WAStudent+-+Meagan

[|Ilse's assignment] 

**//What do you think is the current attitude towards suicide? Is there more than one kind of suicide? Does how it is done or why it is done shape your opinion? Does society judge suicide according to its particulars?// **  In this discussion, I would probably talk about suicide being viewed as a result of mental illness (especially clinical depression), as something that we strive to prevent (via outreach, counseling, medication, hotlines, physical barriers, etc.). Discussions of suicide often come up in relation to the Golden Gate bridge - the debate about whether a suicide barrier should be installed, if it would be effective, how it should be designed, etc. continues. Suicide also gets discussed in relation to dramatic and disturbing crimes of murder/suicide (that the public and the news are fascinated by). And, it comes up in controversial cases of doctor-assisted suicide (typically for terminally-ill patients). So, based on these few points, we could say in broad terms that our society sees suicide as both a mental and a social disease - a tragic event that not only needs to be but should be able to be cured. And, that the responsibility for addressing it is shared/public (though the extent of this is debated). There are other views of suicide, which are perhaps tied to specific cultures, such as suicide as a way to restore honor (for the individual, or his/her family), or atone for crime. Likewise, many (most?) religions condemn suicide as sinful.
 * __part 1__ - discuss modern view of suicide with classmates, considering questions like: **


 * __part 2__ - read [|this] 1855 article about a suicide in New York and use it as you discuss these questions with your classmates: //What words, imagery, tone, and voice are used to describe suicide and death in pg. 17 of "[|Song of Myself] "?//** **//How does the poem's attitude compare to the article's attitude or what we suppose the 19th century attitude was towards suicide?//**

The article shows great sympathy for the suffering of the family of the man who committed suicide, as well as regret that the man was not able to be saved (either before or after he injured himself). The article attributes the man's suicide to a "mental derangement" brought on by suffering at seeing his family starving while he was unable to provide for them.

In the passage of "Song of Myself" which you've drawn our attention to, Whitman's main relation to the suicide is as an observer - he "witnessed the corpse." He doesn't not express sympathy nor regret the way the news article did. Rather, he sees and records the fact of the suicide, of the death. Still, he expresses universal empathy - seeing himself with everyone, the "mate and companion of [all] people," including the dying and those who take their own lives. Moreover, he does not see death as an ending for anyone. As we are all made up of eternal atoms & energy (soul), we do not die, but continue on, always "onward and outward," recombining and continuing, but never diminishing. This idea of continuance is reflected in the way he introduces the dead person - he says, "the suicide sprawls," a phrase which emphasizes the suicide as an active being. This person's life is over, but he/she is not over - he will continue to "merge" with the rest of the universe, and he/she will sprout as grass in a matter of time.

In my paper, I would look primarily at page 54, focusing on this section of the poem:
 * __part 3__ - write a 3-5 page essay on another passage in the poem. make an argument about what you think the poem says about suicide and/or death and how it compares to 19th century ideas of suicide/death.

** Why should I wish to see God better than this day? ||

I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then,  ||

In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass;  ||

I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name,  ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come for- <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ever and ever. <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #242d35; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; white-space: normal;"> ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And as to you death, and you bitter hug of mortality. . . . it is idle to try to alarm <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> me. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To his work without flinching the accoucheur [**obstetrician**] comes, ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I see the elderhand pressing receiving supporting, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I recline by the sills of the exquisite flexible doors. . . . and mark the outlet, and <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> mark the relief and escape. <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And as to you corpse I think you are good manure, but that does not offend me, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I smell the white roses sweetscented and growing, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I reach to the leafy lips. . . . I reach to the polished breasts of melons. || <span style="color: #242d35; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And as to you life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before. || <span style="color: #242d35; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 20px;"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I hear you whispering there O stars of heaven, <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ||

<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">O suns. . . . O grass of graves. . . . O perpetual transfers and promotions. . . . if <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> you do not say anything how can I say anything? <span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> ||

I would argue that, like in the passage from page 17, Whitman here again juxtaposes birth with death, emphasizing an eternal and cyclical existence and interconnectedness. I would consider the movement in the passage from birth to death, to growth, to food, and to sensuality. I would explain how Whitman jettisons traditional Christian ideas of god and an afterlife, in favor of an understanding which marries spirituality and materiality. And finally, I would discuss the almost fill-in-the-blank quality of the final line I quoted above (O suns...O grass of graves...O perpetual transfers and promotions), in which I think Whitman exhorts us to draw the connections for ourselves, not only between the words, but between the physical realities so that we can create the poem with him and (he hopes) continue it by living it. For, he assumes that by now we are him, no?

Hi Ilse. Is this what you were thinking of with your design? I hope I'm running on the same track as the one you envisioned!
 * __Conclusions__**

I like how you chose to focus on the question of death's role in the poem (and for Whitman) - it seems like an excellent big question and an interesting one with the poem, which seems to dovetail well with other big questions about the relation between I/you and the reader's role in the poem (which I chose to turn to in my "essay"). I also like how pairing the (heartbreaking) article brings Whitman's oddly detached empathy into relief - it really contrasts with the pity and regret of the article. And, the full narrative of the article also contrasts with the starkly brief description in the poem. Did you make anything of that? If you wanted to talk with the class about the cataloging impulse in the poem, that might be a good opening - something along the lines of how/what Whitman achieves with many brief descriptions rather than narratives/stories, and how meaning is (or must be) generated through juxtaposition?

I also liked how you designed the assignments so that students have chances to generate ideas, then apply them to the project (not just have to work on the essay cold). As far as the order goes, though, I think it works more smoothly to start with the discussion/brainstorm about modern ideas of suicide. Then, after that, have them read the newspaper article and compare it to the passage in the poem (rather than reading everything then discussing). And, you might want to build some discussion with you or guidance from you about how to understand 19th century cultural ideas of suicide because that leap from example to generalizing can be a tricky one. In fact, I found myself focusing on the article more as a foil to the poem, to bring out the poem's qualities, rather than as a means to understanding 19th century attitudes. If you're more interested in them drawing conclusions about the poem, I might make that the focus and decrease the importance of cultural assumptions. Also, I definitely focused on death, rather than suicide, as I interpreted the poem. Do you have analysis (or are you looking for analysis?) that sees suicide differently than death in general in the poem? Is page 17 the only mention of suicide? I'm not sure, but if I had to try to put suicide in the Whitmanian context - it would seem to be removed from its special category of death and subsumed into the understanding of all death as not really death. And, at the same time and for the same reason, being somewhat futile. And yet, putting it with the news story you found - Whitman's theory of interconnectedness seems wanting. In the face of such desperation, it is comforting to think of the man and his child continuing on, but I don't know if it is comforting enough? But, I digress...

A couple of questions - would the research into suicide data and laws get incorporated somewhere? I skipped that part because I wasn't sure of its function. And, I like the idea of having students comment on each other's writing and incorporate the advice into their final drafts. How would you evaluate that incorporation? What if a student didn't get any useful advice on his writing? Could you build in an intermediate activity that would model or develop constructive, useful commenting?

Cheers,

Meagan