- What I thought the poem was about
- How I interpret Whitman's use of various words and tone
- Discussion of any symbolism I see, if any
With that, our first poem.
O Tan-Faced Prairie-Boy
O tan-faced prairie-boy,
Before you came to camp came many a welcome gift,
Praises and presents came and nourishing food, till at last among the recruits,
You came, taciturn, with nothing to give--we but look'd on each other,
When lo! more than all the gifts of the world you gave me.
In my eyes, this is a very straight-forward poem. I imagine a Union camp in the middle of a muggy summer. The veterans are going about their duties when fresh recruits arrive. The speaker in this poem has been used to the regular gifts that come into the camp, like any soldier receiving regular care packages from home. He has grown so used to them and to the drudgery of life outside of battle that he is looking for something new, something that will give him hope.
He finds it in this new recruit. He sees the boy (a word that can probably be taken quite literally, 14-16 years of age most likely), and for some reason is drawn to him, perhaps a resemblance to a brother or close cousin, or maybe even a known relative. The boy is quiet, sullen, unsure of his future and probably quite scared. He has come to camp with a brave face on as he acts the part of a man. When the speaker catches the eye of the new recruit, something in the boy is drawn to the speaker as well. That is when this gift is given.
The obvious question for this poem is the gift, what is it? I think it's easy. It's a smile or a gesture of recognition, depending on if you think the speaker knows the boy or not. I come to this decision by going in the opposite direction of the penultimate line of the poem. The boy is there, very stern and with nothing to give but something spiritual or physical, such as a smile. When he sees the speaker, he gives that gift because I think the boy is relieved to see someone who he thinks (for whatever reason) is going to make his new life easier. It's quite moving when you think of it like that. Prairie sunshine comes to camp and reminds the speaker of something better, something hopeful.
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I always thought it was Walt falling in love with him at first sight. And the return smile made him happy.
ReplyDeleteFor me it is about a strong feeling of attraction that an older man has for a young boy; on the surface they seem incompatible, from different social classes, with the younger man not even seeking this love. The older man has everything he could wish for in life, except love. The moment when he sees this boy, he falls in love at first sight, and it is this feeling of awakening, of vibrancy and of passion that he finds rewarding and fulfilling - and in this sense even though the boy has given him nothing in the literal sense, he has given him everything in the spiritual sense.
ReplyDeleteI kind of established the boy being a personified version of a desolate grassland during the war, as prairie is literally grassland so the personification would be using tan-faced to show the destruction war has had on the land, and the gifts which the land is giving the troops is food. As if the land is sacrificing itself without asking for anything in return by being reserved in speech, which would make sense to the word Taciturn. Perhaps its a double meaning, however. I can definitely see how this could relate to an actual boy coming into war.
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