psychological approach
A psychological
approach seems well suited to criticism of prose and poetry dealing with
childhood experiences. Indeed, Whitman's "There Was a Child Went
Forth" declares a view of unfolding experience that describes the very
formation of a personal psychology and makes for appreciating the importance of
shaping childhood experience carefully so as not to "misshape" the
child. For it is not only the first object that the child looks upon that he
becomes but every object and image and emotional experience. Whitman begins
with an account of the natural world, with flora and fauna, fish and fowl, the
whole of the natural environment containing and to an extent determining the
child's experience of the world.
In addition to
the relatively innocuous natural environment, the child encounters other human
beings, and his perceptions of their natures and difference color his world
view as well. Not every personal encounter is innocuous, of course, and as the
poem progresses the images begin almost to tumble and encroach on one another.
What begins with a reference to "early lilacs" (5) as a simple,
deceptively and sentimental lyric of innocent childhood gradually develops into
an increasingly busy array of image and sound: "Men and women crowding
fast in the streets, if they are not flashes and specks what are they? / The
streets themselves and the facades of houses, and goods in the windows, /
Vehicles, teams the heavy-planked wharves, the huge crossings at the
ferries" (30-32). L
Vocabularies list :
1. Declares
= mengumumkan
2. Misshape
= Bentuk yang tak serasi
3. Innocuous
= tidak berbahaya
4. Deceptively
= Penuh tipuan
5. Vehicles
= Wahana
6. Wharf
= Dermaga
7. Flashes
= cahaya/kilasan
8. Huge
= sangat besar
9. Encounter
= pertemuan
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