Walt Whitman's Transition
In any medium of art that is personal to the artist, a change in the artwork can represent a change in the artist. During a period of depression a musician may write heavier, less upbeat music, or a painter may shift to darker tones and more downcast themes. The medium of poetry certainly has the power to reflect the writer's moods and mental state, and the poetry of Walt Whitman's demonstrates this power. A comparison of "Song of Myself," one of Whitman's earlier poems, and "As I Ebb'd With the Ocean of Life," a poem from later in his career, reveals a great change in Whitman from a man of confidence and optimism to one of dissatisfaction and self-doubt.
The publication of Leaves of Grass, the book in which "Song of Myself" was published, is the most notable achievement of Walt Whitman's early career. Whitman set very lofty goals for Leaves of Grass. He hoped to write more than simply a set of poems that could be read and enjoyed by Americans; he wanted Americans to be absorbed by his poetry. He hoped to save America by bringing together a nation on the brink of civil war.
Whitman required an enormous amount of optimism to be able to fill the role that he felt he should fill. The task of bringing together the nation through poetry is a great challenge, and Whitman must have had great confidence in himself to take on the responsibility. This optimism shows through in Whitman's earlier poetry. For example, the first line of "Song of Myself" reads, "I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself." This confident opening sets the mood for a poem that bursts with bold statements that could only be made by a person with great certainty in his statements and great confidence in the verisimilitude of his declarations. "Song of Myself" preaches universal oneness and beauty, and in the poem Whitman asserts the harmony of his life and of life in general. He is clear in his statements and is very sure of himself and his identity. He rises above the "trippers and askers" that oppose or upset him by asserting what his true self is beneath the complications by stating, "Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am, / Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary." "Song of Myself" is a characteristic example of Whitman's earlier, more idealistic and optimistic poetry.
Whitman, Walt. "Song of Myself." The Norton Anthology of American Literature.. Gen. ed. Nina Baym. 8th ed. Vol. C. New York: Norton, 2012. 24-67. Print.
A literary catalog is considered a long list of events. One of the works that it is demonstrated in is “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman. Whitman writes over 52 sections within his poem, which clearly he mastered the technique. He informs the reader that it is time to celebrate himself which then he transmits different episodes of his experiences. The main concern is that his poem is universal in America and can encourage self-reliance.
Thesis: People who read about Walter Whitman tend to say that he had a good life until his mother passed and his book Leaves of Grass is a book about his life and what he went through. Introduction: Walt Whitman was an American poet from West Hills, Long Island, New York. He wrote plenty of poems for the New York Times Journal newspaper, also known for the famous book Leaves of Grass, which had nine editions and is more than one book. The book Leaves of Grass was published in 1888 when he was finally done with all nine editions and he had passed after publishing the ninth edition.
Walt Whitman is an American poet, journalist, and essayist whose Versace collection Leaves of Grass is a landmark in the history of American literature.
The Heath Anthology of American Literature repeatedly refers to Walt Whitman and his poetry in terms of being American, yet as I read Song of Myself, my thoughts are continually drawn to the philosophies and religions of the Far East. Like the Tao Te Ching ideas are expressed in enigmatic verse and each stanza is a Zen koan waiting to be meditated on and puzzled out. Even Emerson called Whitman's poetry "a remarkable mixture of the Bhagvat Gita and the New York Herald" ("The Whitman Project"). Song of Myself contains multitudes of passages that express Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist thought.
Poetry is a universe of subjectivity. When two poems are set up, side-by-side, to create discussion, results may vary. But it is clear in Sherman Alexie’s two poems, “Defending Walt Whitman” and “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel”, where the discussion must go. Alexie explores Native American culture and the effect that the Europeans have had on the native people of the United States. This feat is accomplished through the thoughtful use of several literary devices, including tone, simile, allusion, and metaphor.
(A critique of Walt Whitman’s themes and ideas in Song of Myself 6, 46, 47)
However, this difference can also be seen as an addition to Wordsworth, as Wordsworth advocated for organic form. Whitman’s further use of organic form is still within the influence of Wordsworth, as it ties back to the Romantic ideals he put forth. Overall, while Whitman may have denied inspiration from Wordsworth, the evidence points in a different direction. All in all, Whitman’s “Song of Myself” and Wordsworth’s preface to Lyrical Ballads show the influence of Wordsworth’s ideas on Whitman through the use of the common experience and the language they utilized, even if their forms were slightly different.
