poems, Whitman talks about how the words we speak in life aren’t the real words that should be spoken, they are the different stages in nature. For example, the author says that air, the ground, the sea and etc. are the different words in nature. Friendly gestures and the happy presence are also words in nature. I agree and think that the "words" in nature should have some more meaning to them instead of using the regualar language. The world responds to how people treat it. The world doesn’t judge us for what type of people we are. No matter what we say and do. It only sees the goodness in people. The world will always be here and it is just up to us when we want it to effect us. (Page 68, Section 3, Line 1) “I swear the earth shall surely be complete to him or her who shall be complete, The earth remains jagged and broken only to him or her who remains jagged and broken.” I think that Walt Whitman is trying to say that we are a part of the world and that we make up everything in it. Without it, there would be nothing. On page 68, Section 3, Line 17 Whitman says that that “He begins to see little or nothing in audible words, all merges toward the presentation of the unspoken meanings of the earth.” I strongly agree with this because I think that a way you could interpret this is through that actions speak louder than words. The body language we express is represented though the earth’s objects. Overall I think that this poem was sort of weird, but I liked it. I hope that I interpreted the poem in the correct way. I think that one of the main messages that Walt Whitman is trying to say is what you do will be done onto you. user:ape2ape2

I have a different view on the poem than Psa. Although in some places, Whitman describes the flaws of human race, i think the main purpose of the poem is not to aware people of their flaws. In the beginning of the poem Waltman says , " No, those are no the words, the substantial words are in the ground and sea, They are in the air, they are in you." If i had to choose one line from that explained the whole poem, this line would be it. The whole poem is list of different things and ideas that make up this earth. This would make sense because the title of the poem is 'a song of the rolling earth', and in the first stanza, Waltman wrote that everything in this earth is a word for the song of the rolling earth. However, i do agree with Psa on the fact that Waltman suggests few ideas to improve the earth. At one point, he says our actions are also parts of this earth which means that we can make this earth a better place by changing our actions. 1200541887