Question

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?)

Answer 1

Hint: The context of the above question is given in the poem ‘Animals’ written by Walt Whitman. The theme of the poem revolves around the comparison of animals and humans. The poet is of the view that animals are better than human beings and discusses the same throughout the poem.

Complete answer:
Romanticism is referred to as romantic tradition.It was a period from 1798 -1837.The literature of this period reflects the thoughts of peace, harmony, balance, irrationality, imagination, aversion to materialism etc. These thoughts are reflected in Whitman's poem as well. The period romanticised nature and laid stress on emotions and senses over logic.

In the poem ‘Animals’ also, these thoughts of romantic traditions are reflected. The basic aspects of our nature as living beings(as per the ideas of romantic tradition) are peace, harmony, love for nature and interest in spiritual truth that humans choose to ignore or deny.

The tokens referred to by the poet are the good qualities that he finds lacking and long lost in humans. He feels he has long lost his own good qualities and dropped them somewhere which have been picked up by the animals. The qualities that he is referring to are as follows-:
- Animals don't complain about their conditions; they are not greedy like humans. They take only enough of what they need and no more.
- They don’t cry over their regrets, losses and wrongdoings by staying up in the night.
- They are honest and do not boast off.
- They don’t do good deeds for the sake of God.

As per the poet, the animals bring those tokens (good qualities) that humans just pretend to possess or are slowly outgrowing. As per him, animals reveal these qualities seamlessly. Humans took to vices such as greed, selfishness, desire to capture everything and other vices. Animals have carried forward the real instincts and characteristics which humans have forgotten. He wonders, Where do the animals get these qualities from? He wonders, where are his own good qualities? Did he lose them? Did he pass the path where these qualities are found and yet ignored them?

Note: Walt Whitman was a poet, journalist,essayist and humanist. He had an inclination towards democracy, nature and love which is depicted in his work. His poem ‘Animals’ was published in his work Leaves of Grass.