"A Clear Midnight" Analysis

I actually really liked this poem. It made me feel so calm at a time when I've been so stressed. In "A Clear Midnight", Whitman describes midnight. He paints the picture of the perfect midnight. He's alone, and the world expects nothing of him. "Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done" (Whitman). This line suggests that the night is Whitman's own. Since his lesson is finished, he can do whatever he wants. This image was really attractive to me because, as someone with a lot of pressure on them, I would love to have a night like this. In this night, Whitman ponders various things in a self-reflective manner. This is characteristic of Whitman and his quest to discover that elusive Self. This is; however, only one layer of this poem. On the surface, this looks to be a poem about a night spent on silent reflection. Underneath this facade is a metaphor for death. Unlike some poems that paint death as a horrible experience, this poem sees it as the ending of a day. Whitman makes death sound peaceful in this poem by comparing it to a clear midnight. I especially liked the first line which goes, "This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless" (Whitman). "The wordless" suggests the afterlife, that place where words don't matter because words can't describe it. The last few lines give away the death metaphor: "pondering the themes thou lovest best, Night, sleep, death and the stars" (Whitman). All of those things in one of Whitman's notorious lists has been associated with death at some time or another. Obviously death itself is represented in that list. If that wasn't obvious enough, Whitman provides other clues throughout the brief poem. His line, "Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done" (Whitman), provides further insight into the metaphor between midnight and death. The day is often used to represent life because that is when life flourishes. When the day is erased, life ceases to exist.
A literary analysis that I read by Charles Oliver mentioned something that I had noticed, but I hadn't really connected it to anything. He writes that "A Clear Midnight" acts as a transition between two collections of poems in Whitman's Leaves of Grass. It fits rather nicely between "From Noon to Starry Night" and the "Songs of Parting" sections. "From Noon to Starry Night" is about living your life until the end, where "Songs of Parting" suggests it is about the things that happen after death. "A Clear Midnight" being a representation of death fits well as a connector between the two.
Whether this poem is taken at face value or not, it is still, in my opinion, one of Whitman's better works. This imagery is very calming, and the metaphors are easily understood. It is also a good bridge between sections of Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Though the brevity of the poem actually makes it more difficult to understand than usual, it is still a fine example of Whitman's skill as a poet.

Oliver, Charles M. "'A Clear Midnight'." Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCWW094&SingleRecord=True.

Whitman, Walt. "A CLEAR MIDNIGHT. (Leaves of Grass [1891-1892])." The Walt Whitman Archive. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. .