Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking
This poem was written in 1859 and included into the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. It describes a young boy’s realization as a poet, inspired by nature and his own maturing consciousness. The poem does not follow any rhyming pattern and some sections are written in a way purport to be a transcript of the bird’s call, which are musical in their repetition of words and phrases. It was first published in 1871 in New York Saturday Press.
Unlike most of Whitman’s poems, which can be abstract ,“Out of the Cradle” has a distinct plot to it. A young boy watches a pair of birds nesting on the beach near his home. He warms up to them, probably seeing a reflection of his own home, and marvels at their relationship. One day the female bird fails to return. The male stays near the nest, calling for his lost mate. The male’s cries touch something in the boy, and he seems to be able to translate what the bird is saying. Brought to tears by the bird’s pathos, he asks nature to give him the one word which can put an end to the suffering and which is “superior to all.” In the rustle of the ocean at his feet, he finally discerns the word “death,” . The boy feels this will be comforting to the male bird. Death continues, along with the bird’s song, to have a presence in his poetry.
This is another poem that links Whitman to the Romantics.
Themes
Nature
Whitman claims to take his inspiration from nature. Where Wordsworth is inspired by a wordless feeling of awe, though, Whitman finds an opportunity to anthropomorphize, and nature gives him very specific answers to his questions about overarching concepts. Nature is a bland clean slate onto which the poet can project himself. He then proceeds to find solutions form nature.
Shorelines
And "in the moonlight on Paumanok's gray beach" the sea whispered to him the sweet song of the secret of death.
Whitman's speaker "wended the shores" he knew to ponder if he is at most "a little wash'd up drift." Finally he concludes that to the ocean of life, all are but drifts.
Plants
Vegetation in Whitman's poems symbolise the cycle of growth and change. The lilacs in "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" are especially emblematic of this cycle, a cycle that inevitably ends in death. In the poem, the "ever-returning spring" brings lilacs every year. In the prime of its life, the lilac is "tall-growing" with "every leaf a miracle." Later, Whitman breaks off a "sprig of lilac" to lay on Lincoln's coffin, a symbol of its diminishing purpose. When Whitman finally comes to understand death, the lilac is absorbed into Whitman's own soul.
Stages of life
Some sections of the poem describes the birth and adolescence of a poet.
The poem presents two things; the speaker’s meaningful transformation from an immature child to a mature poet, and the transience of life.
Whitman’s boyhood is forever tied to his Paumanok (Long Island) and the sea culture that is found there. Thus, Whitman’s childhood is tied up within the sea and the endlessly rocking cradle is a metaphor for the ocean. This is not only a reference to Whitman’s own beginnings, but also to the beginnings of creation, referring to the Biblical themes of creation.
Biblical symbolism
The endlessly rocking cradle is the “formless depths” of the Book of Genesis; the poet is Adam, the first man, being formed from the earth. The seashore is Whitman’s own Eden.
Death
Here death is shown to be the one lesson a child must learn, whether from nature or from an elder. Only the realisation of death can lead to emotional and artistic maturity. Death, for one as interested as Whitman in the place of the individual in the universe, is a means for achieving perspective: while your thoughts may seem profound and unique in the moment, you are a mere being in existence.
Some literary analysis of the poem -
Personification
Whitman has meaning from a human point of view to objects. Fro eg. the sea here is explained by him as something which speaks to him.
“Over the hoarse surging of the sea”, The sea whisper’d me.”
Alliteration
Consonant sounds in the same line have been repeated. Use of d and m frequently are repeated.
Rhetorical question
Is like an open ended question without the expectation of an answer. Whitman uses such in the poem to make the readers think.
For example, “O night! do I not see my love fluttering out among the breakers?” and “What is that dusky spot in your brown yellow??”
Assonance
repetition of vowel sounds in the same sentence
For example, the sound of /i/ in “twittering, rising, or overhead passing”
Anaphora
Phrases have been repeated at places to emphasise the transition of something to the next. For eg. out of the
“Out of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mockingbird’s throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight.”
Free Verse
No specific rhyming pattern is used here.
No specific rhyming pattern is used here.
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