Journal #38: Reaction to the Ploughman

Whitman's "As I Watch'd the Ploughman Ploughing", like most of Whitman's poems can be taken literally or metaphorically. When taken literally, it is about a man watching another man plow a field. The Everyman idea is apparent here in the fact that, during Whitman's lifetime, many people were farmers, so it would not be uncommon to see a man in a field. When taken metaphorically, the ploughman represents the Holy Trinity. To me, the "sower sowing in the fields" is the Holy Spirit part of the Holy Trinity. When there was nothing, the Holy Spirit created the world, much like when there is nothing in the ground the sower comes along and stirs up life in the form of seeds. The ploughman would be Jesus in this scenario because Jesus came along and saved the people at a time when they needed it, much like the ploughman who takes out all the weeds and rejuvenates the soil. Finally, the harvester would be the Father. When we die, according to the Christian belief, we go to Heaven where the Father waits for us. He takes in all the souls of the dead as a harvester would take in his crops. This metaphor made a lot more sense to me than many of Whitman's other metaphorical works. This whole poem was actually refreshingly understandable. The society of the times is represented in this poem because, nowadays, you really don't see many farmers working out in their fields with their own two hands. We now have machines that do a better job of that. Thus, Whitman's time is reflected in the method of farming. Also, this poem would be more easily understood in Whitman's time because a lot more people were more devoted to the church. Therefore, they would have understood the metaphor sooner than many on today's time would. All in all, though I did not think this was a very good poem, "As I Watch'd the Ploughman Ploughing" was still one of the better poems by Whitman, in my opinion.