Analysis
Walt Whitman is known for his beautiful and evocative poetry, and his poem “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” is no different; it uses expressive language and formatting to evoke deep emotions and to thrill the reader. It is thought that this poem was written about an experience from Whitman’s own childhood, which affords it a direct and linear plot. The poem was first published in the Saturday Press in 1859, under the title “A Child’s Remembrance.” The following year, it was included in Whitman’s famous collection Leaves of Grass, under the title “A Word Out of the Sea.”
Whitman’s poem narrates an early childhood experience at Paumanok, New York; the speaker sees a pair of mockingbirds in a nest and marvels at their beauty and their loving relationship until, one day, one bird fails to return. The speaker is then both heartbroken and inspired by the lilting, somber song of the remaining bird, and he becomes enraptured by nature as he perceives the ocean repeatedly whispering the word “death” to him (this word above all others).
This poem is unique in its refrains that juxtapose several different sections of the text. These juxtapositions are most evident in the differences between the beginning and the end of the poem—which affords the poem a sense of the beginning and the end of a dream. The poem starts with a rhythmic, almost chanting, refrain. Each line begins in a similar fashion with metered phrases (known as anaphora: the words “Out of the . . .” are repeated at the beginning of every line) that create a lulling, rocking feeling as the poem opens, enclosing the reader in this rhythmic, evocative dream.
The final refrain, however, is in direct contrast with this; the meter is gradually broken, creating a sense of disorder and frenzy. After stating that the speaker’s own “songs” (poems) were awakened by the melancholy song of the bird, the poem ends with the line, “The sea whisper’d me”—and thus the rhythm of the poem is abandoned altogether.
Between the inception and the conclusion of this dream state is the dream (or memory) itself; the speaker follows a path through his recollection of watching the birds in their love and harmony, their tragic separation, and the mourning cry of the solitary bird. Through the bird’s refrain, he perceives his own calling—the song tugs on the speaker’s heart and evokes the songs he has within himself.
This is the inciting incident that catalyzes the speaker’s interest in becoming a poet: the birth of his ambition toward verse. Through this dream of a memory, the speaker comprehends the beauty of nature and begins to grasp the weightiness of life and death. This poem uses its structure and phrasing to transfix the reader—much like the speaker was transfixed by the birds—and leads the reader back out of this state with a new appreciation for nature and life. This is the nature of the poetry that the speaker was inspired to create.
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