FACING west, from California's shores,
Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,
I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the
land of migrations, look afar,
Look off the shores of my Western Sea—the circle almost circled;
For, starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,
From Asia—from the north—from the God, the sage, and the hero,
From the south—from the flowery peninsulas, and the spice islands;
Long having wander'd since—round the earth having wander'd,
Now I face home again—very pleas'd and joyous;
(But where is what I started for, so long ago?
And why is it yet unfound?)
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From guest Max (contact)
this poem is a great example of incompleteness and/or that having [done] everything will not always make a person happy or complete. I like that he mentions "the circle almost circle" it implies that he has done everything and been everywhere and what he hasn't found must be non-materialistic, maybe it means he needs to search the heavens (to find God?) -
I like the parathesis at the end. I feel it speaks on a higher ground than the piece at hand which seems to be more-over scenery and the like.
A good piece that Whitman has written here.
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Dichotomy
In the body of the poem practically every word used adds to the general sense of some sort of expansion or progress. Words like "seeking," "child," and "wandering" all have the sense of an ongoing quest, and the reference to "the house of maternity" calls up images of a newly begun journey. However, Whitman chooses to couple these images with several that give a sense of age and exhaustion. "Very old," "long ago," an the "West" (where the sun sets) all add to this very opposite meaning. I believe Whitman is actively trying to create this dichotomy. When these two images are combined, we get the feel of a long and ongoing journey that has reached a point of rest but not of terminus. I believe this is a good metaphor for life.
Walt Whitman was a man who believed in the value of freedom and he knew the sacrifices that American men and women must make in order to be free.
Both of these poems could come from a man who was questioning his sexual identity and was discouraged because he could not be himself. When he is "Facing west, from California's shores" Whitman is still looking for something. He could be searching for the courage to admit that he is homosexual. In "I Hear America Singing" he is observing all of the townspeople singing about what makes
"Look off the shores of my Western sea, the circle almost circled" I think it really captures the essence of Whitman as a patriotic or American poet. From the time America was founded, people have wanted to move west, to explore the new frontier. Whitman writes of the shores of the Pacific Ocean, the California shores, and wonders what else is out there. We have gone as far west as possible. Any farther west is, once again, the East. Hence, "...the circle almost circled." I think Whitman has asked the question which many Americans are asking themselves: "What now?"
feel that the poet is expressing that he feels that he has nowhere else to go in his life.He has traveled all around and has not found what he wants. He is now on the corner edge of the places that he needs to go and now doesn't know what he wants to do. The last line of the poem is where the significance really lies. He is saying that he has been searching for so long for something and he hasn't found it yet. But in other words he doesn't really know what he has been searching for, so how will he be able to find it?
ideals of American pioneers
standing on the coast of California still looking west.
The problem now is that pioneers have gone too far and there is nowhere left to discover. The speaker then turns upon his own land and questions the reason they came to this land in the first place. It seems that the entire reason for coming over has been lost by the people and the "goal" of the pioneers has still not been reached. The speaker, in a way,comes full circle. Pioneers, starting in the far east and ending up on the shores of California (the far west). The entire earth has been discovered and now there is nowhere else to go. Except up!
"I, a child, very old..." This is almost an oxymoron -
You can comb the earth, shop every store- if what you're looking for is a matter of the heart, you won't find it there..... Amazing piece, once again.
~always
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