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I haven't fully developed this idea, but I wanted to throw it out there to see what people think. On Thursday, we discussed how reading Whitman as if it were NOT for class made it a bit easier to refrain from analyzing and trying to find meaning that Whitman did not intend. When I started reading The Sorrows of an America, I attempted to do the same thing, I curled up on the couch, put some music on, and read it as I would read a book I might read for pleasure during the summer.

I think that maybe, by tuning out a bit, I was able to let my subconscious take the lead in my reading. My conscious mind occasionally wandered to the music, someone walking through the room, etc., and sometimes I'd find I'd read a paragraph without "really" reading it, but later, details I didn't entirely remember popped up in my thoughts. 

I've noticed this in the past, that when I read a non-school book, I don't necessarily read with the strict attention I give texts for class, but I end up thinking about them later and find I recall things I don't consciously remember reading.

Is this how Whitman wanted us to read and maybe even see the world?