Literatuer and writing

Nature , as seen and depicted by Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass ' is vast and sweeping in its grandeur , like a giant movie screen , where he unloads scenes upon scenes of grand vistas in living color . If it were a theatrical performance , he would create lavish scenes of epic proportions : majestic skies , billowing waves , golden fields of grain extending to the horizon . They would be the exact opposite of the languid seascapes captured on canvas in Virginia Woolf 's To the Lighthouse . Describing the sea , Whitman writes

Behold , the sea itself p

And on its limitless , heaving breast , the ships

See , where their white sails , bellying in the wind , speckle

The

green and blue

See , dusky and undulating , the long pennants of smoke (33 .30-37

To Whitman , nature perpetually calls attention unto itself , but man ordinarily ignores it or is not sensitive enough to perceive its charms Thus , the poet continually exhorts the onlooker to behold the beauty unfolding before his eyes . For him , a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars ' and that the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven (31 .1-8

As in theatre , the poet conjures images to create moods as would suit his purpose . Whitman 's poems overflow with robustness and energy as he writes about the pioneers of a new nation leaving the sanctuary of their homes to tame the great frontiers . In the process he is overwhelmed by the magnificent beauty of the outdoors as well as the great cities and industries built by man 's labor . If his medium were a film screen Whitman would come up with glorious takes of canyons and sunsets and deserts in Cinemascope , of buffalo herds grazing the plains interspersed with the creaking wheels of industry . When Whitman hears America singing , the songs he hears are those of vigorous workmen as they go about their daily tasks . For him , America is one vast theatre with the American common man as hero . For him , life consists of Victory , union , faith , identity , time / The indissoluble compacts riches , mystery / eternal progress , the kosmos , and the modern reports (Book II . 2 .4 ) These are abstract terms , vague and incomprehensible , but the reader follows the thread of his thoughts when the poet writes about sturdy blacksmiths swinging their sledges cheerful axemen , wielding all day their axes , and of how the ash writhes under the muscular arms ' of oarsmen on the lakes (33 .39-43 For Walt , commonplace things in nature become the stuff of legend

Nature is likewise a common theme in a ballet performance . Because no lines are spoken , the audience rely on the setting , the music , and the language of the bodies in motion . That there is no dialogue seems to enhance rather than detract from the performance , for the dancers themselves with their seemingly effortless leaps , twists and turns their graceful flowing motions tell the story no words are necessary . Sometime ago I had the opportunity to watch a ballet performance at the Metropolitan...