Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman's journal is very hard to read and understand due to the various markings and scribbles within his notebook. I think that shows how his way of thinking was very unique because he would be the only one to understand these various markings and scribbles. I think it also shows at the time Whitman did not want anyone who came across his notebook to understand the ideas he included in hit because his beliefs were very progressive for the time period he was living in, which makes it hard to interpret even in todays time period.

Throughout Whitman's notebook there is a lot of focus on God. On many pages there are references to God or Christ. There are also many references to Judaism in his scribbles. Whitman also incorporates a focus on Abraham Lincoln and a conversation that the two might of had. Another major focus that Whitman had throughout his notebook was power which was seen when he mentioned various queens of countries and the throne. Another interesting observation is that there is some sort of seal on many of the pages of his notebook that seem to come at random points so I am not sure what he used it for. There are also many drawings in his notebook of a bearded man which could very likely be himself. Finally there is an interesting newspaper heading on one of the pages of his notebook.

I think Whitman's scribbles and drawings within his notebook say a lot about him. The newspaper heading he drew in his notebook tells me that he had aspirations for some of his works to be published in a newspaper so his ideals could spread to people around the country because they were not popular at the time. I think all of his scribbles and drawings show how his ideals were very different from the common ideals of the time period and that is why they are so messy and hard to follow because I think he feared that if anyone discovered this why he was still living he would be criticized for his ideals.

After understanding what Whitman really wrote it was discovered that his conversation with Abraham Lincoln never actually occurred. It was something that he had created which showed how he had aspirations to hopefully speak to Lincoln but never had the chance to.  Also a clearer picture was made about Whitman's thoughts on religion and how he proposed a four sided God that would hopefully appeal to all people so they could be unified under one God. We also find out that the seal that was on many of the pages of Whitman's notebook was a Library of Congress collection mark that was added after his notebook was recovered and stored by the Library of Congress.