Analysis of I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing
...k. Not necessarily “a live-oak.” Whitman is seeing, in fact looking for more than just an arboreal fact of nature. When he refers to it as “growing” he further expresses that it is an elemental force of life (1). When he refers to it consistently as “a live-oak”, he confirms his fascination. Even “all alone” with moss dangling down from its branches it is symbolic of something living (2-3). Even “all alone” and “without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark green” (2-5). It seems close to personification… “without any companion”… “uttering joyous leaves” (4-5). These are human attributes, not botanical descriptions. And even more human is “its look, rude, unbending, lusty,” that not surprisingly, “made me think of myself” (6-7). This initial first-person reference becomes stronger and complete as “I wonder’d how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone there without its friend near, for I knew I could not…” (8-10). Now the observer begins to act: And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it, and twined around it a little moss. (11-12) Repeating the sentence structure as he continues: And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room. (13-14) The use of “twined around it” is more than descriptive of a twig picked off a tree branch; it has anthropomorphic suggestions, almost too revealing (12). Other forms found in nature, for example driftwood on a beach, readily evoke the images of humans embracing, whether male or female. It may be too tempting to seek marginal references outside the context of the poem itself. However, what is in the context of the poem itself is the reference to “manly love” and another to “a friend a lover” (18, 21). While these may be minor distractions from what is a very moving poem, the...