ROBERT K. MARTIN
The beards ofthe young men glisten 'dwith wet, it ran from
their long hair,
Little streamspass 'dallover their bodies.
An unseen handalso pass 'dover their bodies,
It descended tremblingly from their temples andribs.
The young men float on their backs, their white bellies bulge
to the sun, they do not ask who seizesfast to them,
They do not know who puffs anddeclines with pendant and
bending arch,
They do not think whom they souse with spray.
91
This poem , or part of the poem, is exquisite in its evocation of the mood of
sexual arousal. As many readers have pointed out, Whitman achieves the feat
here of being both subject and object, of being the woman voyeur, and also of
being the men who are masturbated . Not only is this one of the loveliest
sexual poems I know, it is also a clear defense of the anonymity of sexual
encounter . In the dream-vision ofWhitman there are no persons, but rather a
general feeling of the delight of sexual experience regardless of the partner.
They are totally tactile, since they take place in the dream-world of closed
eyes. The experience could well be repeated in almost any steam bath of a
modern large city . But the important point to see is that not asking , not
knowing and not thinking are integral parts ofWhitman's
democratic
vision,
and anonymous sexuality is an important way-station on the path to the
destruction of distinctions of age , class, beauty,
and
sex. Whitman loves all
being, and will love, and be loved by, all being . It is perhaps at this juncture
that the implications of Whitman's perspective become most revolutionary.
The sense of universality of experience leads to the long catalogues of the
following sections, which introduce the transitional sections 21 and 22, con–
cerned with the yearning for love. In section 21, Whitman returns to his
Body / Soul division to express his desire to return to the bodily . He concludes
the section with the line I have quoted earlier
unspeakable passionate love
and then
2
lines omitted in later editions but which make the sexual male
marriage metaphor clear:
Thruster holding me tight and that I holdtight
We hurt each otheras the bridegroom and the bnde hurt each other.
