| As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days |
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| As I walk these broad majestic days of peace, | |
| (For the war, the struggle of blood finish’d, wherein, O terrific Ideal, | |
| Against vast odds erewhile having gloriously won, | |
| Now thou stridest on, yet perhaps in time toward denser wars, | |
| 5 | Perhaps to engage in time in still more dreadful contests, dangers, |
| Longer campaigns and crises, labors beyond all others,) | |
| Around me I hear that eclat of the world, politics, produce, | |
| The announcements of recognized things, science, | |
| The approved growth of cities and the spread of inventions. | |
| 10 | I see the ships, (they will last a few years,) |
| The vast factories with their foremen and workmen, | |
| And hear the indorsement of all, and do not object to it. | |
| But I too announce solid things, | |
| Science, ships, politics, cities, factories, are not nothing, | |
| 15 | Like a grand procession to music of distant bugles pouring, triumphantly moving, and grander |
| heaving in sight, | |
| They stand for realities — all is as it should be. | |
| Then my realities; | |
| What else is so real as mine? | |
| 20 | Libertad and the divine average, freedom to every slave on the face of the earth, |
| The rapt promises and luminè of seers, the spiritual world, these centuries-lasting songs, | |
| And our visions, the visions of poets, the most solid announcements of any. |
I myself had an illuminating weekend. I connected with others at a Model United Nations conference and felt my visions be illuminated like the “lumine of seers”. I enjoyed political discourse with my fellows from all over: Manhattan, Memphis, China. Most importantly, I was treated with respect and felt like I had a sense of duty there. Meeting Aniket Shah, a junior at Yale who is on the Board of Directors for Amnesty International was truly incredible. To witness the amazing 20 year old as a representative working for human rights blew my mind. It was like I was walking the “broad majestic days of peace”. This idealism dazzled me; I could hear the “éclat of the world [and] politics” like never before. I could see the “ships” (the understanding and hope in our youthful eyes) but I still knew that this would “last a few” years.
Something my Yale Model United Nations chair said to me resonated. Although we gain speaking skills, a little international affairs lingo, and background knowledge of events, MUN is only a simulation. I now realize I am here on this earth to give time to real things. I am done modeling. I am now ready to act and be an activist. Human rights, Darfur, these issues are “realities” and “are not nothing”. I make my own realities. Now I can understand the urgency of Whitman- that “freedom to every slave on the face of the Earth” is necessary.
In the end of the poem, my visions are truly solid. They are not just dreams or ideas. They are realities, just like poems are the most solid realities we have.
First of all Model UN sounds awesome and I wish I did it and 2nd of all, I really like this poem and Whitman in general. He’s probably the best poet I’ve looked at and judging by your response, you agree.
Dev, i totally know what you’re talking about when we were at MUN. It was like, yea were fighting for our opinions on this subject, but where will it go from there. It ends in that room, because it’s just a representation. I feel the same, about wanting to get out there, and REALLY say the things i fought for in the conference.
Nearing the end of senior year, I’m starting to feel the same way about school. Not like a senior slacker feeling, although it is so tempting. It is more like, i want to get out and find my real job and do real things with real problems. I want to move out of the preparation mode, and jump into the active “real world” mode.
I was thinking more about starting out a job and things like that when i read this, which is why the whole “real world” thing came to my mind. It’s like i hear and see all the things people are doing right now everyday in science or politics or anything in the world, but I’m not allowed to engage in it just yet.
I’m reassured, though, that the preparation “stand for realities” and i know that one day my realities will be as solid and concrete as the one’s that occur today, and that is what i can look forward to.
muners: you’re not just playing. you are doing. you are creating your selves. that’s the real lesson you should begin recognizing. you changed. you changed others. you changed with others. did you change the world? yes, just a tiny little bit.
how? you added to the eclat of the world. you announced solid things. you announced solid things. you announced solid things.
seanconnery: i agree…whitman looms large. put him in your pocket. carry him around for a lifetime. he never ends.