"The Compost" by Walt Whitman

What specific details stay in your mind? Why? How do these small details lead to larger ideas?


The Compost, written by Walt Whitman was a poem about the earth giving back to us in the form of crops, beautiful landscapes, animals, and other gifts even though we don't treat it like we should. We let our waste and decaying organisms run into the ground, but the earth still gives back. I remember this poem being very repetitive, but repetitive in a good way. Many of the sentences were very similar because he was listing different gifts that are given back to us. I believe this style of poem writing adds to the overall effect of the poem. If Whitman were to leave out the extra sentences and only use a few examples, it would be very easy to forget about other areas that are worth mentioning, making the overall poem feel and read as if it was missing something or not very convincing. I believe Whitman did the right thing by adding repitition into his poem because it is a much more interesting and thought provoking read.