“There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.”
With these lines, Whitman seems to be commenting on the importance of the current moment as it is encountered. I enjoy the notion that Whitman is not talking “of the beginning or the end” (as he mentions in the line before), but rather focusing on what the present has to offer. The repetition of the word “now” at the end of each line draws the reader’s attention to this message. “Now” serves to bring the reader into the present moment, and does not allow focus to shift away because ultimately, no matter where each line takes you, it comes back to rest in the present. Whitman says, “There was never any more inception that there is now.” There was no more beginning previously than exists now; there is as much beginning now as there ever was throughout time. This makes one’s possibilities endless. Instead of viewing human existence in the form of a timeline, with the Beginning at one end, and the End at the other, Whitman focuses constant cycle of all things. His motion toward “youth” and “age” serve to reinforce this cyclical relationship between life and death.
The second set of lines immediately reminded me of Miltion’s Paradise Lost: “The mind is its own place, and in itself/ Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n” (1:254-255). I think the significant sentiment that both sets of lines share is the importance of perception. If “there will never be any more perfection than there is now”, then it stands to reason that it is up to the individual to create his or her own version of the perfection that has always existed. Furthermore, in these lines Whitman creates a sense of balance; he pairs youth with age, inception with heaven or hell. There seems to be an inherent balance between the different phases of life in the world Whitman creates for his reader. Everything already exists in the proper quantities, waiting to be experienced.
All of the conditions Whitman mentions in these four lines (inception, youth, age, perfection, heaven, hell) are part of the cycle of life. When removed from the poem, they stand on their own as the various stages of human existence. He seems to be making the point that, there will never be more than there is now, because these conditions exist in a balanced cycle. Ultimately, it is up to each individual person to make the most out of each phase as they encounter it.
The line that really draws my attention in this passage is the "There was never any more inception than there is now". It brings your point home Kate of how Walt is emphasizing that there really is no "beginning" to the present, or as you say the cycle of life. It does seem a paradox in itself to state that there is a beginning to the present, as it constantly happening all the time. You point out Walt's use of "now", which makes me think of all those overused quotes such as "live in the moment" or "take action now" etc, and albeit their cheesiness, they still ring true for future generations just as Leaves of Grass does. Also in an age of romanticizing of earlier decades, its refreshing to read Walt say that there is no more perfect time than now.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. W. seems to asserting/promoting the "now" vs. past and future. I wonder to what extent we always think of ourselves in relation to the past and or the future. Perhaps even more so in American culture - - the lack of past (historically speaking) and the promise of the future so central to so much American thinking. Seems to fit with loafing: we're told to sacrifice now for future rewards (workwise, religionwise, etc.) - - W. argues for a very different temporality, where value is not defined via past or future.
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