All about Walt Whitman

5 CONCLUSION (Part 21)

From “The Sleepers” we bring the passage that is mentioned in section 2.5.2, which depicts a swimmer’s death by sea water. As we have explained in that section, Whitman was a swimmer himself, and this scene portrays the death of a swimmer that is similar to the death of Carpus in the myth when competing with his friend Calamus, who died shortly after this event (2.5.1). As Whitman saw himself in everyone, it could be argued that the swimmer described in the scene is also a manifestation or projection of his own self, since the swimmer in the passage below is big, like him, and middle-aged. Although Whitman was thirty-seven years old at that time (“The Sleepers” was part of the 1855 edition, in which the poet sings in part 1 of “Song of Myself”: “I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin”), he was prematurely aged enough to look forty-five. As for the poem, it describes Whitman’s vision in his dream, in which he can see the dreams of the other dreamers. However, he also wanders during the day in the light. He is conscious of light and dark, life and death, and is content with both. He always accepts everything and everybody and excludes nothing.

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WHITMAN:

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I see a beautiful gigantic swimmer swimming naked through the eddies of           the sea,
His brown hair lies close and even to his head, he strikes out with            courageous arms, he urges himself with his legs,
I see his white body, I see his undaunted eyes,
I hate the swift-running eddies that would dash him head-foremost on the           rocks.
.

What are you doing you ruffianly red-trickled waves?
Will you kill the courageous giant? will you kill him in the prime of his   middle age?
.

Steady and long he struggles,
He is baffled, bang’d, bruis’d, he holds out while his strength holds out,
The slapping eddies are spotted with his blood, they bear him away, they            roll him, swing him, turn him,

His beautiful body is borne in the circling eddies, it is continually bruis’d on       rocks,
Swiftly and out of sight is borne the brave corpse.

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OUR RE-CREATION:

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Vejo um belo gigantesco nadador nadando nu pelos torvelinhos do mar,

Seu cabelo castanho jaz rente e liso em sua cabeça, ele golpeia com braços corajosos, ele se impele com suas pernas,

Vejo seu corpo alvo, vejo seus olhos destemidos,

Odeio os torvelinhos rápido-correntes que o arrojariam totalmente de cabeça nas pedras.

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O que estais fazendo ondas desordeiras gotejadas de vermelho?

Matareis o gigante corajoso? o matareis no auge de sua meia-idade?

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Firme e longamente ele luta,

Ele está confuso, detonado, contundido, ele resiste enquanto sua força resiste,

Os estapeantes torvelinhos estão manchados com seu sangue, eles o ganham, eles o rolam, o balançam, o giram,

Seu belo corpo é carregado nos circundantes torvelinhos, é continuamente contundido nas rochas,

Rápido e longe da vista é carregado o valente cadáver.

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LOPES:

Vejo um nadador gigante e bonito nadando nu pelos redemoinhos do mar,

Seu cabelo castanho colado rente à testa….bate na água com braçadas corajosas….acelera com suas próprias pernas.

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Vejo seu corpo branco….seus olhos destemidos;

Odeio os rápidos redemoinhos que ameaçam arremessar sua cabeça contra as rochas.

.

O que estão fazendo, ondas cafetinas e sanguinolentas?

Vão matar o corajoso gigante? Vão matá-lo no auge da meia-idade?

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Por muito tempo ele luta e insiste;

Elas o socam o estapeiam o espancam….ele agüenta enquanto suas forças agüentam,

Os rápidos redemoinhos se tingem com seu sangue….elas o levam embora….o viram e reviram e o balançam:

Seu corpo bonito emerge nos redemoinhos….continuamente ferido pelas rochas,

Rapidamente e em outro lugar nasce seu bravo cadáver.

(WHITMAN, 2005, p.165; pontuação de acordo com a edição de 1855)

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