CC-V A Critical Appreciation of Walt Whitman : Passage to India

 

Passage to India is a poem on Whitman's meditations on time, space and death. It is a poem in which the heroic vision of the poet, dwelling  with pride on the advances in modern technology, evokes the echoes of the echoes of the journeying of Columbus, referring thereby to a mythopoeia of voyaging and discovery that was embedded in the national consciousness. Spatial zones are overlaid with temporal allusions and associations. Asia, being the cradle of civilisation, is identified with the past. Europe evokes the echoes of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, recognizable eras in the development of thought and culture in western history. The new world, is likewise, a spatial metaphor for the epochs, which mark the colonisation of the Americas.

                        To begin with, the first 3 sections of the poem deal with space and man's material achievements. The poet starts the poem with a note of euphoric admiration for the "great achievements of the present" chiefly concerned with the ingenious marvels of modern engineering which helps man to span the globe, and bring together worlds till then separated. He specifically mentions the Suez canal (in line 5), the transcontinental railroad ("mighty railroad" in line 6) and the Atlantic cable (" the seas inlaid with eloquent, gentle wires " in line 7). That is to say that the Suez Canal links Asia with Europe; the Atlantic cable connects Europe to the new world; the transcontinental railroad unites the new world with Asia. The poet is filled with joy and is in a mood to celebrate the present. It seems so exciting that the past seems remote and shadowy. the poet, however, can see the present growing out of the past- "For what is the present, after all, but a growth out of the  past?" Engineering feats, by making it possible for humankind to reach out to the farthest limits of the globe, have ensured for the species a returns to the past as  well. Man, in his return to the race's spatial origin in Asia, attains the culmination of his spiritual search as well. 

                         The second section of the poem begins with a refrain -"passage ,O soul, to Indian," thereby indicating the poet's sense of adventure and journey to the mystical land of the East, i.e. Asia and Africa. The poet seeks to suggest that the movement is not only around or across the globe but also one from the material to the spiritual, to the " deep diving bibles and legends". The poet celebrates everything- temples dedicated to the sun, fables pertaining to ancient gods and goddesses, lofty tows as red as roses etc. The poet also celebrates/ lauds a new religion- captains, voyagers, explorers, engineers, architects etc., thereby projecting a soaring vision of " the oceans to be crossed , the distant brought near,/ the lands to be welded together". Obviously, globalization seems to be the goal that Whitman is projecting so ecstatically here. The poet also makes it clear that the hunger to colonize and conquer all lands and all peoples is not purely from a selfish motive of trade and commerce, but from a spiritual imperative in order to justify God's name and the soul's immense possibilities of growth and perfection.

                        In the third section, the poet juxtapose two exciting scenes. At first he visualizes the completion and the opening of the Suez Canal and the movement of steam ships through the channel. He can also see workers gathering around huge dredging machines. Along with the opening of the Suez Canal, the poet is also able to visualize the opening imp of the vast American continent through the pacific Railroad. The poet is able to hear "the locomotives rushing and roaring, and the shrill steam- whistle". He also is able to picture vividly the opening up the vast land. He has glimpses of the great mountains, the wind River, the Wasatch mountains, Monument mountain and the Eagle's nest. In fact, the poet's imagination is able to encompass almost the entire landscape of the continent. He also recalls Christopher Columbus a Genomes, whose daring adventure led to the discovery of the North American continent.

                  Thus, the poem seems to create a strong unity of impression of man's indomitable usage to conquer the vast, unending land mass in North America, Europe and Asia, signifying thereby the overcoming of barriers and an affirmation of the oneness of mankind. In this respect, the poem is a culmination of the history of the modern time uniting or interconnecting ("spanning") areas of the globe which are not only geographically, but culturally and psychologically disparate and alien.

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