Whoever You are Holding Me Now in Hand: Summary & Analysis

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Whoever you are holding me now in hand,

Without one thing all will be useless,

I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,

I am not what you supposed, but far different.

Who is he that would become my follower?

Who would sign himself a candidate for my affections?

The way is suspicious, the result uncertain, perhaps destructive,

You would have to give up all else, I alone would expect to be your sole and exclusive standard,

Your novitiate would even then be long and exhausting,

The whole past theory of your life and all conformity to the lives around you would have to be abandon’d,

Therefore release me now before troubling yourself any further, let go your hand from my shoulders,

Put me down and depart on your way.

Or else by stealth in some wood for trial,

Or back of a rock in the open air,

(For in any roof’d room of a house I emerge not, nor in company,

And in libraries I lie as one dumb, a gawk, or unborn, or dead,)

But just possibly with you on a high hill, first watching lest any person for miles around approach unawares,

Or possibly with you sailing at sea, or on the beach of the sea or some quiet island,

Here to put your lips upon mine I permit you,

With the comrade’s long-dwelling kiss or the new husband’s kiss,

For I am the new husband and I am the comrade.

Or if you will, thrusting me beneath your clothing,

Where I may feel the throbs of your heart or rest upon your hip,

Carry me when you go forth over land or sea;

For thus merely touching you is enough, is best,

And thus touching you would I silently sleep and be carried eternally.

But these leaves conning you con at peril,

For these leaves and me you will not understand,

They will elude you at first and still more afterward, I will certainly elude you,

Even while you should think you had unquestionably caught me, behold!

Already you see I have escaped from you.

For it is not for what I have put into it that I have written this book,

Nor is it by reading it you will acquire it,

Nor do those know me best who admire me and vauntingly praise me,

Nor will the candidates for my love (unless at most a very few) prove victorious,

Nor will my poems do good only, they will do just as much evil, perhaps more,

For all is useless without that which you may guess at many times and not hit, that which I hinted at;

Therefore release me and depart on your way.

SUMMARY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

      Introduction. Whoever You are Holding Me Now in Hand, is candidly expressing the abnormal craving of a man for another man, flouting all orthodox conventions of society. In 1860 Whitman published a collection of forty-five poems exclusively on the theme of homosexual attachment. He gave it the name Calamus, a reed-like plant, that grows:

In paths untrodden

In the growth by margins of pond water

Escaped from the life that exhibits itself

      In order to convey the secretiveness of the behavior of these people with homosexual tendencies.

      Summary. The very opening lines of the poem Whoever You are Holding Me Now in Hand, reveal the topic picturesquely:

Whoever you are holding me now in hand Without one thing all will be useless

I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,

I am not what you supposed, but far different.

      The poet warns the candidate for his affections that their attachment would be regarded suspiciously and have uncertain and perhaps destructive results. He suggests to the comrade to keep a woodland, top of hill, a sea beach or a quiet island as the rendezvous or love tryst. The later portion of the poem is full of suggestion which may appear odiously repugnant and repulsive to a large number of conventional readers. The poet then audaciously and shamelessly commands the suitor “to release me and depart on your way” if he does not want to adhere closely to his detailed instructions.

      Critical Analysis. Attraction of a man towards another man by way of uncoventional sexual contact is a pet theme of Walt Whitman. The collection Calamus contains many poems where the poet gives expression to this unconventional urge in him. In this poem the poet conducts the initiation of a novice in this art. He tells him:

You would have to give up all else, I alone would expect to be your sole and exclusive standard

Your novitiate would even then be long and exhausting

The whole past theory of your life and all conformity to the lives around you would have to be abandoned.

      If the novice does not want to venture further he is at liberty to go away leaving the poet to himself. Or if the novice wants to have a trial, let him accompany the poet to a lonely spot. The lines that follow are frankly outrageous, especially to an orthodox mind:

But just possibly with you on a high hill, first watching lest any person for miles around approach unawares,

Or possibly with you sailing at sea, or on the beach of the sea or some quite island,

Here to put your lips on mine I permit you,

With the comrade's long dwelling kiss or the new husband’s kiss

For I am the new husband and I am the comrade.

      Still more audacious and more outrageous lines describe the unconventional action. Despite all the candor the poet strikes a note of warning as well. It is not easy for anyone to understand the pages of his poems in the proper perspective.

But these leaves conning you con at peril,

For these leaves and me you will not understand,

They will elude you at first and still more afterward,

I will certainly elude you,

Even while you should think you had unquestionably caught me, behold!

Already you see I have escaped from you.

      The theory and practice of the said art is beyond the understanding of all. The poet says:

For it not for what I have put into it that I have written this book,
Nor is it by reading it you will acquire it,
Nor do those know me best who admire me and vauntingly praise me
Nor will the candidates for my love (unless at most a very few) prove Victorious,
Nor will my poems do gaud only, they will do just as much evil, perhaps more.

      After warning the would be comrade about the pros and cons the poet gives him an ultimatum that if he is not prepared to go to the utmost end he may as well turn back and go his way.

      We may abhor the repulsive features of a masculine love but certainly we cannot deny the poetically inspired expression of ideal friendship and comradeship. Unfortunately, many of the poems as they stand now are erotomaniacs in character. Further, the fact that the poet unabashedly exhibits an insatiable longing for new faces and experience fills us with the suspicion whether he is sincere and honest at all. But then it Is important to remember that to Whitman it is the quality and intensity of an experience which is important not the participant in it.