Love, Fate, and Faith in Both
Among The Multitude
AMONG the men and women, the multitude,
I perceive one picking me out by secret and divine signs,
Acknowledging none else–not parent, wife, husband, brother, child,
any nearer than I am;
Some are baffled–But that one is not–that one knows me.
Ah, lover and perfect equal!
I meant that you should discover me so, by my faint indirections;
And I, when I meet you, mean to discover you by the like in you
Walt Whitman. Public Domain.
Who doesn’t really want to believe in the idea of a soul mate? A person in a sea of people that fits perfectly into your life. Who could deny that feeling of perfection and completeness when, or if, it does happen to them? Whitman seems to be writing of this desire in his poem “Among The Multitude”. Essentially, the speaker is addressing his potential lover, whom he has not encountered yet, that is somewhere out there among the multitude of people. The speaker wants badly for a person to come from this multitude and claim him as their everything. He wants clarity and understanding in his fated desires. The last three lines of the poem seem to run true for most people that consider themselves in love with another. So often do we hear that its the dissimilar oddities that draw two people together, and Whitman includes it in his poem here. Just as often, people speak of their soul mate being out there, somewhere, and waiting for the day to meet that person face to face. These ideas of romance and fate are frequently the centerpiece for countless works of literature, as well as other forms of entertainment. This makes complete sense, as desiring perfection when looking for love is a universal want when it comes to the topic. To fall in love with a miserable or mismatched person is entirely contradictory. Ultimately, what Whitman portrays here is a very real human desire – a belief in both love and fate, and the hope that the latter will supply the former with perfection and good fortune. What more could anyone really ask for?
