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Question
Why does the poet wish to 'turn' and live with animals?
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Solution
The poet Walt Whitman expresses his wish that he can identify himself better with the animals, of their qualities of serenity and calm composure. So he intends to turn towards them, away from his human companions, since they have better values than those of the humans.
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RELATED QUESTIONS
I think I could turn and live with animals, they are
so placid and self-contain’d
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with
the mania of owning things.
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that
lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.
So they show their relations to me and I accept them,
They bring me tokens of myself, they evince
them plainly in their possession
I wonder where they get those tokens,
Did I pass that way huge times ago and negligently drop them?
(A1) Complete the following sentences with the help of the poem.
(a) The poet wishes he could.............................
(b) Animals do not complain about............................
(c) Animals do not merely discuss.............................
(d) Animals are not crazy about .............................
(A2) The qualities of animals that highlighted by the poet in the poem are
.............................................................................................................
............................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................
(A3) Name and explain the figures of speech.
“I stand and look at them long and long.’’
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?
Do humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago? Discuss this in groups.
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 civilisation 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?)
Find adjectives from the poem which refer to positive and negative thinking.
| Positive | Negative |
| 1. ____________________ | 1. ____________________ |
| 2. ____________________ | 2. ____________________ |
| 3. ____________________ | 3. ____________________ |
Complete the following.
The poet wishes he could _____________.
Complete the following.
Animals do not complain about _________________.
Complete the following.
Animals do not merely discuss ______________.
State whether the following statement is true or false.
Animals are self-reliant.
State whether the following statement is true or false.
Animals do not worship other animals.
State whether the following statement is true or false.
Humans have given up many good qualities.
State whether the following statement is true or false.
Animals suffer humiliation.
Read the text again, and complete the web, highlighting the good values/habits which we can learn from animals.
Justify how ‘Animals’ by Walt Whitman is a criticism of mankind and its ways.
List any two things that animals do and humans don't.
Walt Whitman speaks of the human race with a tinge of sarcasm. Which are the two reasons that you agree with?
'They do not sweat and whine about their condition.' What human traits does the poet condemn in these lines?
