Ode to Walt Whitman

The river is one central symbol in “Ode to Walt Whitman.” The East River is specifically named in Lines 1 and 10, which gives the poem a sense of location. While the silver miners never want “to be the river” (Line 7), Whitman dreams of “becoming a river and sleeping like a river” (Line 43). Whitman, from his pastoral and romantic perspective, wants to mimic and be part of nature. The modern, urban men that labor as part of the lower class do not share this sentiment. Whitman also looks for a “nude like a river” (Line 73). Adoring male bodies is linked to adoring nature, represented symbolically by the river, for Whitman.

Facial features is a motif in “Ode to Walt Whitman.” Tongues appear multiple times, including the “shoreline’s blue tongue” (Line 9) near the beginning of the poem, which relates to the river and Whitman’s connection between the male body and nature. The mouth as a whole is also connected to the natural world. The “mouth of the sky” (Line 14) reflects the river—both are referred to as “blue” in the poem—and this passage personifies the sky. The line between loving nature and loving men is blurred.