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Cadet Tran, AA
COL. Ball
ERH-421 WX
29 April 2015
Lessons of Walt Whitman
When I first entered ERH-421WX, reading poems written by a man in the 1860’s was
like reading a map upside down. I felt as if I made a big mistake by signing up for this course as
I sat in class completely baffled for the first couple weeks. Although this intensive course was
challenging, the life lessons that I have learned from the class will last a lifetime. ERH-421WX
covered Walt Whitman’s book, Leaves of Grass, which descriptively described American culture
in the nineteenth century through a series of poems. Whitman's poetry was unique because it
artistically embodied the ideas of freedom, democracy and revolution. The three basic structure
of which the United States was founded on, and for which it fought during the Civil War.
Through many class activities and assignments, Whitman’s ideas in Leaves of Grass has taught
me about the importance of appreciation, being more open, and being able to handle stressful
situations.
In American culture in the 1800’s, freedom played a big role in American culture in the
issue of abolishing slavery during the Civil War. However, Whitman viewed freedom not only
through slavery, but through nature as well. His poetry idealized nature as traveling, searching,
and exploring the world. His love for nature was emphasized in the poem, “When I Hear’d the
Learn’d Astronomer”, which I used in my Scrapbook part 2 in order to show the power of nature
through images. In the poem, Whitman goes on to explain how he had urge to be outside
learning about the stars rather than listen to a great astronomer lecture in a room. In American
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culture today, most students would prefer to write an essay or read in an enclosed environment
isolated away from the world. However, luckily, the short paper (Essay #2 The Nature Effect),
gave me the opportunity to incorporate Whitman’s idea of freedom to explore my surroundings
and travel away from the prison lifestyle in barracks. For the first time, I found myself sitting
above a crystal clear creek bounded by giant white pine trees, listening to the birds chirping, all
while reading Whitman’s poem, “Song of Myself”. This mirrored the American culture of the
nineteenth century. During Whitman's lifetime, the United State grew from twenty- two states to
forty-four and acquired most of the territories through exploration. America was a wilderness,
and Whitman wanted to celebrate what was wild and what was natural about the land and the
people that inhabited it. In today’s American culture, not as many people appreciate the wildlife
since technology has influenced us to stay more indoors. Being able to explore outside and be
free from a confined lifestyle where I could hear the birds chirp, the water trickling down the
river, and crunching noise of dried up leaves, has definitely given me a greater appreciation not
only for nature, but for being alive as well.
Whitman’s idea of a democracy was based on the belief that everyone was essentially the
same, or in other words, equal. Through my short research paper, Imagining American Culture, I
learned that in the 1860’s, the abolishment of African Americans from slavery was a burning
issue that sparked the Civil War. The disagreement between the North and the South broke the
United States in two. Although Whitman did not support slavery, he was opposed the war mainly
due the fact that there was no long a Union left. He wanted everyone to simply work together.
My short research paper showed me Whitman’s description of American culture in the
nineteenth century through section 15 of his poem, “Song of Myself” where the Industrial
Revolution was changing the lifestyle of many Americans. The lists of jobs that were described
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in the poem showed me diversity of jobs available during the technological change. Although
people had many jobs due to the Industrial Revolution, Whitman’s idea of democracy suggest
that everyone played an equal, but important role in progressing America forward. While blue
collared workers may not make a respectable income back then, factory owners depended on
their labor to produce goods for Americans. In other words, Whitman wanted America to work
together instead of splitting up in terms of the Civil War. Similar to that idea of teamwork,
during this course, before each essay is finalized, everyone had to have their draft proofread by
another classmate. At first I thought this was time consuming, tedious and unnecessary, however,
I soon realized how much it improved my own writing. The revision workshop completed on
each essay promoted teamwork between my partner and reliance on one another to help one
another write a successful essay. This experience in ERH-421WX has taught me to become more
open to working with other people. I normally am very quiet and reserved, but the rough draft
evaluations has without a doubt, help me improve and grow as a writer and as a person.
Whitman’s idea of revolution was based on his experienced in the Civil War as a nurse.
Through adding pictures, sounds and reenacting the poem, “The Woun’d Dresser” in my
Scrapbook part 1, Whitman taught me how to handle stressful situations. This project allowed
me to imagine the traumatic experiences that Whitman encountered while being a nurse. The
reenactment of surgery and the sound of war showed not only the type of environment he was in
but the stressful situation between of the life and death of another person as well. He handled this
experience by simply accepting that the process of life and death is endless. With every new
beginning, there comes an end. What this has taught me is that throughout my lifetime, I will
experience many failures and many setbacks, but by accepting that these are all a part of life, I
can have a more optimistic attitude. I can worry less about what could go wrong and in turn,
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understand that bad things, such as death, is bound to happen some point in my life. Therefore,
by focusing on the positives in life and being more optimistic, the experience of analyzing and
creating my scrapbook has helped me handle stress better.
As I the semester comes to an end, I reflect back on the first day I entered class and
thought I made a mistake registering for this class. Now that I’ve overcame the challenges this
course has given me, I am confident to say this has been the best mistake I have ever made. From
not understanding a single word from Whitman’s book, to being able to dissect and analyze
Whitman’s beliefs within his poems, I have grown into a better person. In the future, I hope to
carry all of the life lessons I have acquired throughout this course. These lessons will be very
helpful to me, regardless of what I am trying to accomplish. ERH-421WX has helped me become
more appreciative of my surrounds, helped me become more open to other people, and by being
more accepting. Each new experience I involve myself in has made me continue to grow and
constantly learn something new. I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to take this course and I
know what I have learned will be extremely beneficial.