Martí and Darío

In Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, the poet comes across as an omniscient being who has come to explain the universe to his readers. This tone starts with his third line, “For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you” (SoM: 1 li 3), building a connection between Whitman and his reader. Whitman is essentially telling his audience that he is no better than anyone else (we are made up of the same atoms, after all) but that he is able to see that connection due to an enlightened perspective. This tone continues as Whitman announces that “I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul” (SoM: 21 li 1) or later with his boast that “I know I have the best of time and space, and was never measured and never will be measured (SoM: 46 li 1-2). He is here to represent all parts of existence and explain them. Again, he is no better than anyone else, but that connection is so important that “Whoever degrades another degrades me, / And whatever is done or said returns at last to me” (SoM: 24 li 7-8). The resulting tone is one who is connected to the audience and nature on an almost divine level.

Jose Marti’s “I Am an Honest Man” carries a similar tone as Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. He eases into the audience’s good graces a little smoother, introducing clearly that “I am an honest man” (li 1) but only a few lines later he announces “I come from everywhere / And I am going toward everywhere” (li 5-6) which echoes Whitman’s ideas of being made up of the same atoms and being the poet of Body and Soul. Marti also transcends above his audience in a similarly omniscient way, later announcing in the poem that “I felt joy once, such that / Nobody ever felt joy: when / The mayor read the sentence / Of my death” (li 33-36). Even though it is his own death he mentions, Marti recognizes the inevitability of death and is not only aware that it will come, but able to laugh at it – a reaction one could expect from Whitman when he boasts “I pass death with the dying” (SoM: 7 li 3).

While Ruben Dario’s work does not carry the same omniscient tone, Whitman’s inspiration is equally as evident, especially in the poem “Fatality,” where Dario speaks for the earth: “The tree is happy because it is scarcely sentient; / the hard rock is happier still, it feels nothing” (li 1-2). Much like Whitman is able to serve as the poet of the Body and Soul, Dario gives voice to non-vocal creations, expressing the pain of human existence.

Works Cited

Dario, Ruben. “Fatality.” Trans. Lysander Kemp. Eds. Suzanne Akbari, Wiebke Denecke, Vinay Dharwadker, Barbara Fuchs, Caroline Levine, Pericles Lewis, Emily Wilson. Shorter 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 695. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Martin Puchner, gen ed. 2 vols. 

Marti, Jose. “I am an Honest Man (Guantanamera).” Trans Aviva Chomsky. Eds. Suzanne Akbari, Wiebke Denecke, Vinay Dharwadker, Barbara Fuchs, Caroline Levine, Pericles Lewis, Emily Wilson. Shorter 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 681-682. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Martin Puchner, gen ed. 2 vols. 

Whitman, Walt. Song of Myself. Eds. Suzanne Akbari, Wiebke Denecke, Vinay Dharwadker, Barbara Fuchs, Caroline Levine, Pericles Lewis, Emily Wilson. Shorter 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 648-653. Print. Vol. 2 of The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Martin Puchner, gen ed. 2 vols.