What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand?
What Think You I Take My Pen in Hand? - meaning Summary
Choosing the Ordinary
Whitman refuses grand public subjects and instead records a small, intense human moment: two men embracing on a crowded pier as one departs. The poem foregrounds ordinary intimacy over spectacle, insisting that the private, emotional exchange of common people is worthy of poetic attention. It reflects Leaves of Grass themes of democracy, compassion, and valuing everyday life rather than public grandeur.
Read Complete AnalysesWHAT think you I take my pen in hand to record? The battle-ship, perfect-model’d, majestic, that I saw pass the offing to-day under full sail? The splendors of the past day? Or the splendor of the night that envelopes me? Or the vaunted glory and growth of the great city spread around me?—No; But I record of two simple men I saw to-day, on the pier, in the midst of the crowd, parting the parting of dear friends; The one to remain hung on the other’s neck, and passionately kiss’d him, While the one to depart, tightly prest the one to remain in his arms.
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