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The first annex poems are surprisingly short, when you compare them to poems such as “Song of Myself.” A common theme that I noticed in these poems, which is a common theme of Whitman’s in general, is the nautical theme – the oceans, being a pilot, etc. etc. A word that stood out for me was “undulate” which he used twice within just a couple of the first several poems. Why did Whitman choose to use so a strong, sexually-connotative word to describe the waves? Possibly because his mind was just always so wrapped up in sexually charged ideas that this word just fit perfectly in line with his regular descriptions.

I really liked the feel of “As I Sit Writing Here”, on Page 614, because he is describing all of the things he’s experiencing now that he’s in his old age (and last few years on Earth). He lists the aches and lethargy, as all older folk tend to get in the end. Mentioning his constipation and boredom (as he describes here as “wimpering ennui”) is classic! I was thinking something along the lines of, “Gee, thanks, Whitman…really needed to know that!” It was still pretty funny though.

“The First Dandelion” (Page 615)  was very Whitman-esque, if you will because he is talking about a weed; a mundane item to someone else but to Whitman is wonderful and beautiful in its own way, which he points out when he states, “innocent, golden, calm as the dawn”. He surely has created a trend, in the texts we’ve read thus far, to write about the everyday things of life that others would not give such credability to, even if they felt so. This short poem also reminded me of the mullein that Whitman mentions in Leaves of Grass (deathbed edition) because it is also a weed or a weed-like flower, I forget, but they are both golden and simple.

Another interesting poem was “Abraham Lincoln, Born Feb. 12, 1809” which was to commemorate Lincoln’s birthday, which in itself is a bit obsessive. We did already know this about Whitman’s attachment to Lincoln. However, in this poem, Whitman actually capitalizes the word “him” as if he was signifying an extreme devotion to Lincoln as if he were some kind of deity. I suggest this because the only time I have ever recalled seeing “Him” is when a text is referring to God. This being said, I feel even more so now that Whitman definitely has some kind of gross, homosexual-like obsession.

The final poem that I wanted to discuss because I though it was rather interesting was “Life and Death” on Page 629. I think it was completely true in the fact that they are two “problems” that are “intertwined” because they are the realities that each person has to deal with not only everyday but eventually, in eternity, as death would have it. I think it’s so true that no matter how long an individual person is to live, death meets each one of us, sometimes when we are prepared, sometimes not.