On the Beach at Night , written by Whitman shows a clear marking of transitional writing that bridges American Transcendentalism and Realism. The poem has many Transcendental features and it also evokes American realism as well through symbolism. The poem is written in a simple manner that explores the themes of individualism, political issues in America , nature, immortality, endurance and hope and others.
The poem explores the theme of individualism which is a clear essence of Transcendental writing. In the poem , the father and daughter are two different individual beings where the father represents the experience and the daughter represents the innocence. This also shows Blakean style of writing or Romanticism in the poem. Whitman draws the imagery of lord Jupiter and sister of Pleiades who are also two individuals stars having their own brightness. Critically , a sense of individualism is portrayed to show that the problems in life are engulfed for a temporal a period of time in one’s life despite individual differences.
The writing of nature is another traits of Transcendental writing. Nature is depicted to teach mankind about human life. One can see another Romantic traits in the poem where nature becomes a sole teacher to the daughter. This is translated through a father who has experienced and he translates the imagery of nature to his daughter to project the reality of human life. In the poem, when the “ravening clouds” eclipses the constellation of stars , Jupiter and sister Pleiades, the father tells his daughter that the dark clouds cannot hold its victory for a long period of time. He means to suggest that problems and difficulties hinders the brightness of human life for a temporal period in one’s life but the human life shall “shine out again” after the phase is over.
The theme of endurance and hope is observed in the poem. The father tells her daughter to be patient and he kisses her to remove her tears. He comforts her by telling her that the dark clouds will eclipse the stars for a short period of time meaning that one has to endure problems and difficulties in life which sways back and forth in human life. The father also states that she can see the Jupiter and sister Pleiades once again the other night for they are immortal and the dark clouds has just eclipsed them in “apparition”. It shows that one should not lose hope in life for problems in life also hinder human existence for a while but it gradually subtracts and one shines and are visible to others again.
The symbolism in the poem is also intense that evokes American realism and political issues of that time. The “beach” symbolizes the individual isolation and “night” symbolizes the temporality. The “stars” symbolizes the ray of hope whereas the “father” could symbolize the founder of America or great leaders of America. The “daughter” could symbolize the present generation of America. The “racening clouds” or “burial clouds” symbolizes literally the problems of human life as well as politically the issues of Slavery and uprising Civil War. The “Jupiter” could symbolize America whereas the sister “Pleiades” symbolises the States of America. It is so because the brightness of both has diminished for a temporal period of time because of the “ravening clouds” instituting that America’s glory has diminished because of internal politics and issues.
Furthermore , the idea of soul is another aspect of Transcendental feature and writing. Whitman delves deeper into a mere philosophical tone where there is something that is more immortal than Jupiter and Pleiades. According to the father , the human soul is eternal and surpasses all limits of existence throughout the entire cosmos and the universe. The establishment of grandeur aspect of human soul to a higher order shows the transcendental writing of over soul.
Walt Whitman as a Transcendental Poet
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