Joy to You and Me
Yesterday I covered a colleague’s class, which I was happy to do mainly because I got to spend the class talking about Walt Whitman, my absolute poetic hero. We talked some about his war poetry, about his connections to Emerson and Thoreau, and then dug into the poems, with a few sections from Song of Myself, talked about the Learn’d Astronomer, and most importantly, about his hard-won exuberance and optimism.
Lately I’ve been slowly making my way through Kay Redfield Jamison’s Exuberance, in which she discusses “the passion for life” and how it has manifested in literature, psychology, society and more. As an optimistic, passionate person myself, I have often been irritated by the assumption that those of us who seek and embrace exuberance are naive, immature, or simply less intelligent than the cynical, pragmatic or pessimistic of us. Jamison is a talented and erudite author– I really enjoyed her An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
Especially in our current world, our current society and economy, I think it’s particularly relevant to think about how we might encourage a thoughtful exuberance– it might just save us all.
I like your new theme, too!
Thanks! I’m feeling the fresh blogging energy, and this way, someday I could have my own domain!