We Two—How Long We Were Fool’d
by Walt Whitman
WE two—how long we were fool’d!
Now transmuted, we swiftly escape, as Nature escapes;
We are Nature—long have we been absent, but now we return;
We become plants, leaves, foliage, roots, bark;
We are bedded in the ground—we are rocks; 5
We are oaks—we grow in the openings side by side;
We browse—we are two among the wild herds, spontaneous as any;
We are two fishes swimming in the sea together;
We are what the locust blossoms are—we drop scent around the lanes,
mornings and evenings;
We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vegetables, minerals;
We are two predatory hawks—we soar above, and look down;
We are two resplendent suns—we it is who balance ourselves, orbic and
stellar—we are as two comets;
We prowl fang’d and four-footed in the woods—we spring on prey;
We are two clouds, forenoons and afternoons, driving overhead;
We are seas mingling—we are two of those cheerful waves, rolling over
each other, and interwetting each other;
We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious,
impervious:
We are snow, rain, cold, darkness—we are each product and influence of
the globe;
We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again—we two have;
We have voided all but freedom, and all but our own joy.
"We Two—How Long We Were Fool’d"
by Walt Whitman:
Ecstatic Identification With Nature
WE two—how long we were fool’d!
Now transmuted, we swiftly escape, as Nature escapes;
We are Nature—long have we been absent, but now we return;
With these words, Walt Whitman begins a remarkable poem that captures
something about the connection between mysticism and poetry. But
these first words in the poem also leave readers in the dark about what Whitman is
talking about. Who are
the "we two" he refers to? How were they fooled? What does it
mean to say they are "transmuted" and that they "escape, as Nature
escapes" or that they are Nature?
As the poem progresses, some of its meaning becomes clearer, as the speaker
describes how he and a partner metamorphose into a series
of forms from nature. They become plants, animals, and minerals,
including "two predatory hawks" that "soar above, and look down." Then
the transmutations take on a larger scale and become less obviously
tangible as they turn into suns, clouds, and seas. They
become atmosphere that is "transparent, receptive, pervious, impervious,"
and waves "rolling over each other and interwetting each other"
-- descriptions that suggest they are part of the interpenetration of
things. Finally, as the two are described as becoming snow, rain, cold,
and darkness, we are told that they are "each product and influence of the globe,"
meaning they are both effect and cause in the vast and interconnected realm of nature.
The speaker describes these transformations in the present tense as if
they are literally taking place. But given what we know about Whitman,
and what we see in the total poem, it seems likely that
the inspiration here is a state of mystical identification with nature.
Perhaps this state was embodied in a vision of some sort in which the
poet experienced himself as being the forms of nature. But, either way,
Whitman is creating a poetic fiction in which we become nature's forms,
to depict a state of identification with nature.
If the poem was in fact inspired by one or more mystical experiences, it might
explain the title -- "We Two—How Long We Were Fool’d" -- and
the opening, which include the lines: "We are Nature—long have we been absent,
but now we return." In other words, they were fooled into believing they
were separate, limited, and individual, when really they are connected to
nature in a state of ecstatic union.
If this was inspired by mystical experiences, it also helps explain the
end:
We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again, we two,
We have voided all but freedom and all but our own joy.
In other words, by identifying with the parts of nature, they have
arrived at a state in
which they realize that they are nature, and that they are free like
nature, until everything but their essence -- freedom and ecstasy -- has
been shed from the self.
But who is the other person that the speaker says he has shared this
experience with. Is this, in fact, an experience with a romantic partner, perhaps, as suggested by
the vivid description of the two of them as waves "rolling over each
other and interwetting each other"?
One answer is contained in a footnote to the 1900 edition of Leaves of
Grass, where the poem appears. It says that, in the earlier
1860 edition, the poem didn’t begin with the word "We," but with the
phrase -- “You and I—what the earth is, we are, We two.” Here, the
speaker might be addressing someone else as "you." But it seems likely
that the speaker is addressing you, the reader, or at least a fictionalized version of you.
You are the
speaker's partner, soaring through nature, becoming each thing in turn,
until you and the speaker shed everything but freedom and joy.
So what we have here is mystical poetry that describes how you experience a joyous partnership with the poet (or speaker) and have a breakthrough in which you and he realize that you are all the world. Even though this version of the poem doesn't clearly say that "we" refers to you and the speaker, it leaves the option open. And you can also experience it that way through your own identification with the speaker and what he describes.