The Perfect Human Voice - Essay
Referring to the physical voices of Elias Hicks, Father Taylor, Alessandro Bettin and Marietta Alboni, Whitman says they have some of the finest voices. Since he was a lover of poetry, he says that those who have beautiful voices, create the best philosophy or poetry.
According to him ‘Of course there is much taught and written about elocution, the best reading, speaking, etc., but it finally settles down to best human vocalisation. Beyond all other power and beauty there is something in the quality and power of the right voice (timbre the schools call it) that touches the soul, abyss.’
The importance of articulation of voice and the impressions of it both audibly and cognitively is a scale which Whitman has underwood and we can see that in several of his poems.
In I Sing the Body Electric, he refers to the voice of women as ‘ The voice, articulation, language, whispering, shouting aloud’ through which he praises women as strong and the centre of a household keeping all members together.
In the poem , As I Ebb’d with the Ocean of Life, Whitman also portrays the importance of silence just as it is important to speak. He emahsies that silence can be a result of oppression, solitude, calmness or even confusion.
Oppress’d with myself that I have dared to open my mouth,
Aware now that amid all that blab whose echoes recoil upon me I have not once had the least idea who or what I am,
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