A Song for Occupations, and then some.

The 1855 version of "Song of Occupation" is very much a continuance of "Song of Myself". Important themes that are presented is that communal living and loving (as seen in the Oneida community):

"If you are a workman or workwoman I stand as nigh as the nighest that works in the same shop,

If you bestow gifts on your brother or dearest friend, I demand as good as your brother or dearest friend,

If your lover or husband or wife is welcome by day or night, I must be personally as welcome;

The material is a prevalent theme as well. In the above quotation, you have Whitman announcing that all items and people belong to each other and not to any one particular person. In that sense, all people are equal (including women to men as Whitman points out later in the poem). Following that logic, Whitman must discuss the very clearly marked hierarchy of the social classes. And typical of him, he simply does away with him, saying that such distinctions are unimportant because they are simply adjuncts to our lives. These differences, which Whitman considers small, such as religion, occupation, clothing, and even words themselves, are but material things that are only ornaments to the person and not the person themselves. "When the psalm sings instead of the singer" is when Whitman will treasure the psalm as much as the singer.

Materials and concepts are unimportant. They are things that people neither need nor will make them happy. Instead, Whitman proposes something else.

I bring what you much need, yet always have,

I bring not money or amours or dress or eating . . . . but I bring as good;

And send no agent or medium . . . . and offer no representative of value—but offer the value itself.

Whitman is saying that he is not giving you anything in the poem, he is simply reminding us of what we all already know but have chosen to overlook. That value is the value of being a living human being, which everyone has, but seems to have forgotten somewhere along the ages was ever valuable in the first place. More depressing is that this human value seems to be beneath that of vague concepts and materials (as Marx and Engels stated, "The creators have bowed down before their creations). This innate human value is "unrateable" as Whitman emphasizes, which is why everyone is equal in his eyes.

This is what I believe, Whitman is trying to explain in "Song of Myself", this freedom that he has after the discovery of this innate human value that can't be explained in words. The words themselves are inadequate, but because Whitman trusts the reader, as a fellow human being, to have similar experiences as he does (or can at least imagine it), the words can hopefully draw out an experience similar to what he wants the reader to feel (because it can't be understood with thought, only felt).

The 1856 version of this poem is titled "Poem of the Daily Work of The Workmen and Workwomen of These States". This title takes on a more official tone and is clearly labelled a poem. The punctuation is cleaned up and other than a few inserted and changed words here or there, it is not significantly different from the 1855 version. It is also addressed very specifically to the working class.

In 1860, the title of the poem changes to "Chants Democratic". It is no longer labelled as a poem but a chant, which is getting closer to a song, but perhaps a song of a mob. One of the most prominent changes that I noticed was that Whitman started addressing his audience in his poems before certain stanzas such as "American masses!" and "Workmen and Women!", which makes the poem seem like a call to action, or perhaps Whitman wants to make sure the readers know who he is referring to when speaking.

Although the title no longer calls itself a poem, the stanzas are now numbered! I suppose this is when Whitman figured he was a important enough poet to have numbers on his stanzas for people to easily refer to if they want to talk about it. Although it does make it easier for me to refer to because in this version, Whitman added an entirely new stanza, #32, the second to last, where he professes how much he loves America because of the American people living in it.

Another spectacular change is that Whitman completely removed the lines about the minority ethnic groups that appeared in the poem, the lines starting with ""Iroquois eating the war-flesh..." Why he did this is anybody's guess. Perhaps he wanted to narrow the audience down to the White working class, who, I guess, he might assume, would be the only people reading his poems. I'm not certain.

Now in 1871, the poem changes title to "Carol of Occupations". This is closer to being a song, but it is still somewhat confined to the Christmas tradition. Definitely, it is not as impressive as a chant. It is also pretty excluding of people who do not participate in caroling. There are several changes in this version of the poem. First off, there is a new stanza, #5, in which Whitman inserts his poem title and specifically mentions the labor of engines, trades, and fields. He says, "I find the developments,/And find the eternal meanings", which is a rater presumptuous assertion. Another interesting change is that the "Offspring of those not rich" is changed to "Offspring of ignorant and poor". Very interesting indeed. Also, what's with that "camerado". What is a camerado? Stanzas 24-32 were arranged to come after the stanza that usually marks the end of the poem. I suppose Whitman was reordering what he found the most important.

In 1881 is when Whitman comes to the title "A Song for Occupations", which is also the same title for the 1891 version. Now, a song is more universal than a chant or a carol and especially a poem. The stanzas are no longer numbered, which is only appropriate because it is now a "song". In comparing these two poems to the original one, the changes are drastic aesthetically, but in actuality, the message of the poem remains pretty much unchanged. Whitman is still concerned about the equality about labor forces and worries about how people put more value in objects and ideas more than individual human lives. At the end, he always makes that clear statement: "I intend to reach them my hand, and make as much of them as I do of men and women like you," in reference to these materials and concepts if they could actually accomplish the same feats as humans can. The bottom line is that Whitman believes in the people first a foremost.

In reading all these versions of these poems, I could really see the minute details of Whitman's struggle as a poet and have come to appreciate Whitman's continuous efforts to portray such a simple yet profound message to his readers.