In Whitman’s Second Annex: Good-bye My Fancy, it appears that Whitman is waiting to die, and moreover is completely accepting and ready for death. Throughout much of his poetry and has spoke of the universe and everything’s interconnectedness, both of space and time. Therefore, Whitman is not afraid of death because he is quite assured that it is merely the next journey within the inifinity of the universe.
He begins this grouping with the poem “Sail Out for Good, Eidolon Yacht!” saying, “Now on for aye our infinite free venture wending, Spurning all yet tired ports, seas, hawsers, densities, gravitation, Sail out for good, eidolon yacht of me!”. Whitman is ready to leave his “solid earth” form, and make his way into his infinite existence. His annotation of “Good-bye” says, “Behind a Good-bye there lurks much of the salutation of another begining – to me, Development, Continuity, Immortality, Transformation, are the chiefest life-meanings of Nature and Humanity, and are the sine qua non of all facts, and each fact”. He doesnt see “Good-bye” as a term of departing, but as a salutation of another beginning.
Sine qua non (pronounced as anglicized /ˌsaɪni kweɪ ˈnɒn/ or more Latinate /ˌsɪneɪ kwɑː ˈnoʊn/)[1] or conditio sine qua non (plural sine quibus non) was originally a Latin legal term for “(a condition) without which it could not be” or “but for…” or “without which (there is) nothing.” It refers to an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient.
From Wikipedia
His use of sine qua non suggests that development, continuity, immortality, and transformation are all essential actions, conditions, or ingredients of death, and that these qualities are all important for all of life and nature.
Whitman is not afraid of death because he is “wafting to other work, to unknown songs, conditions…”. It is refreshing to read poetry from someone who has such a positive outlook on aging and death. So many poets write about the sadness that comes from the death of innoncence and the move to experience. Whitman, however, seems to beleive that life is all about the experience, “My life and recitative, containing birth, youth, mid-age years … inseparably twined and merged in one — combining all”. Whitman acknowledges that every part of his life is important in its completion of the whole, just as everything in the universe is important as its part of the whole.
Whitman clearly embraces his old age, and in his other footnote he says, “I always felt the sunset or late afternoon sounds more penetrating and sweeter – seem’d to touch the soul – often the evening thrushes, two or three of them, responding and perhaps blending. Though I miss’d some of the mornings, I found myself getting to be quite strictly punctual at the evening utterances”. It seems that Whitman is using his love of the sunset as a symbol for his love and acceptance of his age. Although he misses some aspects of his youth as “the first always exhilarated, and perhaps seem’d more joyous and stronger”, he has a greater appreciation for what it is to age and is accepting of it. His use of nature as a metaphor for life is not the same cliche we’ve all heard before, but a lovely way to appreciate all aspects of one’s life, and not to obsess over the past and over the loss of youth and strength.
That being said, Whitman does have a sympathy for those who die before reaching old age. Although Whitman sees death as the next part of the journey which he is quite ready for, he does have compassion for those who must meet death before thier time. This seems to come mostly from his time spent with the soldiers in the hospital. Whitman says that “wrapt in these little potencies of progress, poitics, culture, wealth, inventions, civilization” we forget about death. And, it seems he is saying we not only forget about death but forget about those who died so that we may have all those things.
Finally, in “Unseen Buds” Whitman wants to show the reader that although we must die, the budding of life is all around us, and that is inspiring. ” On earth and in the sea – the universe – the stars there in the heavens” there are unseen buds of life “urging slowly, surely forward, forming endless, andwaiting ever more, forever more behind”.
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