Walt Whitman's-This Compost
Walt Whitman's 'This Compost", similar to most of his poetry, is written is free verse; therefor, instead of using rhyme and meter to create an underlying rhythm, he creates a rhythm with his gradual flow of thoughts and abundant use of repetition. Also similar to many of Whitman's poems, "This Compost" emphasizes nature, the physical body, sexuality, and the phenomenon of common, ordinary things. The poem is written in first person and is merely the thought process of the narrator as he reflects on self-proposed questions. The main question the narrator asks himself or more accurately proposes to nature is how the earth can create new, non-diseased life from the infectious waste that is put into it. The overall meaning of the poem is also the answer to this question, but what is this answer, how is it related to the title of the poem, and how is it gradually revealed from stanza to stanza? The first stanza introduces the narrator's love of nature as well as his first conception of the poem's main question. He describes his love of the woods, pastures, and the sea; however, the very first line introduces the fact that he is forced to leave these woods because something has startled him. The wording of the first line impl
This poem is really nothing more than the thought process of the narrator as he asks himself questions and searches for the answers to those questions. But why does he see a compost? What could this possibly mean? By now it seems the narrator has answered his own question, but not until later will this answer become evident to the reader. ies that he is startled by something concrete such as an animal or disaster; however, it is later revealed that the narrator is startled by the idea that everything must be diseased because it was formed from particles that were once diseased. The narrator says, " Out of its hill rises the yellow maize-stalk, the lilacs bloom in the dooryards. By looking at his use of the words "spring" and "resurrection", one can see the author's implication of annual rebirth and renewal. The narrator finally arrives at the decision that though everything may have once formed from the diseased, it is miraculously no longer that way. If one were to take a step back and look at "This Compost" from a distance, one would see that this poem is really just Whitman thinking and reflecting on nature. This poem is written almost exactly like a person would think. " The lilacs the narrator refers to is most likely alluding to the poem When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd where the lilac once again is a symbol of rebirth. The narrator is acknowledging that yes, everything may have once been formed from part of a sick person, but that is not what he sees before him. The fourth and fifth stanzas are the narrator's final conclusions to his questions about nature. The narrator says, "Perhaps every mite has once form'd part of a sick person; yet behold! / The grass of spring covers the prairies, / The bean bursts noiselessly through the mould in the garden ". In this first stanza Whitman uses the anaphora "I will" as well as the simile, "I will not touch my flesh to the earth as to other flesh to renew me. Whitman also in a way personifies the ground by inquiring why it doesn't get sick, acknowledging the fact that it is possible that it could become ill, a trait reserved for living things such as humans. The author's implication of annual rebirth is also implied through his allusion to another of his poems.
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