Guthrie and Whitman: Of Art and Politics

I guess to sort of go back into what I said during the Sandburg lecture, I recall learning in my Fables and Tales class that a lot of folklore and fables were written in times of social upheaval and change. Interestingly, a lot of these stories were written by people who were not of the reigning upper class. Aesop, for example, was a slave from Samos. Marie de France, a famous medieval poet, was a woman who wrote poems that defied the standards and traditions of the Church and ultimately gave women a more prominent stance, among other things. Many poets and artists use their craft to speak otherwise (in cases that threaten their lives) or to speak out loud to convey their perspectives of the world around them.

With that said, there are even many modern mediums of art that directly correlate to politics. A visual art example that can be considered is the famous image of Barack Obama of "Hope", designed by Shepard Fairey. It's become this iconic image that we associate with the election of our first black president—and that holds significance to many people, albeit for many different reasons. To go away from visual art, there's also the popular medium of spoken word poetry that includes youth and adults alike reciting lyrical and personal accounts that can often times call out to a large issue at hand.


Whitman represents the people via cataloging and listing. He calls upon the "greasy or pimpled—or that you was once drunk, or a thief, or diseased, or rheumatic, or a prostitute—or are so now—or from frivolity or impotence—or that you are no scholar, and never saw your name in print" in "Song of Occupations" and many more in "Song of the Open Road". Guthrie, on the other hand, does not specify, but I feel like he is just as inclusive by not doing so. The"migrants" of "Pastures of Plenty" and the "people" of "This Land is Your Land" are given context as being people deprived of their home(land) and being driven to labor for what they ought to already have. In a way, I can't help but think about how political figures want to specify and include as many demographic appeals as possible in gathering for support in regards to Whitman, but it's more of a comparison as to how each seek to reach out for their audience. As for Guthrie, besides being, to me, anyway, a parallel of the generality of music and its structure, he appeals to the masses without defining (risking exclusion) of those he hopes to speak for; it's clear that the farmers and migrants of the Great Depression are being described in the given text and, regardless of who they are, they are included in among a specific genus (rather than listed as many species, if you will follow this brief and strange word choice).


For Whitman, because he is a performer and a poet, among many, many other roles, he is similar to the modern day spoken word poet in that his poetry calls for more than just reading words off of a page. It calls for the audience to listen to someone who wants to share an experience, to connect with what he wants to say, and, ultimately, someone who desires for some change to take place. It's even obvious in many of his works' titles that he is emulating a song—spoken word poetry that flows through free verse and, in essence, free speech. Guthrie takes the "song" a bit further (and albeit a bit more traditionally) by creating and reciting lyrical works and music that project the ill effects of the Great Depression that are inflicted upon "the migrants".