Marti and Dario 07/01/2013

The Interconnectedness of the Universe

Jose Marti and Ruben Dario’s poetry was inspired by the work of many great poets, especially that of Walt Whitman. With common themes of the complexities of life and humanity’s niche in the universe, both Marti and Dario rely on nature as a comparison in order to capture the essence of human life. In Marti’s poem, “I Am an Honest Man,” the connection to Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” is immediately drawn when the speaker notes that he “originates from the same earth as the palms” (Marti 2). Like Whitman, who wrote of interconnectedness between all living things, the speaker in Marti’s poem emphasizes his relation to the natural world surrounding him. He proclaims that he is one with the world and comes “from everywhere” (5). Whitman captures this same universal origination in “Leaves of Grass” as the speaker explains that his “tongue, every atom of [his] blood, formed from this soil” (6). Both Whitman and Marti seem to note a common energy  that is shared between all things in this world, and in this sense, all the parts that exist within the world are united to form a complete whole.

On the other hand, Ruben Dario’s poem, “Fatality,” uses comparisons to the natural world to emphasize the pain and confusion that accompany human life. The speaker notes that the tree and the rock are “happier” (2) than man because they do not feel; the conscious life is the greatest “burden” (4). The universe may be interconnected, but only man is conscious of his existence and his place in the world. Whereas Whitman “celebrate[s] [him]self” in this epiphany, Dario’s realization of his essence is followed by fear and anxiety of the unknown. The speaker focuses on man’s awareness of his impending death and worries that he will “not know where to go/ nor whence we came” (Fatality 12-13). To this, it is likely Whitman would have responded that mankind both originates and returns to the dirt and the grass in order to perpetuate the cycle of life.

Works Cited

Dario, Ruben. “Fatality.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puchner. Vol. 2.

            New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 695. Print.

Marti, Jose. “I Am an Honest Man.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed.

            Martin Puchner. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 681-682. Print.

Whitman, Walt. “Leaves of Grass.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed.

            Martin Puchner. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 648-653. Print.