Witty Whitman

Step One) 
The cover of Whitman's notebook looks old and overused. Showing it was used often and worn out. Waltman has ideas of a story on page 925 about what it appears to be two characters having a dialouge. Theres also a red stamp on this page. There is also some talk of religions revealing that Whitman is possibly religious or talking negatively about religion becuase God is allowing slavery to happen(which he disliked). He also talks about his time on the front through a poem. This is significant because this is showing poetry has always been a way for him to express himself. There are images of what appears to be him through self-portaits. There are also images of a harp and "THE BOHEMIAN" in upper case and bold font. He includes poem and other images of things such as mouse skull with a dagger in their heart which could represent a character in one of his dialoudes.

Step Two)
Looking closer, Whitmans notebook seems to be imaginary converations between him and the president, Lincoln. The two characters were him and the president having a dialouge. Whitman did not seem to be religious but rather took elements from religions such as the Greek sage, Judiasm and Christianity. Whitman also talks about the union and confronting the Union but does it in the form of poetry. This is an interesting theme and seems to have always wrote about imaginary conversations between him and someone else. He uses second person point of view so this conversation is directed ar someone or something rather than story telling. He also answers his own question "is all then lost?" which is a similar theme that resurfaces in Leaves of Grass. Imagery, personification and metaphors, are shown when reffering to Libertad as a ship and giving very vivid descriptions. The images represent him but not drawn by him which may question the security of his notebook and how many poeple had access to it. The red stamp that is shown on almost every other page is a Library of Congress collection mark. Whitman had quite the imagination when looking at the dialouges and the images of dead mice. The image was said to be a representation of America at the time with a sunset in the background signifying time is up? Whitman expressed most of his thoughts through poetry becuase it could have been easy to write to easy to jot down ideas. He also expressed his opnions of America at the time through this poetry and images. The dialouges with the president, Lincoln, could have been Whitman suggesting improvements for America. His writing is not very legible which shows only he could have been able to read it. He may have been at a bar and he gave his friend his notebook to draw him rather than his friend taking it from him.