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Educating the Kosmos: "There Was a Child Went Forth"
Author(s): Harold Aspiz
Source: American Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Winter, 1966), pp. 655-666
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2711388
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ASPIZ
HAROLD
CaliforniaState College,Long Beach
Educating the Kosmos:
"There Was a Child Went Forth"
THERE WAS A CHILD WENT FORTH"P DESCRIBES
THE EDEN OF CHILDHOOD,
THE
developing awareness of nature and society,the search for a hopeful
sign in what Coleridge called "reality'sdark dream," and finallythe
The reiterationthat everythingthe
luminous vision of self-fulfilment.
child beheld became "part of him" implies that the poem, in James E.
Miller Jr.'s apt phrase, is concernedwith "the poetic-absorptionof the
universe"1 and that it embodies some of Whitman's ideas about education.
As a record of the quest for the mysteryof life, the lyric is related
to manyof Whitman'sworksand, in a more generalway, to a Romantic
tradition.But, as I shall show,it appears to be built on a phrenological
framework,each of its sectionsroughlyrelating to the developmentof
the phrenological faculties-from lower to higher-as the child grows
up. Dr. J. G. Spurzheim,a pioneer phrenologist,had divided prepubertal
life into "infancy" (birth to 2 years), "childhood" (2 to 7 years),and
"adolescence" (7 yearsto puberty).Lines 5 to 18 of the poem, with their
profusebirth imageryand referencesto childhood,reflectthe firsttwo
period,when conscienceis deperiods.Lines 22 ff.suggestthe 7-to-12-year
veloped and biological drivesare channeled into a searchforlove, ideals,
order and deity.The poem can also be viewed as a phrenologicaldocument, characterizingthe superior child who develops toward personal
greatnessby means of an educational programof observationand selfreliance. For phrenology-the pseudo-scienceof head bumps, rudimena faithin the individual
taryeugenicsand moral perfectibility-asserted
that matched Whitman's own. Despite an insistence that they were
1 James E. Miller Jr.,Walt Whitman (New York, 1962), p. 47.
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American Quarterly
rationalists,its adherentswere oftenlyricallymysticin theirbelief that
theypossessedthe key to the operation of the divine laws.2
We cannot be certain that the poem's hero is young Walt Whitman.
Many of its details are too general or too equivocal. Nevertheless,Hungerfordwas correctin assertingthat "Whitman's idea of the perfect
poet" was "subtlyintertwinedwith his conceptionof himself.And this
liaison was conceived in phrenology,and expressedin its terms."3 But
neither Hungerfordnor other critics have applied the phrenologists'
ideas of poetry,talent or education to the systematicexamination of
Whitman's work. Like Whitman, phrenologistsalleged that poetic
to beautywereinborn.Dr. Franz
temperament,
eloquence and receptivity
Josef Gall, the originatorof phrenology,had professedto discover a
specific organ of poetry.4 "Talent," remarked Whitman's publisher
Orson S. Fowler,is always "entailed" fromsuperiorparents: "education
can only polish the marble . . . only DEVELOP and DIRECT" the
primarymental powers that are "born in and with us." In words that
foreshadowthe "equable" poet-heroof the 1855 Preface to Leaves of
Grass, "the equalizer of his age and land," Spurzheimhad singled out
those"fortunate,ifnot elect" persons,who
from the felicityof their natural constitution,desire only what is
good, who act fromlove, and show pure moralityin all theiractions.
In these happy beings, the superior feelingspredominateover those
common in man and animals.5
The first"law" of the phrenologistsordained that children are the
unique tally of their inheritanceand that they bring well-formedper2 Phrenological "faculties,""organs" or "head bumps" were alleged to be identifiable
segmentsof the brain, controllingspecificpersonalityfunctions.
Chief sources for the phrenologists'theories of education are J. G. Spurzheim,M.D.,
Education: Its ElementaryPrinciples Founded on the Nature of Man (New York, 1847)
and Orson S. Fowler, Education and Self-Improvement:Founded on Physiologyand
Phrenology (New York, 1844). Vol. II of the Fowler work was generallypublished separately as Memory and Intellectual Development and paged separately, but the two
volumes constitutean integral work. For the phrenological movement in America, see
John D. Davies, Phrenology-Fad and Science-a 19th Century Crusade (New Haven,
1955). Edward Hungerford's"Walt Whitman and His Chart of Bumps," American Literature, II (Jan. 1931), 350-85, the important discussion of Whitman's involvementin
phrenology,is incorporatedwith little change in Davies' work. Whitman was demonstrablyfamiliar with the two Spurzheim works and the several books by the brothers
Fowler that are referredto in this article.
