Whitman's Notebooks

Document Observations:

The cover of Whitman's notebook looks worn out and is discolored.  This signifies the use it was to Whitman, he must have had it and used it for a very long time in order for it to become like that.  This must have been a meaningful possession to Whitman by carrying it around and making a lot of use out of the journal.  He is a poet and most writers need a place to write down their thoughts at anytime of the day and that could include Whitman too.  The first writing I could read was his page titled "Brochure."  It talks about dialogue and between people and mentions the president elect which at the time was Abraham Lincoln.  I also noticed the stamp that was on the first page is on the second as well.   This stamp says "Liberty of Congress."  He could have used this stamp in order to categorize these thoughts on this page and the previous one (and whichever ones had the stamp on it) to have something to do with his thoughts on the world around him.  I also notice how his thoughts on pages tend to be circling one subject, for instance his page on religion.  This could help Whitman put together writings on one subject and tell his opinion and views about the topic that can be generalized to a larger audience.  Whitman uses a lot of questions within his poems and from one of the pages he is using questions in his notebook too.  These questions could have initiated some of Whitman's poems and use of these questions in his poems to sprout bigger questions to the audience.  Another observation that I made throughout these notebook pages was that he crosses out a lot of his words in order to replace them.  This could mean that Whitman is very picky with his writing and wants to precise.  By looking at the page titled "Ship of Libertad" it looks like he used this journal for more than just thoughts, it was the beginning of some of his poems.  By having them in a journal it could signify that Whitman used the notebook to have it with him everywhere just in case a thought popped up into his head that he wanted to write down.  Contrasting his writings and beginnings of poems, the last pages on the website show pictures he had drawn.  The pictures actually look like him, but only his pictures.  Drawing pictures of himself in different ways like how he actually looks, to cartoons, to Abraham Lincoln's hat could signify each perspective and topic that Whitman has covered in his poems. 

Document Notes Observations:

On the inside of Whitman's notebook's cover there are a bunch of names and addresses which could reveal who was important to Whitman's life who he would have trusted to have his notebook if it ever got lost or taken and could return it to Whitman.  Or if Whitman died they could take the notebook and spread his thoughts to the world before he could.  The conversation of dialogue I observed seems to be an imagined conversation between himself and the president.  This could be able to connect to Whitman and his political stance, which meant some basic views for the country could be reviled with this.  Or this could mean that Whitman has some contrasting views with Abraham Lincoln.  Some of these writings in his notebook did turn out to be a part of his poems which means that Whitman had be keeping log of his thoughts that just randomly turned into poems.  This also means that Whitman's poems are personal and came out of him naturally by having them in a notebook that he took everywhere.  The page that I noticed his questions also ended with two last words, "and you."  This is able to relate to Whitman's poetry technique of have stanzas that are questions and then in another stanza he gives an answer.  On these pages as a whole the word 'Libertad' is used a lot which can reflect Whitman's beliefs and how he finds Liberty very important.  Unlike my thoughts the notes say that Whitman did not draw them himself.  It is however a drawing of Whitman.  The drawings of Whitman were of him during periods of his life, not his beliefs.  They were to represent Whitman before he was a nurse for the Civil War and then after when he went for drinks and had time with his friends.