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I Sit and Look Out - Walt Whitman

In his poem “I Sit and Look Out”, Walt Whitman describes a world where principles are abandoned and human concerns are put aside. The verb in the title ‘sit’ suggests the action of the onlooker. It implies he is inactive and in no intention of doing anything about the situation he sees. Also, the idea of 'looking out' focuses on how he is content with where he sits and is far removed from the many who are suffering. The phrase 'look out' also points out his concern for his own safety. The use of free verse shows the continuity of the events taking place. The tone of the poem is pessimistic and the imagery described is apocalyptic. The speaker's first lines shows he is looking out upon the miseries of the world: "I sit and look upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame." It also points out the idea that he considers himself far away from all of this. The speaker visualizes sobs that can be heard from youth with what may be the disillusionment of the World War. They are enveloped in guilt, remorseful for their actions: "I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men at anguish with themselves, remorseful after deeds done." The onlooker witnesses the aftermath of wars, diseases, and dictatorship. He watches martyrs and prisoners, a byproduct of the battles that were fought. In his description of a famine at sea, the reader pictures sailors throwing people out of the ship just so others can survive. He also observes the poor, laborers and blacks treated like objects in a capitalist world where people are subject to poverty, deterioration, and repression. The poem altogether is a collective collapse of humanity piled one upon the other. He sees them but he is silent. Neither does he analyze these nor does he make any comment on these sights. Thus the whole poem comes across as a satire on the standpoint of the modern observer.