For the stages of growth,see Spurzheim,Education, pp. 56-57.
8 Hungerford,American Literature, II, 370.
4 But Spurzheim "corrected" him, labeling the organ "Ideality" and charging it with
the governanceof a wide range of feelings.
5 Spurzheim, Education, p. 185. See also Orson S. Fowler, Hereditary Descent: Its
Laws and Facts Applied to Human Improvement(New York, 1847), pp. 130-31,210, 279.
Educating the Kosmos
657
sonalities into the world. "Education only weakens,or invigoratesand
certainphrenological
refines"desirableinbornqualities by strengthening
faculties.A phrenologicallysound education must thus be equated with
"the law of exercise": properlyexercisingeach organ is a pleasurable
duty which augmentsthe organ's size and quality, and makes possible
of improvedorganictraitsto thenextgeneration.Hence,
the transmission
exercisingthe facultiesin harmonywith nature's obvious and infallible
laws constitutesa sound education. A well-endowed child-like the
recognizetheselaws and follow
poem's younghero-should instinctively
them.0
Education is "an imitativeprocess," based solely "on the lessons of
experience,"said Spurzheim.Man findsthe truth"not by the exercise
of a sublime and speculativeingenuity. . . but by lettinghimselfdown
to simple observation. . . . by followingonly the lightsof observation
and induction." Such observation,explained Fowler, underlies all education:
The inductive
Observation must always precede reasoning....
method of studyingnature,namely,by observingfacts,and ascending
throughanalogous factsup to the laws that govern them,is the only
way to arriveat correctconclusions-the only safe method of studying
any science or operation of nature,Phrenologyincluded, or of ascertainingany natural truth.7
And he advised parents and teachersto "crowd OBJECTS" upon the
notice of children even before they are three months old: "instead of
chiding them,take special pains to explain all and even to excite curiosity to know still more." Stimulatingthe child's observation enables
the law of exerciseto operate and the child to findhis true level.8
Specificallyexercisedin the earlydevelopmentof the poem's child are
a group of Perceptiveor ReflectiveFaculties-Individuality, Eventuality,
Comparison and Causality. The manner of their exercise determines
whetherthe child will use his feelingsand his sensoryperceptionsto
develop "the truly philosophic understanding."9 These four organs,
located above the eyes,and allegedly developed even at birth,"should
be cultivatedand exercisedin the orderof theirdevelopment. ..." The
6 Spurzheim,Education, p. 15; Fowler, Hereditary Descent, passim. This part of the
doctrine seems to be a vulgarization of the Lamarckian theoryof evolution.
7 Spurzheim, Education, pp. 16-17; Fowler, Education, II, 21, 44-45.
8 Davies, Phrenology,p. 82. See also The Autobiographyof a Phrenologist,ed. David
G. Goyder (London, 1857), pp. 554-55. "Curious" and "curiosity"were favorite terms
with Whitman and the phrenologistsalike.
9J. G. Spurzheim, Phrenology, or the Doctrine of Mental Phenomena (New York,
1855), I, 340.
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American Quarterly
firsteighteenlines of Whitman'spoem illustratethe child's use of these
organs,and strikinglyunderscoreSpurzheim'sdictum that "The influence of these laws may be shown to young persons,firstin plants, then
in animals, and at the end in mankind."10
The poem firstshowsthe infantin his colorfulbower. His birthparallels nature'sspringtimerenewal.It is April; the "early lilacs," white and
purple, and the ovoid spring flowersof the "white and red clover" (a
strikingbirthsymbol)are in bloom. The "whiteand red morning-glories"
announce the glorious morningof the world that is renewedwith every
childhood. Similarly,the child observes the miracle of animal birth.
