Philosophers, poets, song writers, novelists, even your parents have been trying to figure out the meaning of life for ages, or more so how to live life to the fullest. In class we have been reading writings from Whitman, Thoreau and Emerson, all of which believe they understand what it truly means to live. In order to live a life well lived, and truly be alive one must open their eyes and stop being afraid to live. In the song “Wake Up Time” by Tom Petty, the lyrics “and it’s wake up time, time to open your eyes, and rise and shine” express exactly what it means to live. It directly correlates to what one must to to live a life well lived, “open your eyes”. The title of the song even directly correlates, “Wake Up Time”, when you wake up you open your eyes therefore suggesting that to live one needs to wake up. Later in the song it says “ you were so cool, back in high school, what happened”. This plays off the idea off settling and how most people will end up settling for something, but we should not. We must open our eyes, we cannot settle because if we settle we are …show more content…
Whitman writes “long have you timidly waded holding a plank by the shore, now I will you to be a bold swimmer”(25-26 Whitman). Whitman uses metaphor to get his point across. It is not likely that Whitman is actually talking about someone afraid to swim, rather Whitman uses jumping into water as a metaphor to going out and living. Jumping into water, for someone afraid to swim, would be a terrifying act, but worth it in the end. Just like going out and living, for someone who is comfortable, would be hard, but worth it in the end. Whitman also writes that “you must find out for yourself”(20). There is no specific answer that one can give about the exact way to live life, going out and finding what it means to live is part of the journey to truly
One of the most important points in this book is that no matter what you’re going through you have to find your meaning to life. If you don’t have a meaning to life or something to live for then there’s no chance of you surviving whatever you may be going through. You have to find whatever positive thing in your life to make it through any time of your life. In the book, he wrote this, “For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a
Whitman claims that “there was never any more inception than there is now…nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.” The remainder of the poem goes on to say that similar to the law of conservation of matter, the impending presence of any aspect of life is constant, driven only by humanities “procreant urge.” Yet rather than lazily labeling the variety of essential human traits such as youth, old age, sex and isolation; Whitman divides the world based upon his soul saying, “Clear and sweet is my soul, and clear and sweet is all that is not my soul.” While at first this may appear to be a weak dichotomy that is far too lenient of evil actions, Whitman continues to write of it that “lack one lack both.” This somewhat ambiguous statement becomes clarified when observed against the larger backdrop of the idea of the self which Whitman is attempting to paint. Essentially, without the awareness or experience of ideas or actions that are decidedly not a part of your soul, it is nearly impossible to construct a genuine personal and moral code. Just as without darkness there is no light, without a definition and example of what is wrong, identifying a correct moral path becomes infinitely
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.
In stanza six of the poem "Song of Myself", by Walt Whitman, he poses the question "What is the grass?" I believe that grass is a metaphor for the cycle of life. Throughout the poem Whitman points out images that grass could represent. All of these images stem from the life and death that we come to expect in our lifetime. During your life you will experience death, it at times surrounds you, but if you look past the grief and look to the beauty you will see that it is a cycle that keeps our world in balance. The images of flags, tears, children and older people that are torn from the ones they love, but only to soon return to other lost ones are all parts of Walt Whitman's poem.
Stanza 33 of “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman is a beautiful poem. In the poem, Whitman describes a multitude of examples of people he considers heroes.
During a lecture in 1907, William James said "the philosophy which is so important in each of us is not a technical matter; it is our more or less dumb sense of what life honestly means. It is only partly got from books; it is our individual way of just seeing and feeling the total push and pressure of the cosmos" (Bartlett 546) Individuality has been a prevalent theme in every type of literature for quite some time. Whether it is a character discovering his/her individuality or the author expressing his, literature is full of distinctness. The term individuality changes meaning with each person it meets. That is what makes the dynamic word so great. Throughout particular works read this semester, individuality has been the foundation for several of them. Walt Whitman takes his newfound ideas and Quaker background and introduces American Literature to a totally different meaning of individuality in "Song of Myself."
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?
