Thursday, November 1, 2012

Facing West From California's Shores- Walt Whitman





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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