The "phoebe-bird"comes from the South Atlantic states to nest. The
"pink-faintlitter" of piglets in the barnyard (like all newborn animal
life) blends the colors of the morningglories and clover blossoms.And
at the end of the little "stanza" (lines 9-10) the child beholds the fish
"curiously" suspended in "the beautiful curious liquid." The changes
"all became part of him"; but he has observed them with no apparent
intimationof themystery
theyimply.
Lines 11-18mark an advance in the child's awareness.In the fourth
and fifthmonths (perhaps correspondingto his fourthand fifthyears),
he observes:
Winter-grain
sproutsand thoseof thelight-yellow
corn,and theesculent
roots of the garden,
And the apple-treescover'dwith blossomsand the fruitafterward,and
wood-berries,
and thecommonestweedsby theroad. (lines 12-13)
He thuslearns threeTranscendentallessons: thatnatureis the perpetual
provider and storehouse-nature as commodity;that (in termsof the
growth cycle in plants) she is process and continuum; and that her
splendors ("the commonestweeds by the road") are everywhere-nature
as marvelousdemocracy.The child also observesalong the road the picturesque adults and the boys and girls (his peers), and identifiesas a
memberof society.When Whitman states (line 18) that the child has
become a part of "all the changesof cityand countrywhereverhe went,"
we know thathe has learned to include humanityas part of the miraculous orderand processof nature.
In phrenological terms,these formativeexperiencesmay be viewed
as the most proper exerciseof the intellectualfacultiesof Individuality,
Eventuality,Comparisonand Causality-in otherwords,as a manifestation of early progresstoward self-discovery
and excellence.
10 Fowler, Education, II, 46; Spurzheim, Education, p. 52.
659
Individuality,the organ of curiosity,was deemed vital to independent
reasoning. Children, said Fowler, have "an insatiable curiosityto see,
see, SEE everything;to know about whateveris passing; and to ask what
is this, and what is that...."
To exercise this "looking faculty,"this
"door throughwhich knowledgeis receivedinto the mind" (or, as Whitman said, "became part of" us), Fowler suggested that four-year-old
childrenbe shownplants and takento museumsto see "all the fish,birds,
animals,etc." 11Do not lines 5-10 of the poem, depictingthe child's exposure to flowers,animals and fish,demonstratea proper exerciseof his
Individuality?
Eventuality, the faculty governing memory and inferencesdrawn
fromobservation,is also exercised,particularlyin lines 11-13,wherein
the child beholds the life cycleof plants. To develop thisfacultyin children,Fowlerhad advised:
Show them the whole process of vegetation,fromplanting the seed
in the ground,up throughall the changesof swelling,sprouting,taking root, shootingforthout of the ground,becominga thrivingplant
or vegetable,budding,blossoming,sheddingits blossoms,and producing seed like that fromwhich it sprung [siC].12
Comparison,which links observationto observation,seems to be exercised in the child's awarenessthat he has a place in the human scheme
of things.This facultyhelps one to make generalizationsand to think
in termsof metaphor-a useful facultyfor a budding poet. Confusingly
"linked" to Comparison is Causality,which Dr. Gall had called "Esprit
metaphysique."In great minds,he said, it controlsComparison. (These
two organsoperatingtogether,said Spurzheim,constitutethe exerciseof
the highestreflective
faculties.)When properlyused by giftedpersonsin
conjunction with honest observation,Causality permits the infallible
deduction of what will be from what is-a process that enables all
knowledge to become "part of" children without corruptingthem. In
the 1855 Preface,Causalityis singled out as the operativeorgan of Prudence-Whitman's version of Compensation, or the doctrine of the
universal fitnessof things. Through its operation, suggestsWhitman,
"The greatestpoet formsthe consistenceof what is to be fromwhat has
been and is." Fowler bracinglydescribed the spontaneous functionof
thisorgan:
Little fear need be entertainedabout their [children's]coming to
incorrectconclusions;forCausality,and all otherintellectualfaculties,
11 Fowler, Education, II, 14-15,22-23. Gall had identifiedthis organ as Sachgeddchtor educability (Goyder, Autobiography,pp.
niss, or memory,and Erziehungsfdhigheit,
175, 563-64).
