Walt Whitman and the Divine Average: "Starting from Paumanok" in Context Sophie Smith College

When one considers the word 'divine,' the next word that comes to mind is not naturally 'average.' Something divine is holy, otherworldly, and godlike - the exact antithesis of something average. Why, then, in his poem "Starting from Paumanok," does Walt Whitman combine these antonyms and proudly declare, "O, divine average!" (Whitman)? This divergence from the popular interpretation of the word 'divine' provides readers insight to Whitman's understanding of the world: Whitman saw divinity in everything, from the awesome power of the cosmos to something as average as a blade of grass.

Unlike "Starting from Paumanok," Whitman's poem "Song of Myself" says nothing about "divine average." Upon first reading "Song of Myself," one might assume Walt Whitman believed divine forces - that is, a godly force - existed exclusively within him. The poem is saturated with religious imagery, most of which puts the narrator, presumably Whitman himself, in the shoes of God. One of the most breathtaking examples of this inflates Whitman to an inhuman scale: "I travel....I sail....my elbows rest in the sea-gaps, / I skirt the sierras.... my palms cover continents" (Whitman, Reynolds 23). Other lines liken Whitman to a sacrificial Christ figure -...