All about Walt Whitman

5 CONCLUSION (Part 4)

Now a passage from section 4 of “Salut au Monde!,” with the use of anaphoras, the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of verses (see section 3.5) and a catalogue of geographical features. This poem appears early in Whitman’s poetic life, in 1856. It counterbalances, from the beginning, his effusive nationalism and shows that he had a world vision as well, with high regard to other countries, peoples and cultures. This poem is in a way connected to “Passage to India,” which expands it and searches for transcendence from materials, inciting the soul to travel to more than India on to “the seas of God” towards the spiritual dimension.

WHITMAN:

I see plenteous waters,
I see mountain peaks, I see the sierras of Andes where they range,
I see plainly the Himalayas, Chian Shahs, Altays, Ghauts,
I see the giant pinnacles of Elbruz, Kazbek, Bazardjusi,
I see the Styrian Alps, and the Karnac Alps,
I see the Pyrenees, Balks, Carpathians, and to the north the Dofrafields, and       off at sea mount Hecla,
I see Vesuvius and Etna, the mountains of the Moon, and the Red           mountains of Madagascar,
I see the Lybian, Arabian, and Asiatic deserts,
I see huge dreadful Arctic and Antarctic icebergs,
I see the superior oceans and the inferior ones, the Atlantic and Pacific, the        sea of Mexico, the Brazilian sea, and the sea of Peru,
The waters of Hindustan, the China sea, and the gulf of Guinea,
The Japan waters, the beautiful bay of Nagasaki land-lock’d in its            mountains,
The spread of the Baltic, Caspian, Bothnia, the British shores, and the bay          of Biscay,

The clear-sunn’d Mediterranean, and from one to another of its islands,
The White sea, and the sea around Greenland.

OUR RE-CREATION:

Vejo águas profusas,

Vejo picos de montanhas, vejo as serras dos Andes onde se alinham,

Vejo claramente os Himalaias, Chian Sahas, Altays, Ghauts,

Vejo os pináculos gigantes de Elbruz, Kazbek, Bazardjusi,

Vejo os Alpes da Estíria e os Alpes de Karnac,

Vejo os Pirineus, Bálcãs, Cárpatos, e ao norte os campos de Dofra, e ao mar o monte Hecla,

Vejo o Vesúvio e o Etna, as montanhas da Lua, e as montanhas vermelhas de Madagascar,

Vejo os desertos líbio, árabe e asiático,

Vejo imensos e medonhos icebergs Árticos e Antárticos,

Vejo os oceanos superiores e inferiores, o Atlântico e o Pacífico, o mar do México, o mar do Brasil e o mar do Peru,

As águas do Indostão, o Mar da China, e o golfo da Guiné,

As águas do Japão, a bela baía de Nagasaki abrigada em suas montanhas,

A extensão dos litorais Báltico, Cáspio, Bósnio, Britânico e a baía de Biscaia,

O ensolarado Mediterrâneo e de uma a outra de suas ilhas,

O mar Branco e o mar ao redor da Groenlândia.

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