12 Fowler, Education, II, 36.
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American Quarterly
act by intuition,and unbiassed,will always come to the rightconclu.
sion. That same intuition,or instinct,or what you please, whichmakes
the child breathe,and nurse,and sleep, also governsthe action of all
thefaculties,theintellectualincluded.13
How readily Fowler disposes of evill If the hero of Whitman's poem
is a superiorperson "lettinghimselfdown to simple observation,"may
we not assume thathis self-fulfilment
is certain?Indeed the poem probes
the roots of Whitman's own optimism.For if he believed, like Fowler,
that superiorbeings can intuit the truth,can live by its precepts,and by
"scientific"mating can create a progenyof heroes, then he must have
concluded that the sway of evil is temporaryand, in the long run, illusory.Here was an inspiringformulawhich could endow America with
the ideal race, bypassingthe uncertainoperation of democraticinstitutions and concentratingon perfectingthe individual citizen. In these
terms,many poems prepared for the firstthree editions of Leaves of
GrassclearlyconveyWhitman'shope forthe democratic"en masse."
To develop beyond innocence and prove that he has the mettle to
road of
achieve greatness,the child must go forthalong the grey-grim
experienceand confrontthe world whose evil can possiblybecome "part
of him." Many of Whitman's poems imply that a knowledgeof evil is
necessaryif one is to discoverhis own goodnessamidst the dazzling conwith
fusionof sensoryperceptions.In thispoem, the child'sconfrontation
the world is personifiedin his parents.For it is theywho determinehis
educability-the way in which he absorbs experience. It is they who
determinehis "marble" or innate qualities. Spurzheim had solemnly
declared that "the firstthing to be done [in any educational program]
is to trace back the facultiesof childrento theirorigin."14 Lines 19-29
of the poem deal with the child's home and parentage-factorsso vital
to his destiny.
His own parents,he that had father'dhim and she that had conceiv'd
him in her womb and birth'd him,
They gave this child more of themselvesthan that,
They gave him afterwardeveryday, they[and of them]became part of
him. (lines 19-21)
The child (as the bracketed phrase deleted with the 1867 edition
is a blend of his parents' physical,temperamentaland psychic
affirms)
characteristics.Phrenologistsmaintained that superior children stem
13Ibid, II, 44. See also ibid, II, 38-47; Goyder,Autobiography,pp. 588-91; Spurzheim,
Phrenology,I, pp. 334-340.
14 Spurzheim, Education, p. 15; Fowler, Hereditary Descent, pp. 203, 210, 230, 279.
661
only from superior parents. ("What man of genius was ever born of
dolts?" challenged Fowler.) "The physical and mental capabilities of
mankind are INNATE, not createdby education-have a CONSTITUTIONAL characterinheritedfromparents,instead of being a blank on
which education and circumstanceswrite ALL they contain."15 In an
elaborate formula,Fowler explained how certainessencescorresponding
to each phrenological organ (and tallying with its condition at the
momentof conception)were stored in the chest cavities of the parents
and transmittedelectricallyto the unborn child, who thus literallybecame a blend of theirqualities.16
Therefore,the maturingchild becomes troubled about the excellence
of his parents,for theirqualities can determinehis potential worth as
a man. Whitmanportraysthemas clustersof attributes:
The motherat home quietly placing the dishes on the supper-table,
The motherwith mild words,clean her cap and gown, a wholesome
odor fallingoffher person and clothes as she walks by,
The father,strong,self-sufficient,
manly,mean, anger'd, unjust,
The blow, the quick loud word, the tight bargain, the craftylure.
(lines 22-25)
The mother,like the schoolmistressand the "tidy and fresh-cheek'd
girls" (lines 15, 17) representsvirtue.The father (and, by implication,
his son) is morallyandrogynous-in part a good domesticcreatureand
in part, like the drunkardand the quarrelsomeboys (lines 14, 16) an
embodimentof the corruptworld. It is his fatherlyduty to embolden his
son to ventureforthto seek his own fate.
Phrenologically,the poem's motherseems to be the sort of superior
parent who can transmitsplendid physical and mental organizationto
the futurepoet-kosmosof Paumanok. Being virtuous,she can make her
home a perfectnurseryforgenius. Some physiologistsand most phrenologistsmaintainedthat boys of extraordinarytalent descended fromsuch
l5Ibid, p. 5.
16 Orson S. Fowler, Love and Parentage, Applied to the Improvement of Offspring
(New York, 1846-purportedly the 40th edition of this work), pp. 24-26.
