Facing West From
California’s Shores
By: Walt Whitman
I
chose to analyze “Facing West from California’s Shores” based off the title
because I am from California so I knew this poem would somewhat strike a note
with me and remind me of home. I enjoy Whitman’s writing mainly because he
wrote about real life issues and about democracy and the urban world.
“Facing
West from California’s Shores” starts out by addressing the unknown world that
is still to be discovered and the westward expansion. The next lines “I, a
child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the land of
migrations, look afar.” In this line, Whitman is addressing everyone, young and
old and the house of maternity I believe is a reference to how America and
westward expansion is a place for “rebirth” and a place to start over. The west
is seen as a place of opportunities.
“Look
off of my Western Sea, the circle almost circled;” is Whitman describing the
world and how it is a sphere, everything continuous and connected. He then
proceeds to name different Asian countries and discuss how joyous he is to
return “home” to America, a land that had been unfound for so long. Whitman
brings up a question in the last line “(But where is what I started for so long
ago? And why is it yet unfounded?)”. In this last line Whitman is recognizing
that America and the west have been here as long as all of the other countries,
so why or how did it go so long being vacant and undiscovered? This poses a
great question, one I myself have pondered also.
When
the world was one mass, and all the countries were connected as Pangea and then
eventually split, how is it that North America was so late in being discover. I
understand why the west of North America was so late to being discovered,
because once America was discovered on the east coast, it took time for people
to travel west and discover all that America could offer. But why so long for
America itself to be discovered? We all know of Columbus’s journey, but is that
truly how America was founded? Whitman touches on these questions, what are
your thoughts?
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