Ryan's+Take+on+Meagan's+Assignment

= Meagan's Assignment: =

__**Part 1: Free Write Notes:**__ -Whitman's connection to Champollion could be viewed in several ways: possibly the work of great men is not acknowledged until their death, or that the greatness of a discovery, an interpretation or a piece of work takes time and reflection. Whitman's work and persona, like Champollion's would be valued and truly appreciated long after his death. Also, Whitman like Champollion can be seen as a kind of cultural recorder, or maybe even translator of America. Whitman as recorder and keeper of versions and instances of America?

From Whitman's "A Backward Glance O'er Traveled Roads"

On Leaves of Grass:

"I have not gain'd the acceptance of my own time, but have fallen back on the fond dreams of the future anticipations...I have had my say entirely my own way, and put it unerringly on record-the value thereof to be decided by time" (712-713).

__**Part 2, 3, 4 & 5: Blog Post, Norton, and Curation**__


 * [To start, I'd like to say that these parts of the assignment all sort of go together, within the context of Meagan's in class discussions]
 * Out of the Norton selections, which I think might be a better way for students (and maybe me) to grasp or relate to parts of the poem, I've pulled these lines (below) which I found important when considering ideas of translation, interpretation, and reading. So I suppose this is my own personal curation of the poem. It also speaks to the 5 instances of translation, that I think Meagan was looking for.
 * Moreover, It seems to me that Whitman's recurring hieroglyphics, or image-words that we as readers can relate to in these selections are: grass, people, age and death. He uses each of these hieroglyphics to intrinsically manifest a way to speak to his readers, Whitman manipulates the ways in which each of these image-words can be used.

vegetation. Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow zones Growing among black folks as among white, Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the same, I receive them the same. And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.
 * *Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced babe of the

dren? The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,
 * What do you think has become of the young and old men?And what do you think has become of the women and chil-


 * Through me many long dumb voices,

the father-stuff,
 * And of the threads that connect the stars, and of wombs and of

I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.
 * I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,

If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, **
 * I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,


 * The challenge of Leaves of Grass, becomes the overwhelming density of the poem. It's entirely too much to take in at once. And with the Norton's selection, this might greatly help readers. For once, I do agree with their selection. So in that sense, their curation of the poem, might be best for first time readers of Whitman.

> "I have not gain'd the acceptance of my own time, but have fallen back on the fond dreams of the future anticipations...I have had my say entirely my own way, and put it unerringly on record-the value thereof to be decided by time" (712-713). Maybe his readers are his time-makers, and that only through the course of numerous time-makers, generations of them, Whitman will be accepted into a more enduring place in the world, and within literature.
 * If we're asking ourselves how Whitman relates to Champollion, (how their works are or will become a calling card to posterity) or more plainly put: how future generations will benefit from these works, then, Whitman must be translating for these future generations, like Champollion did. Except maybe, Whitman had it in his head that his audience (or would be audience) was more widespread than his counterpart. His words might reach a different part of the soul and mind than Champollion was ever able to do. Just like the Rosetta Stone was found, and Champollion managed to unlock some of its secrets through translation, Whitman has compiled a work in which years later we are able to read America through the lens of an American poet. But this still doesn't answer the question of who Whitman might be translating for. The real questions becomes, for me at least, why do we need a translator? And why did Whitman managed to take it upon himself to be this translator? I mean, do we need a poet to translate America for us? Maybe we do, we still have the US Poet Laurete championship thing in place, so perhaps Whitman was dead on, as far as translation: we always need someone, some gifted man or woman of words to create a reflection of the world we live on. Or something.
 * Trying to answer what role Whitman is imagining for his readers, is a difficult one. Perhaps he is imagining that we are everyone and no one. To go back to the reasons for his writing of this poem, that "A Backward Glance" provided:


 * Also, I found myself wanting to curate what I had already selected from Norton's curation (above). So I decided to cut it down to something even more simplistic:

Growing among black folks as among white, the beautiful uncut hair of graves The smallest sprout shows there is really no death And of the threads that connect the stars, and of wombs and of the father-stuff I too am untranslatable, I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love, If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, **
 * Or I guess the grass is itself a child


 * (This mixes so many of his sections and is taken from parts of lines) The choices here focused around grass, and death, but in conjunction with the unknown, or untranslatable. The grass is this connecting force, like the green stuff woven, that links everything. Grass is constantly involved in a cycle of rebirth, throughout the seasons, it grows, lives, dies and begins with small sprouts again in the spring. To me these little lines speak more to Whitman that anything else has. Thanks, Meagan!

__**Notes on Assignment:**__

I have to say, Meagan, that I have a better understanding of the poem, that somehow didn't hit me until I broke it down into my own curation. And that's funny, because we've spent how long on this poem--in our graduate class? And I think that even if students don't necessarily answer all of your questions, I do think the simple idea of making your own selection from the poem is a great project. It greatly helped that you focused this assignment within a few chunks of the poem (the Norton that you gladly sent me). And then we further broke it down into our own little world of what translation means to us, or might mean to us. Specifically the connection between grass and death and rebirth, was a powerful and resonating moment that I found through my second, and shorter curation. Also, what boldly stuck out for me now, that didn't before, was Whitman's focus on the unknowable: whether this takes the form of knowing another person, knowing America, or knowing the world. And I loved that.

I did get a sense of the purpose of the assignment, and I see that you were trying to use Champollion's place in history, and role as translator and interperter as a way for students to approach Whitman. My only concern is that I did have a pretty difficult time getting focused on this assignment. By this, I mean I had a hard time starting out. I strongly feel that I didn't quite make the connection between translation and Whitman, but maybe I did in some backward way, and within my own train of thought. Although, this being said, I do think that with in-class direction, guidance, and discussion I could have gained a better understanding of what translation means, before as a student I launched off into questions of translation within Whitman's poem.

Thanks,

Ryan 