The poet's parents are remarkablyclose to the phrenological norm, although their
son, it will be observed, seems to be underdeveloped in some characteristicallymasculine faculties. Lorenzo Niles Fowler, Marriage: Its History and Ceremonies (New York,
1847), pp. 202-3, characterizesthe sexes as follows:
Benevolence, Approbativeness,Conscientiousness,Adhesiveness, Secretiveness,Ideality, Individuality, and Philoprogenitivenessare strongerin the female sex; while
Amativeness, Combativeness, Destructiveness,Self-esteem,Firmness, Acquisitiveness,
Constructiveness,Causality, and Comparison, are strongerin the male.
662
American Quarterly
mothers.VFowler tracedpoetic talentdirectlyto giftedmothers;his portraitof Robert Burns' splendid homeymotheris a not-impossibleprototype for the motherin this poem. The latter is engaged (in Howells'
phrase) in "those household affairswhich are so beautiful to a child." 18
Such domesticity,asserted Catharine Beecher, was "best calculated" to
develop physical and moral virtuesin the woman and in her family.19
The mother's cleanliness (phrenologically,a sign of a well-developed
organ of Aquativeness)and the "wholesomeodor falling offher person
and clothesas she walksby" also betokenvirtue.
Phrenologically,the father seems to combine some manly qualities
and a knowledge of the mechanismsof social survival with grievous
character faults. His behavior points to certain overwroughtorgans
among his SelfishSentimentsand SelfishPropensities.He appears to
have an overdevelopedorgan of Combativeness,which has degenerated
into "pugnacity,giving [him] a quick fierytemper,and rendering[him]
cross,and ugly in feeling and
contentious,ungovernable,fault-finding,
making him savconduct"; an overdevelopedorgan of Destructiveness,
age of temperand vindictive,especially-and unforgivably-towardhis
child; an overdevelopedorgan of Acquisitiveness;and an overdeveloped
organ of Secretiveness,deterioratedto cupidity.20
The child's parents become "part of" him in yet another sense. Besides accountingforhis inheritance,theymay be said to objectifystages
of his development.One of the many "laws" declared that phrenological
stagesof human growth.As a rule,
organsdevelop properlyat different
such growthwas assumedto proceed "not proportionatelyin all its parts,
but forwardsand upwards" fromthe basilar region above the nape of
the neck to the moral and intellectualregions (i.e., the frontallobes).
As the facultiesdevelop, in turn,fromnape to forehead,the child progressivelyexerciseshis Domestic Propensities,then his SelfishSentiments
and SelfishPropensities,and still later his Semi-IntellectualSentiments,
his Moral Sentimentsand his Reason. The mother,a specimenof splendidly developed Domestic Propensities(those organsof loving mildness),
17 Charles Knowlton, Fruits of Philosophy, ed. Norman E. Himes (Mount Vernon,
N. Y., 1937), p. 18. This pioneer American book on birth control, firstpublished in
1832, was revised in the light of Spurzheim's Phrenology. See also Orson S. Fowler,
Hereditary Descent, passim, and Lorenzo N. Fowler, Marriage, pp. 116-18.
18 A Boy's Town (New York and London, 1902), p. 21.
19 Catharine E. Beecher, Physiologyand Calisthenicsfor Schools and Families (New
York, 1856),pp. 120-21.For similar sentiments,see Henry Ward Beecher,Life Thoughts,
Gathered from the Extemporaneous Discourses (Boston, 1858), p. 143; Fredrika Bremer,
The Homes of the New World (New York, 1853), I, 190; Edward H. Dixon, Scenes in
the Practice of a New York Surgeon (New York, 1855), pp. 107 ff.Beecher and Dr. Dixon
were Whitman's acquaintances, Miss Bremer a favorite novelist.
