Live with Animals - Whitman

Yen Bui
Essay #2: Analysis Essay
Due on Thursday, October 14th, 2010.
Professor: Amanda Coplin.
Humans’ Life Versus Animals’ Life Human life is complicated. We ought to behave in such a way that does not hurt other people. We are expected to be nice, polite and calm. However, sometimes, people feel tired of being put in a world where they have to act humanely. Walt Whitman, as a normal person, through the voice of his speaker, shows his thoughts about living a human life versus living an animal life in the poem “I think I could turn and live with animals”. The way the speaker fights with himself over whether or not living an animals’ life rather than a humans’ life is very impressive. Even though in the beginning he expresses that he is tired of the troubles in his life and considers living an animals’ life, he eventually concludes after having studied the animals’ life that he prefers the life of a human because it is more sophisticated and more worthy to live.
In the beginning of the poem, the speaker explains the differences between humans’ life and animals’ life. He thinks animals do not have consciousness, so they do not need to think and act humanely. In his view, animals which are “so placid and self-contain’d” never get frustrated with their life, while he is now mad at his own life. He thinks humans’ life is much more troublesome than that of the animals. In the second stanza, he lists some negative aspects of the humans’ life when compared with an animals’ life. Humans usually “sweat and whine” about their living conditions. They commit sins and can’t sleep at night because of their guilt. They have desires and passions which sometimes make them “dissatisfied.” They also have to show their respect to other people. However, animals’ never have to do those things, because they do not have thoughts about them. The speaker uses comparisons to clearly reveal the differences in those two worlds. He seems to be tired of living in this society, where he has to bear so many problems. The speaker is under too much pressure, and he just wants to escape from being a human. At this point, he wishes he can “turn and live with animals.”
Until the end of the third stanza, everything is very straight-forward, but it becomes more and more complicated from the fourth stanza. Figurative words are used more frequently. Moreover, the image of a horse suddenly appears from here until the end of the poem.
“Myself moving forward then and now and forever
Gathering and showing more always and with velocity”
The speaker borrows the velocity of the horse to go to the eternity of his thoughts. While riding the horse, he takes a break from his human’s life and thinks about his life carefully. Up to now, his thoughts are “infinite and omnigenous.” He is fighting with himself whether humans’ life is too troublesome that he should escape from it.
The idea of using the image of the horse in the poem is very interesting. Why does the speaker choose a horse, but not another animal? It might be explained by the intimate relationship between humans and horses which has been built up since the horses became the companions of humans hundreds of years ago. In the end of the third stanza, the speaker considers the horse as his brother. With its strength, the horse gallops and brings him far away with his thoughts. The horse is seen carefully in details under the author’s view. It has “a gigantic beauty”, “head high in the forehead”, “wide between the ears”, “limbs glossy and supple”, “eyes full of sparkling wickedness”, “ears finely cut”, and so on… However, the speaker does not just unintentionally describe the horse. He wants to show that he can see its strength and its morals through its appearance where everything has been revealed. In contrast, he is unable to do so with humans since it is hard to know how people feel by just looking at them. In the end, even though the loyal horse has accompanied the speaker through the long way, he decides to “resign” it. He uses the horse to relax, to go with him through his thoughts, but that is all he needs. The poem is ended by: “Why do I need your paces when I myself out-gallop them? Even as I stand or sit passing faster than you.”
The speaker is actually faster than a horse in some ways. His thinking is faster than a horse galloping. He sees through the horse and knows everything about it. The thing that he needs is not that simple. Looking back at the humans’ world where he gets his thoughts, it is actually sophisticated rather than complicated. At that time, the speaker concludes that he could turn and live with animals, but he actually doesn’t want to do that. Overall, after having studied the horse, the speaker realizes that humans’ life is not as bad as he thought. The sins, the desires and passions make the life more sophisticated. In addition, humans have thoughts and consciousness that they can use to overcome those obstacles, so they should use them as a means to live. Through the poem, the speaker implies that it is more worthy to try something difficult rather than just go with other simple things, because humans are able to get over every difficulty since our consciousness is even faster than a horse.
Word count: 901