‘America’ by Walt Whitman.

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Thesis statement When you look back, no American author is more influencing then Walt Whitman. He is celebrated as the father of free verse. We are going to take a look at just one poem and I hope you are as influenced as I am about this poem. It is called America. Whitman is deemed to be a successor to Shakespeare and Virgil. He arose from the Long Island and grew up in Brooklyn where he a small amount of formal education. During his life, he worked as a printer, editor, schoolteacher, and reporter. His self-published Leaves of Grass got its partial inspiration from his tours through the American Frontier and by the admiration he had for Ralph Waldo Emerson. During the time he lived, his publication went through eight editions as Whitman extrapolated and revised the poetry and added another work on the original anthology of twelve poems. According to Emerson, the emergent edition was the most surprising piece of wit and wisdom not yet experienced and contributed in America. Whitman opted to publish his own passionate evaluation of Leaves of Grass. Whitman’s style of writing was quite unnerving to readers and critics. His poems received minimal public acclaim owing to a number of reasons: this openness in regard to sex, his self-portrayal as a rough working man and his outstanding innovations. He appeared to be a poet who didn’t adhere to the normal meter and rhyme schemes as set by his contemporaries. Whitman got his influence from the extensive cadences and rhetorical approaches of Biblical poetry. After publishing Leaves of Grass, Whitman lost his job. He was working with the Department of the Interior. In spite of his mixed critical welcome in the US, he received a warm welcome in England, with Algernon Cha... ... middle of paper ... ...with the poem. When reading through his work, it is evident that all his work is derived from his experience in America throughout his life. Works cited Ward, D. (2013). Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and the War that Changed Poetry Forever. Smithsonian website. Retrieved April 9 from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/walt-whitman-emily-dickinson-and-the-war-that-changed-poetry-forever-31815/?no-ist Re-scripting Whitman. The Whitman Archive. Retrieved April 9 from http://www.whitmanarchive.org/criticism/current/anc.00152.html Walt Whitman. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved April 9 from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/walt-whitman Walt Whitman. Biography.com Website. Retrieved April 9 from http://www.biography.com/people/walt-whitman-9530126 Benton, J., DiYanni, R. (1999). Arts and Culture. An Introduction to the Humanities. Prentice Hall.

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