Explication Through a multitude of literary devices and techniques, Walt Whitman's poem, "Song of Myself," is one of his most famous contributions to American literature. He uses simile and metaphor, paradox, rhythm, and free verse style, to convey his struggle between the relation of the body and soul, the physical and the spiritual being. He continues to disobey all social restrictions of the romantic time period. From the beginning, Whitman begins by stating, "What I shall assume, you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you," proposing that the reader listen to him, for he possesses all of the answers to life. The setting is somewhat naturalistic, and offers an image of the speaker, relaxing, possibly sprawled out across a blanket, philosophizing about life, while in the middle of a peaceful meadow. As the poem later shifts in tone, and setting, Whitman starts to think about the answers to life he has come up with, based upon the past, and decides that the reader should hear him out, one final time, as his ideas have changed. This brings us to #44 of "Song of Myself." In section #44 of, "Song of Myself," Whitman's first stanza begins: "It's time to explain myself…let us stand up. What is known I strip away…I launch all men and women forward with me into the unknown. The clock indicates the moment…but what does eternity indicate? Eternity lies in bottomless reservoirs…its buckets are rising forever and ever, they pour and they pour and they exhale away." Whitman is simply stating that he wants to tell the purpose of his madness. The madness that Whitman expresses is that of power and self-confidence. Whitman has written this based upon his experiences in life. Through these experiences, he has grown to know certain things about life and tries to pass them down to the reader. Throughout the beginning of the poem, Whitman takes the reader by the hand and demands that he follows Whitman and his ideas, because based on his own life Whitman holds the answers to the reader's questions. But now, he asks the reader to erase everything that he has previously said - forget the past. Why don't we try something new? We have to focus on the present, not on the past, but also to focus on what we are going to experience in the future, what can we expect?
Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" is a vision of the American spirit, a vision of Whitman himself. It is his cry for democracy, giving each of us a voice through his poetry. Each of us has a voice and desires, and this is Whitman's representation of our voices, the voice of America. America, the great melting pot, was founded for freedom and democracy, and this poem is his way of re-instilling these lost American ideals. In this passage from "Song of Myself" Whitman speaks through his fellow man and speaks for his fellow man when his voice is not socially acceptable to be heard.
His greatest work was ‘leaves of grass’, which is a collection of poems which he first self-published at the age of 37 in the year 1855. It was a free-verse that was loosely inspired by the Bible. It was at first criticized in his country for its ‘raw sexuality’ but was widely acclaimed elsewhere in Britain by prominent writers. It was an attempt by Whitman to get through to the ordinary American people by giving them their very own ‘epic’. He went on changing and adding material to this work until his death in the year 1892 in Camden, New Jersey. The poem ‘America’ is one of the late additions to the collection, written in 1888.
Although Whitman uses a great deal of structural ways to stress his ideas, he also uses many other ways of delivering his ideas. First of all, Whitman portrays himself as a public spokesman of the masses. The tone of the poem is a very loud, informative tone that grabs ones attention. The emphasis placed on the word “all” adds to the characterization of Whitman as a powerful speaker. Furthermore, Whitman takes part in his own poem. Participating in his own poem, Whitman moreover illustrates the connection between everything in life. Lastly, Whitman, most of all, celebrates universal brotherhood and democracy.
He crossed the boundaries of the poetry literature and gave a poetry worth of our democracy that contributed to an immense variety of people, nationalities, races. Whitman’s self-published Leaves of Grass was inspired in part by his travels through the American frontier and by his admiration for Ralph Waldo Emerson (Poetry Foundation). He always believed in everyone being treated equally and bringing an end to slavery and racism. Through his poetry, Whitman tried to bring every people in America together by showing them what happiness, love, unison, and real knowledge looked. His poetry and its revolution changed the world of American literature
Walt Whitman used free verse in “Song of Myself” in order to connect with the common man and his American readers. In this first person narrative, Whitman deconstructs the “self” into many different sections that all are a part of the celebration of the individual. Some of the topics he breaks the “self” into are self- identity, and human exploration (including the human body and sexuality). In the poem, Whitman uses a speaker to exclaim that for individuals to grow they must discover themselves spiritually, physically, and mentally. The speaker in the poem
Whitman claimed that he had started writing in 1847, but his work consisted mainly of random thoughts and unofficial lines (Lewis). His first notes contained of flashes of illumination and reflections on his personal relationship with the world around him. He lacked a specific form in his poetry and regarded poets before him as negative examples (Lewis). He shared Henry David Thoreau’s belief that poetry should act as a “healthy speech,” as he invented a style of writing that was appropriate for his work’s content (Lewis).