I am not gonna lie, we started the conversation of “What is Grass?” and the only thing that went through my mind was The Lion King. There was the idea of reincarnation and that immediately made me think of Mufasa explaining the circle of Life to Simba; where Gazelles eat grass, Lions eat Gazelles, and when Lions die they become the grass that the Gazelles eat. The discussion of death in respect to the grass, in my opinion, was simply that the grass symbolizes sustaining life. Life continues on even in our deaths.

From there the discussion turned to how Whitman (or the speaker) addresses Death. When I see the ‘D’ in Death capitalized I assume that it is being personified as, well a person. However, like with The Lion King, my mind strayed to find something to connect it to, it eventually landed on the Tale of the Three Brothers from Harry Potter, specifically the third brother who greeted Death as an old friend. Whitman (or the speaker) spoke to Death defiantly and arrogantly, now for me there are only a few people in the world I would talk like that to and they are my closest friends. So, I saw Whitman’s attitude toward Death when addressing the Corpse and the smell, appeared to be like someone that was well acquainted with Death if not a close friend. Which brings me to the quote of “I have died myself ten thousand times,” reiterating the idea that Whitman was well acquainted with the personified Death.

Finally, in regards to the use of the Corpse rather than the body of [name], made me think about the preservation and embalming done for burials. The word corpse could symbolize the natural process of death that which Whitman is not afraid, where we then go back to the idea that after we die there is still sustaining life through the growth of grass.

After our discussion in class I started to think about if Whitman was truly afraid of Death. To me, it seems like he is giving reasons on why he should not be afraid, but as he goes on each reason (reincarnation or natural) becomes less potent and more gruesome, he seems to become more bitter to the idea of death. What do all of you think? Do you think that each defiant act against Death is a true defiant act or is Whitman acting brave in the face of his fear?

“What is Grass” to Greeting Death

53 thoughts on ““What is Grass” to Greeting Death”

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