Ode to Walt Whitman

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1930

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

As the title indicates, “Ode to Walt Whitman” is an ode. According to the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, an ode is a “formal, ceremonious, and complexly organized form of lyric poetry, usually of considerable length” (971). Lorca’s poem is rather long: It has 137 lines. The lines vary in length: Some have a mere three words and some cover most of the page, recalling Whitman’s long lines. In the English translation by Greg Simon and Steven F. White, Lorca’s lines are broken into 23 stanzas. As this guide focuses on Simon and White’s English translation, Lorca’s meter in Spanish is not discussed; meter in English and Spanish greatly differ due to various differences in the languages.

Generally, the stanzas in the English translation of Lorca’s poem could be considered free verse. In other words, stanza length varies from four to 11 lines. Specifically, nine stanzas contain four lines; three stanzas contain five lines; three stanzas contain six lines; three stanzas contain seven lines; two stanzas contain eight lines; one stanza contains nine lines; and two stanzas contain 11 lines.

Allusion

Lorca, following the humanist literary tradition, mingles pagan and Christian allusions. In addition to the previously discussed faun and satyr, Lorca references “Apollo” (Line 32) and “Harpies” (Line 103) from Greek mythology. Apollo is a god of the pastoral (especially the sun), music, poetry, truth, medicine, and archery. He is known for being very beautiful, so Lorca’s comparison of Whitman’s thighs with Apollo’s thighs is a high compliment. Conversely, a harpy is a half-bird and half-woman creature and considered quite ugly. This is a derogatory name Lorca uses for people who engage in homophobic violence. A subset of harpies called furies are responsible for punishing traitors—especially traitors against family.

Lorca also references the Bible. He refers to Whitman as an “Adam of blood” (Line 45), characterizing him as masculine as Adam is the original man in the Book of Genesis. This Biblical allusion is developed in the line “when a friend eats your apple” (Line 63), as eating an apple caused the fall of man and expulsion from the Garden of Eden. In Lorca’s poem, eating the apple refers to homosexual behavior; this connects Whitman with modern men who are happy being out as homosexual, and urban, self-hating gay men who violently lash out at other gay men.

Repetition

Lorca utilizes repetition in several ways throughout “Ode to Walt Whitman.” He begins three consecutive stanzas with the same phrase: “Not for a moment” (Lines 29, 40, 45). This kind of repetition can be considered an example of anaphora. The phrase is initially completed with “have I failed to see” (Line 30), and the successive clauses are examples of what the speaker has not failed to see, even for a moment. Anaphora allows for the list to continue and structures the lines that follow to be connected to the initial premise. Another example of this kind of repetition is in the repeated, “He’s one too! That’s right!” beginning two consecutive stanzas (Lines 53 and 61). These allow for the listing structure to identify Whitman and other homosexual men.

Another kind of repetition Lorca uses is repeating a single word multiple times. Over two lines, the word “agony” (Lines 81-82) is repeated four times: At the beginning of one line and at the end of the other. This style of repetition encases, or surrounds, the other words in the two lines. The “world” (Line 82) and dreams—“dream” repeated twice (Line 81)—are enclosed by agony. This is an example of Lorca’s duende—the expression of the darkness that is a part of life.