20 Fowler, Education, J, 174-220; the quotation is from I, 175-76.
663
early phase of her child's growth.And it is
objectifiesthis satisfactory
to the shelteredgoodnesssymbolizedby the Domestic Propensities,particularlyAdhesiveness (love of family,friends,"Affectionthat will not
be gainsay'd") and Inhabitiveness (attachmentto one's home) that he
retreatswhen faced with the need to go forthinto the world (lines
26-27).Similarly,the fatherobjectives the developmentof certainof his
child's Selfish Sentiments and Selfish Propensities-organs which he
mustlearn to exerciseproperlyif he is to be able to deal with the vicissitudes of life. Although it may be excessivelydeveloped in the father,
the organ of Combativenesscan endow a child (in Spurzheim'sphrase)
with "intrepidityand courage" and (in Fowler's phrase) with "forceof
character." Properly conditioned,Destructivenesscan make him resolute by inuringhim to pain; Secretiveness,commendedfor sidestepping
overbearingparents,can enable him to keep his own counsel.2'
In Romantic terms,the child's crisis centerson the inadequacy of
innocencein the world of men. His "sense of what is real," an apparent
referenceto the goodness of the familycircle,gives way (in line 27) to
"the thoughtif afterall it should prove unreal." What, he appears to
ask, if the world's crueltyis the only reality?These fears underlie his
terribledoubts:
The doubts of the day-timeand the doubts of the
the curiouswhetherand how,
night-time,
Whetherthat which appears so is so, or is
it all flashesand specks?(lines 28-29)
Is the world a sink to swallow his simple goodness?Or, if good and evil
are "all flashesand specks" (if there is no objective correlativeto his
intimationof goodness),is the world his own private nightmare?The
child who continues to ask, "Men and women crowding fast in the
streets,if theyare not flashesand speckswhat are they?"(line 30) is in
dangerof arresteddevelopment.For the truepoet, says the 1855 Preface,
"sees eternityin men and women .... he does not see men and women
as dreams or dots." The child's crisis is like ProfessorTeufelsdr6ckh's
"Everlasting Nay," when men and women similarly appeared to be
"merelyautomatic" figures.And if Whitman's hero is not be bogged
down in subjectivistdespair,he must become one of the poet's "Forthsteppersfrom the latent unrealized baby-days,"must make a leap to
faith.As Erich Frommhas said, "a continuousbirth"must occur if man
is not to "remain still-bornin a spiritualsense" and is "to develop into
whathe potentiallyis as a human being."22
Ibid, I, 99, 167-72,174-220passim.
Erich Fromm, "Man Is Not A Thing," in Cross Currents,ed. Harold Simonson
(New York, 1959), p. 328. Italics in Whitman quotation added.
21
22
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American Quarterly
In phrenologicalterms,the child's crisis appears to be related to an
imbalance in his selfishorgans that threatensto impede the continued
favorabledevelopmentof his brain "forwardsand upwards." This condition is characterizedby an overwroughtCautiousness-the organ governing "Precaution; care, solicitude; fear, provision against want and
danger; apprehensiveness;fleeing from foreseen evils." One possible
cause: bad digestion.When the organ is hyperactive,says Spurzheim,
"it causes such abuses as uncertainty,inquietude, anxiety,irresolution,
melancholy,and hypochondriasis,"predisposes the victim to suicide,
and rendershim unable to governsuch selfishorgansas Combativeness.23
Should this conditionpersist,it could thwartthe child's poetic development. As late as 1874, Whitman speculated that "too great prudence,
too rigid [an organ of?] caution" may have caused the "constitutional
distrustand doubt-almost finicalin theirnicety,"that robbed Emerson
of the boldness he needed to become America'sgreatestpoet.24
But this pseudo-scienceprovided a remedy!Afterall, isn't Cautiousness that same "Extreme caution or prudence . . . called up from the
floatof the brain of the world to be [part] of the greatestpoet fromhis
birthout of his mother'swomb and fromher birthout of her mother's"?
And aren't the organs of Cautiousness and Combativenesssaid to be
and strikethe needed balance among
"paired"? To "excite forcefulness"
his selfishfaculties,the child needs only to strengthenhis Combativeness
and theotherselfishorganswithwhichhis fatherhas powerfullyendowed
him. If thegentlerselfishfacultiessuch as Cautiousnessand Conscientiousness are overdevelopedin relation to selfishorgans like Combativeness
to
and Destructiveness,
Fowlercounselstheafflicted
and
self-reproach,
rememberthat the feelingsof shame,mortification,
fearthatotherswill criticiseor laugh at you, are too active and powerful. Do not allow this class of reflectionsto prey upon you, but dismissthemwith the reflectionthat theyare caused by the "bumps," and
not by anyreal occasionforthem.25
The phrenological prescriptionfor the child's self-doubtand melancholia is simplya strongdose of egoism-a medicine that the author of
Leaves of Grasslearnedto relish!
