Animals

 

Walt Whitman

In the poem 'Animals', the poet Walt Whitman praises animals for being better than human beings and for possessing all such qualities that humans lack or have forgotten. Those qualities are calmness, the lack of greed and the ability to stay happy and contained among others.

 

Summary

God shaped man and animals for dwelling on earth. He, God gave man to a high position than to that of animals. Walt Whitman, the great American poet, believes animals are better than men. The poet appreciated some qualities in animals which man don’t have. He expressed his observation about animals and man through his poem “Animals”. Walt Whitman is very fond of the company of animals. The poet desires to live among the animals because according to him animals are calm and self-sufficient. They do not whine and weep about their conditions. They are always satisfied and do their duty towards God. Animals always express their love and respect for human beings. Animals spend a life of satisfaction and peace. They do not possess an obsession with possessing things. They do not show respect for others. Also, they even do not respect their thousand old descendants. Sorrow and happiness are equal to them. Whereas humans are crazy about material things. Humans lie awake at night. They cry for the wrong that they have done. At last, they lose their temper over trifles. Animals are quite happy. They don’t idle away their time for discussing their duties to God like human beings. He observes that humans don’t have those qualities which animals possess such as signs of love, quietness, kindness, selflessness, honesty, patience, sympathy, etc. These qualities are absolutely essential for a glossy life. The poet has a deep aspiration to learn from the animals since they express their deep concern with them. They do not possess any kind of falsehood. The poet is much amazed at their quality. He desires to earn them though he had left them carelessly. He feels that the life of a man is full of stress, depression, anxiety, unhappy. So, he desires to turn away from living with other humans. He wants to live in the company of animals for good because he thinks that he will get real happiness among animals. After all, he desires to make a relationship with animals. Thus this was the summary of the poem “Animals” written by Walt Whitman.

 

Critical Analysis

The poem ‘Animals’ is a very thought-provoking poem by the famous American poet, Walt Whitman. In this poem, the poet talks about his wishes to live in the company of animals. Human follies like greed, violence, hypocrisy, dishonesty cunningness and cravings for owning things appear sickening to the poet. He feels like living among the animals because they are placid and self-dependent. The poet finds animals peace-loving, non-complaining, non-committal and fully complacent. They neither grumble for their conditions nor cry for their sins. They do not make the poet feel repulsive by discussing the duty to god. Unlike human beings, animals neither remain dissatisfied not suffer from any mania of collecting or owning materialistic things. They do not believe in kneeling before others or bemoaning for those who departed thousands of years before. The poet finds them neither respectable not unhappy. Animals show their relationship with poet and he accepts. Along with these qualities, animals continue to possess the tokens of mutual love and harmonious relationship which make the poet wonder how the animals retained the qualities whereas the poet i.e. mankind negligently left them far behind.

Thinking about the Poem

1. Notice the use of the word ‘turn’ in the first line, “I think I could turn and live with animals...” What is the poet turning from?

Ans: The poet is turning away from living with other humans as he finds them complicated and false. He would rather live with animals that are self-contained and non-complaining.

 

2. Mention three things that humans do and animals don’t.

Ans: The poet has drawn three comparisons between humans and animals. -Humans sweat and work hard to make a living and later whine and sulk about the amount of work they have to do to survive. Animals, on the other hand, do not whine about their condition. -Humans lie awake at night and cry for the wrongs they have done. Animals do not weep for anything they do and sleep peacefully. -Finally, humans make each other sick by discussing their duties to God. However, animals do not have any God and they live and survive without any prayers or fasts.

 

3. Do humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago? Discuss this in groups.

Ans: Yes, humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago. They worship their ancestors like God and pray by kneeling in front of their portraits. They also hold religious sermons and ceremonies in their memory.

 

4. What are the ‘tokens’ that the poet says he may have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him? Discuss this in class. (Hint: Whitman belongs to the Romantic tradition that includes Rousseau and Wordsworth, which holds that civilization has made humans false to their own true nature. What could be the basic aspects of our nature as living beings that humans choose to ignore or deny?

Ans: The token that the poet says he might have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him, is his true nature as a human. While humans came close to civilization, they gradually move away from their true nature. The natural instincts that humans had and the innocence with which they lived and helped each other have been left behind and cannot be seen anywhere now. As they moved close to civilization, they chose to leave behind the virtues of kindness, sincerity, unselfishness, joy, satisfaction, respectability, and sharing. They took to vices such as greed, selfishness, desire to capture everything, and other such inhuman characteristics. Animals have carried forward the real instincts and characteristics, which the poet looks at and tries to remember where he had negligently lost his true nature.

 

Message

The poet Walt Whitman wants to convey the message that man should live a happy, contended, peaceful life like the animals. He should not indulge in amassing wealth. It will make him selfish, greedy, commit sins, repent for his behavior and follies and spend sleepless nights.

 

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