Analysis Of Poem By Walt Whitman

“Whoever You Are Holding Me Now In Hand”

Upon reading the Calamus cluster, one poem that stood out to me was “Whoever You Are Holding Me Now In Hand.” The poem, one of the longer ones in the group, features Walt addressing the reader who seems unable to release him, and follows the deeply sensual entangling bond between them, far more personal than the typical writer-reader interaction.

It’s important to note Whitman’s language in this piece. As the footnote to this poem suggests, Walt drew inspiration from Jesus’s teachings in the Gospels. While Walt himself may not have been a religious man, in class we’ve frequently discussed how he wished for his writings to become the ‘American Bible’ and his majestic tone certainly enhances that intention. He addresses the reader as his “follower” (Whitman 276) and, like in the Book of John; Whitman discusses his divine role as Jesus does. Whitman becomes all to the reader: “Or if you will, thrusting me beneath your clothing / Where I may feel the trobs of your heart or rest upon your hip / Carry me when you go forth over the land or sea;” (277). However, he does not do this in a chaste way. The poem dances with the erotic - yet another example of how Whitman enjoyed challenging the austere sexual stigmas of the day. He describes caressing the viewer “with the comrade’s long-dwelling kiss or the new husband’s kiss” (277) and he urges the viewer at the beginning to let go of him before “the whole past theory of your life and all conformity to the lives around you be abandon’d” (276). He preaches a new kind of religion devoted to the body; one that calls for kisses as prayers, and a stirring devotion that is all consuming.

Another aspect, which I found interesting upon studying the text, was the dabbling in homoeroticism. While the gender of the reader remains unknown, Whitman places himself into the role of husband and comrade. The husband would suit the heteronormative standards of the time, however the use of the term ‘comrade’ is quite fascinating. He has marked the husband and comrade as two different roles, however he kisses the viewer with the same passionate intent. ‘Comrade’ implies, to me at least, that his reader can be male just as much female, and it’s interesting to see bisexuality written about in this way, especially since at the time it was considered to be a subject of taboo. It is also possible that ‘husband’ was added to avoid further controversy and to satisfy traditional views. The implications are clear, and it is not the first time Walt attempts to describe the romantic relationship between men when there was no word for it. The reader in Whitman’s head was most likely male. At the time, women were not always very educated and perhaps would not have enjoyed Walt’s rugged, uncultured text, while male readers and male writers dominated much of the literary world.

This poem follows an interesting descent into darkness, perhaps one of sexual corruption. At first, Whitman warns the reader to release his hand because there will be consequences. He tells them to “put me down and depart on your way” (277), but the reader does not listen. Whitman speaks of how he would see the world with the viewer and they kiss, sealing their entwined fate. “For thus merely touching you is enough, is best, / And thus touching you would I silently sleep and be carried eternally.” However, something is not right and this becomes clear towards the end of the poems. It seems like the reader has won and is able to hang onto Walt, but the author is slipping from their grip again: “Even while you should think you had unquestionably caught me, behold! / Already you see I have escaped from you” (277). The reader has succumbed to sin, but pleasure is once again elusive to him. The poem takes an interesting turn then, as Walt breaks the fourth wall in a similar way he speaks of being under the bootsoles in “Song of Myself.” He tells the reader that while he has written this book, the reader may not find what he’s looking for in there. Walt speaks of how his poems will not “do good only, they will do just as much evil, perhaps more” (278). He admits to the audience that yes, there are erotic undertones to the text, as majestic and Biblical-sounding as the lines may be. However, he points out the necessity of love and of sex: “For all is useless without that which you may guess at many times and not hit, that which I have hinted at;” (278). His readers can assume that his work is obscene or scandalous, but they cannot deny the importance of love. They can guess that this poem is only about sex, but miss the entire exploration of the emotional bonds that keep lovers together. He’s not afraid to toy with the reader’s perception, not only of power but of their own pre-existing stigmas to the pleasures of the body. Finally, as a last wiggle out of the reader’s grasp he says: “Therefore release me and depart on your way” (278).