What Would Whitman Write Today?



The Atlantic Collins 1850-58


“The pilot seizes the king-pin, he heaves down with a strong arm.” Page 39

The cultural meaning of this statement in Whitman’s time would be referring to the operation of a ship. The pilot is the person driving the ship and the king-pin is the device he uses to steer it.

Whitman wrote this over 100 years before I was born and 150 years before I read it. Coming from the cultural background of the 20th and 21st centuries, the image that immediately flashed in my mind when I read this line was not of one steering an old ship, but a pilot of an airplane who was thwarting an attack from a terrorist attempting to highjack the plane.  The airplane was invented in 1903, over 50 years after Whitman wrote this line in Song of Myself.  If Whitman were writing this line today what do you think it would say?

King-pin is defined as:

1.  Bowling:  headpin, the pin at the center; number five pin

2. Informal.  the person of chief importance in a corporation, movement, undertaking, etc.

3. Informal. chief element of any system, plan or the like.

4. a kingbolt

5. either of the pins that are a part of the mechanism for turning the front wheels in some automotive steering system.

Origin:  1795 – 1805; King + pin   Dictionary.com Unabridged 



Modern Day Commercial Airplane by Boeing


2 Responses to “What Would Whitman Write Today?”

  1. nadiae says on :

    I did read that over in class and I’m glad you looked that up because it cleared alot of my confusing for me, so thank you!!!

  2. Carol Singley says on :

    Thanks for this gloss. We use the term “king-pin” today to describe someone who is the most important one, and we use it in bowling to represent the lead pin. I didn’t know its nautical meaning–thanks very much for informing me!

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