Thursday, January 9, 2020
Death and Love in Walt Whitmanââ¬â¢s ââ¬ÅOut of the Cradle...
Death and Love in Walt Whitmanââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rockingâ⬠and Emily Dickinsonââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"Because I Could Not Stop For Deathâ⬠According to Sigmund Freudââ¬â¢s theories, all of human instincts, energies, and motivations derive from two drives, the sexual and the death drives. The sexual drive initiates self-preservation and erotic instincts, while the death drive moves toward self-destruction and aggression. The death drive contains the individualââ¬â¢s unconscious desire to die, which implies seeking the destruction of the sexual drive. This is why, acording to Stephen P. Thornton, ââ¬Å"Freud gave sexual drives an importance and centrality in human life, human actions, and human behaviorâ⬠(Thornton). Thus, In Freudian terms, every decisionâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦The answer he receives from the sea is the same repetitive message, ââ¬Å"the low and delicious word deathâ⬠(168). Hearing this painful song and the seaââ¬â¢s constant response brings the boy to his own experience, he begins to feel the pain himself releasing within him a flood of emotions which result in his awakenin g into maturity and his destiny as a poet: ââ¬Å"For I, that was a child, my tongueââ¬â¢s use sleeping, now I have heard you,/ Now in a moment I know what I am for, I awakeâ⬠(146-147). From this beautiful song of love and death ââ¬Å"Whitman derives an intense and somber lesson in mortality and inspirationâ⬠(Bauerlein). Out of the death of the bird comes the birth of a poet, and more specifically of a poem and of song. The final line of the poem ââ¬Å"The sea whisperââ¬â¢d me.â⬠(184), shows us the reality of the poet. Born from the experience of love echoed by its source, death. Death created a song of love and the sea confirmed the ââ¬Å"originalâ⬠death, or death as origin. These calls and responses are brought about by an awareness of the connection of nature to man. The poet, separated and yet tied to/created by nature, in turn creates a poem from love and death, one that reflects and rewrites this play of unity and separation, love and death, E ros and Thanatos. In Emily Dickinsonââ¬â¢s poem the theme of love and death is treated differently, even with a touch of humor. The perspective is of some experiencing death first hand. The
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