A Happy Hour's Command- Specimen Days


This segment is broken up into two sections written at different times, the second of which refers back to the previously written section.  The first was written "down in the woods" and Whitman starts by describing his incongruous and sporadic writing habits in his notebooks and how he values the randomness of his jottings.  He compares this with the common habits of people who live their lives planning and organizing for what may come but then ultimately wind up unprepared for what life holds.  In this section I also noticed the word "melange," meaning mixture, which I had to look up but I think its a great word.  In the following section Whitman refers back to what he wrote and briefly mentions his time in the hospital observing war aftermath and even experiencing some health problems himself.  I like how he closed the segment by again mentioning the random and disorganized nature of his writings.  He said he'll just "tumble the thing together, and [let] hurry and crudeness tell the story better than fine work" can.  He admits that his book may be the most wayward and fragmentary book ever but he expresses this with pride.