Beginning My Studies
Beginning My Studies - meaning Summary
Delight in Simple Beginnings
Whitman celebrates the joy of beginning to study and observe the world. The poem registers wonder at consciousness, bodily senses, motion, and even the smallest creatures. That initial step of awareness both awes and satisfies him so fully that he resists rushing onward; instead he lingers, reveling in perception and singing of it. The tone is ecstatic and contemplative, valuing sustained attention over rapid progress.
Read Complete AnalysesBEGINNING my studies, the first step pleas’d me so much, The mere fact, consciousness—these forms—the power of motion, The least insect or animal—the senses—eyesight—love; The first step, I say, aw’d me and pleas’d me so much, I have hardly gone, and hardly wish’d to go, any farther, But stop and loiter all the time, to sing it in extatic songs.
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