Finally,we may examine the triumphantclosing of the poem, so profoundly expressive in terms of Whitman's own variety of Romantic
23 Spurzheim, Phrenology, I, 199-200; Fowler, Education, I, 218; Fowler, Love and
Parentage, p. 123.
24 The Uncollected Poetry and Prose of Walt Whitman, ed. Emory Holloway (New
York, 1931), II, 53-54. Italics mine.
25 Fowler,Education, II, 104; I, 174, 180ff.The referenceto the descent of the "greatest poet," of course, is from the 1855 Preface.
665
mysticism,and, without contradictingthat mysticism,so meaningful
in a phrenologicalsense.
The poem's lovely ending suggests the child's intuition of "Some
parturition. . . some solemn immortal birth." If, as Keats has said,
"what the imaginationseizes as Beauty must be truth,"Whitman here
affirms
that this lesson is never lost on the child who "will always go
forthevery day" (line 39). The child observes the elements of land,
water and air, diffusedin a fading heavenlylight. "The village on the
highlandseen fromafar at sunset,the riverbetween" (line 33) resembles
the "high table-land"fromwhich ProfessorTeufelsdr6ckhbeheld "foresplendors of that Truth, and the beginning of Truths [which] fell
mysteriously
over [his] soul" when he, too, affirmed
the idealistic goodness of the universe.In "Shadows,aureola, and mist,the light fallingon
roofs" (line 34) the three elementscombine again, the "aureola" suggestingholiness. The settingsun, the schooner and its little boat, the
broken-crested
waves, all analogues of death, give way to the poem's
most luminous moment: "The strata of color'd clouds, the long bar of
maroon-tintaway solitaryby itself,the spread of purityit lies motionless in" (line 37). This sightparallels the infant'sviewing the fishsuspended in the "beautifulcurious liquid" withoutperceivingthe mystery
that theyrepresented(line 9). For the bar of maroon-tintin the pure
aether implies the secretof the divine "float" fromwhich his soul was
struckand to whichit mayreturn.
Indeed, the child's luminous vision is an exercisein observation,but
his perception,in these closing lines, seems to be guided by his moral
and intellectualfaculties,markinghim as a superiorbeing and indicating
his development"into thepaths ofvirtue,into thehaven of happiness."26
Apparentlyovercomingthe dangerousimbalance in his selfishfaculties,
he proves capable of exercisinghis Firmness;Hope (ability to overlook
obstaclesto success); Marvelousness (faith,adoration of God); Sublimity
(capacityto relishgrand,untamedbeauty); Color; and, above all, Order,
throughwhose agencyhe perceivesthe grandharmoniousprincipleof the
universe.
Without this principle of order,or system,in nature [saysFowler] all
creationwould be one vast bedlam. . . . but with thisarrangementin
nature, harmonyusurps the reign of chaos, beauty is brought forth
and all naturemoves on with a systematicregularity
out of deformity,
as beautifulin itselfas it is beneficialto man. But withoutthis faculty
of order in man, adapted to thiscontrivanceor systemin things. . .
man could not have perceivedthis beauty,or applied this contrivance
26 Fowler, Education, I, 129-149; II, 8, 95.
666
American Quarterly
to any beneficialpurpose. But this principleexistsin nature,and this
facultyin man, and it is thereforehis duty and pleasure to exercise
it, and its cultivationshould forman importantpart of the education
of children,and yet this cultivationis scarcelyonce thoughtof.27
Or, we mightsay, this facultyof Order is developed only in that rare
being, like this superior child, whose inheritance is splendid, whose
education is governedby the highestprinciples,and "who will always
go forth"as poet,hero and kosmos.
27 Ibid, II, 90; I, 229-40. Fowler is taking liberties with phrenological categories; for
Order, as definedby Spurzheim and Combe, for example, is essentiallylimited to orderliness or neatness. The quotation is reminiscentof the descriptionsof Causality and of
Whitman's idea of Prudence. Nevertheless,the functionis an intellectual exercise of the
highest reason, and the passage indicates the kind of rough-hewn lyricism that the
phrenologistswere capable of.
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