Society shapes human beings into what they think is perfection. People in today’s society follow the world’s rituals as they continue to conform to fit in to the latest trends. Today, implants, plastic surgery, and weight loss treatments are the reason people have money set aside in their savings accounts. The pressure of others claims to be the main reason people change their hair, skin, and size, and often forget about their own special characteristics. There is a reason Walt Whitman, writes “I Celebrate Myself, and Sing Myself,” to show the importance of loving yourself and cherishing your own personal qualities as a human being. He speaks of himself, hoping to grab his readers’ attention. Throughout the poem, “I Celebrate Myself, and Sing
While reading through the poem Song of Myself by Walt Whitman, what comes to your mind? His deep love for nature? The use of symbolism throughout the poem? Whitman’s questionable homoeroticism that seeps its way throughout the lines? What came to the forefront of mind when reading this poem by Whitman was his deliberately obvious theme of individuality while also maintaining a universal identity. I also think that Whitman throws in a common underlying theme of transcendentalism throughout his poem. At various times throughout Song of Myself, he really seems to show that each individual person has a sort of knowledge about themselves that surpasses their logic and sense but rather, uses their intuition and inner soul. He also shows how each individual person is, in fact, their own person, but that each person is a part of a bigger, universal identity. Whitman’s theme of transcendentalism intertwined with his main theme of individual having both personal and universal identities is what will be explored in this close reading analysis.
One very important topic that major American authors Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson incorporated into their writing was the idea of the “self” or “self-identity”. Both Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were prolific major American poets and many of the topics they chose to write about involved aspects of transcendentalism. Though Whitman and Dickinson wrote about some of the same topics, they did not share the same meanings, especially with the description of “self”. Published in 1855 within a poetry collection called Leaves of Grass, “Song of Myself” gives a look into how Walt Whitman felt about self-identity. Whitman uses a first person narrator to describe the “self” as the celebration of the individual through personal exploration and gaining personal experience. In Emily Dickinson’s poem, “I heard a Fly buzz when I died” published in 1896 as part of Poems by Emily Dickinson (third series), she alludes that the key to identifying the “self” is sight.
With all aspects of relating the meaning of life to ones personal setting, one can find themselves still with more questions then answers. This is one aspect all discussed situations have in common. We may have found a true meaning, but it always becomes questionable as to if the right decisions were made and the right paths taken base on the outcomes that follow. Although one may never find themselves with a true understanding for the biggest ‘why’ question of them all, the pursuit is always life changing. Life has, for most, always been a choice of free will, to do with what you please. Some choose to embrace this fact and pursue meaning never once imagined, and some choose the more comfortable, yet unsatisfying one of someone already travelled.
Walt Whitman is considered the foremost poet of American democracy of his time. Not only did he fully embrace it, but he believed that American democracy was more than a political system, but a way of life (Casale 48). Many of his personal experiences influenced his deep democratic point of view (48). As a volunteer at an army hospital during the American Civil War, he saw many die and became increasingly grateful for the opportunities provided by the American government (Mirsky). Later, as he was residing in New York City, Whitman witnessed America face urbanization. He loved the diversity of the cities and believed it was possible because of democracy (Brand). This adoration of democracy is apparent in many of Whitman’s works, such as “Drum-Taps”
Tonight we stand at a crossroad where each one of use will take a new direction in our life's journey. Walt Whitman said "Not I - not anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it for yourself." Where we end up isn't the most important decision, but instead it is the road we choose to take to get there. The road we take is what we will look back on and call our life. Life is a journey of everyday experiences, teaching us moment in, moment out, who we really are. It's important to remember these words "Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late."
Living life to the fullest has different meanings to every person, and we all live our lives differently, but we all choose our outcomes. As writer Dylan Thomas writes about how to go against dying in his poem “Do not go gentle into that good night,” old men that are near their ends of living should resist death as much as they can, they should only go out kicking and screaming by raging “against the dying of the light.” On the other hand, Gwendolyn Brooks has a different perspective on living, in her poem “We Real Cool,” a group of kids does what they want when they want, getting into mischief for fun, leading them to “die soon.” Two different viewpoints but also two different scenarios. Thomas writes about one of his loved ones, specifically his father, who is a role model to him, and one part of
He strives for this feeling of liberation while remaining self-aware that life is composed of both good and bad moments in which you must learn to embrace both. Through my own personal experiences, I’ve been able to recognize this as well. We cannot control what happens to us, but we can learn to pace ourselves and take life day by day. I’m constantly reminding myself to not worry about the future and what it beholds yet rather learn to enjoy myself and live in the moment. One of the main reasons I connect with this song is because the chorus reflects on taking your time on the ‘’ride’’ that is your own life. I believe it’s important to not worry over something that hasn’t happened yet or may never happen. There’s no reason to rush our lives nor compare ourselves to others and how well they’re doing. I’ve learned it’s harmful to dwell on the future and forget to enjoy the moment. We should focus on ourselves and how you can achieve all you desire on your own